It didn’t take long for Metallica to get their big break – they were given the job of opening for British heavy metal band Saxon on their 1982 US tour – specifically at the second gig of the lot.
Burton was initially too proud to join Metallica but by the end of the year had a change of heart and agreed to join but only on the condition that the band moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.
In late 1982, Ulrich and Hetfield went to see a show at the West Hollywood nightclub Whisky a Go Go , where they saw Cliff Burton play – they were “blown away” and decided he was the one for them to join.
Metallica were ready to go it alone – record their debut album without much backing – but then concert promoter Jonathan “Jonny Z” Zazula came to the rescue. He’d heard their demo No Life ’til Leather (1982) and offered to sign them to his own record label, Megaforce Records.
It was October 28th, 1981, that the band was officially formed – just 5 whole months after Ulrich and Hetfield met up.
It was in late 1981, in Los Angeles that Metallica was formed by Danish drummer Lars Ulrich who put an ad in the local paper The Recycler . The ad gave an idea of the kind of band Metallica wanted to be – “drummer looking for other metal musicians to…
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