Kill Em All was Metallica’s first studio album in 1983. At this point, the lineup was Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, and Hammet. The last famously replaced Mustaine, who was too much of an asshole for the band who had to be talked down to titling their debut KEM. Their original title would have been Metal Up Your Ass with complementary album art showing a hand stabbing with a dagger out of a toilet bowl. The story goes that when he heard that the label wanted the title changed, Burton said, “Just fucking KEM.”
A stated influence on early Metallica were bands like Iron Maiden, which forms an interesting comparison as another great band that peaked in the 1980’s (Number of the Beast was 1982).
- Hit the lights
- The Four Horsemen – Mechanix with new lyrics
- Motorbreath – common metal theme in punk
- Jump in the Fire
- Anasthesia – bass solo
- Whilpash – fucking heavy metal awesomeness
- Phantom Lord
- No Remorse
- Seek and Destroy
- Metal Militia
