10 Rock Bands EVERYONE Tried To Copy
3. Metallica
If you were looking for any kind of hard rock in the early '80s, it usually came from the Sunset Strip. While the bands still had the guitar licks that you knew and loved, there was a definite change in presentation, with the hard rock of old being replaced with lip stick and 8 inch stiletto heels. Rock may have gotten pretty, but Metallica brought metal back into the homes of suburbia.
With the release of Kill Em All in 1983, Metallica were on the verge of a new movement known as thrash metal, where they were masters of the genre alongside bands like Megadeth and Slayer.
Though their brethren had stellar albums to their catalog, Metallica's gradual ascent made believers out of a whole new generation of kids looking for something a bit edgier than hair metal.
Though you can find copycats across the thrash genre, every hard rock act to come after Metallica have had a bit of cross-influence, from Pantera to Alice in Chains. Towards the end of the '80s, you even saw hair bands taking a heavier approach to their riffs in an attempt to earn good favor with thrash metal fans. The start of the '80s was a lot of fun, but as soon as you heard something like "Master of Puppets," the game had changed.