I've decided to introduce to you all THE BIG FOUR! The big 4 is used to describe four of the most popular and recognizable bands on the thrash metal scene in the 1980s and early 1990s - Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax.
Metallica:
Undoubtably the most famous metal band in the world. Even people who listen to everthing except metal knows who Metallica is.
I'll tell you some interesting things you might not know about this bands history.
Metallica first started out only as Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield and they were just playing and rehearsing in a garage. And the first track Metallica ever recorded was on the Metal Massacres album and the song was called Hit The Lights. While there were a lot of bands in New York city that played Heavy Metal, Metallica really brought things up to the next level.
When they released their first album Kill 'Em All (It should've been called Metal Up Your Ass but they changed it) it blew everybody mind because no band untill then wasn't playing this type of music (the term Thrash Metal didn't exist till later). It was heavy it was fast with crunchy guitars and that's why it blew everybody away because they weren't expecting this at all. So when Kill 'Em All came out every band that played or should i say tried to play Thrash got signed by a record label and they wanted to be more aggressive and fast that the other bands, they were really competing with eachother. Anway back to Metallica.
With every record Metallica redefined their sound and redefined what's gonna be the next trend in Thrash metal. They were just going and going and going and it would have to take something truly catastrophic to break this momentum. And it did.
Cliff Burton the bassist was killed in a bus accident on 27nd of September in 1986, when the band was touring in Sweden and promoting their album Master Of Puppets. This really was the biggest blow in Metallica's career probably to this day.
Metallica wrote a song for Cliff called "To Live Is To Die" aswell as Megadeth with a song called "In My Darkest Hour". Anthrax dedicated its album Among the Living to him, as did Metal Church with The Dark, so you can really see what a huge impact Cliff Burtons death made. The same night James Hetfield got really drunk and was wandering down the alley in Sweden and crying and calling for Cliff and i think when Dave Mustaine found out about Cliff he immedietely called his drug dealer and got wasted.
I think the rest you already know about Metallica i saw some posts about them here on Steemit so i'll move to another band from the big four.
Megadeth:
Megadeth was formed by Dave Mustaine after he left or should i say was kicked out of Metallica and David Ellefson. This was Dave's answer to Metallica after they kicked him out.
Their style is not that fast but they play in a technical style, featuring fast rhythm sections and complex arrangements. Themes of death, war, politics and religion are prominent in the song lyrics.
Megadeth released their first album in 1986 called "Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?" and when the lineup stabilized, the band released a number of platinum-selling albums such as "Rust In Peace" and "Countdown to Extinction".
Slayer:
When slayer was formed in 1981 by guitarist Kerry King and drummer Dave Lombardo, they called themselves Dragon Slayer and were actually a cover band wearing Make Up! I bet you didn't know that! :D Okay let's move on.
So after the lineup was complete (lead guitar: Kerry King, drums: Dave Lombardo, vocals and bass guitar: Tom Araya, guitar: Jeff Hanneman) they released their first album called "Show No Mercy" in December 1983. In June 1984, Slayer released a three-song EP titled "Haunting the Chapel" and in 1985 a thrash metal classic called "Hell Awaits".
Both 2 album and the Ep were a huge success BUT what came next CHANGED THRASH METAL FOREVER.
Slayer was offered a recording contract with Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin's newly founded Def Jam Records, a largely hip hop-based label and they accepted the offer. So they went into studio to record their new album.
In 1986 Slayer blew everyones head, mind, body, soul, you name it, when then released so called Thrash Metal Bible, an album called "REIGN IN BLOOD". This was or should i say IS the most important album in Thrash Metal history alongside Metallicas Master Of Puppets. Def Jam's distributor, Columbia Records, refused to release the album due to the song Angel of Death which detailed Holocaust concentration camps and the human experiments conducted by Nazi physician Josef Mengele. The album was distributed by Geffen Records on October 7, 1986, and man it's a fucking brilliant record!
So after the release of Reign In Blood, Slayer toured a lot and produced some great albums along the way such as "South Of Heaven", "Seasons in the Abyss" and "God Hates Us All".
Slayer took a real blow after their guitarist Jeff Hannemann died of liver failure in a local hospital on May 2, 2013.
The whole metal world mourned with Slayer. But then Gary Holt from Exodus joined the band and they began touring and writing new music again.
Gar on the left and Jeff on the right:
Anthrax:
Anthrax was formed in 1981 by rhythm guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Dan Lilker (who later formed Nuclear Assault). Noted for its live performances, Anthrax signed with the independent label Megaforce Records.
Anthrax released their first album in called "Fistful Of Metal" in 1984 and it made a huge success. Since then they had some lineup changes but i think the real Anthrax are Joey Belladonna (vocals), Scott Ian (lead guitar), Charlie Benante (drums), Frank Bello (bass guitar) and Dan Spitz (guitar).
They release a lot of great albums such as "Spreading the Disease " , "Among the Living (my favourite)" , "State of Euphoria" and "Persistence of Time".
Anthrax are also famous because of their collaboration with a hip hop group called Public Enemy and the song Bring The Noise which i think was a milestone for the future Rap Metal bands such as Limp Bizkit.
The Big Four Tour
All four bands played joined and toured together in 2010 played a bunch of show and also made a DVD/Blu-ray called The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria. The tour was of'course a great success.
That's about it! Spent almost 2 hours writing this post i hope you like it!
If you like metal, be sure to check some other interesting articles about metal music on my blog: