At its inception, Metal appealed to a niche audience; but by the early 1980′s, pop metal bands found their way onto the charts, and MTV brought them into our living rooms. Amidst the hair metal mania, several artists continued working hard in the underground, pushing the metal sound into heavier territory. Just up the coast from pop metal’s epicenter in Los Angeles, bands in San Francisco were inventing a more extreme expression of metal that would somehow remain invisible to the general public while selling millions of albums, and filling the world’s concert seats. To the true metalhead, pop metal was merely a diversion; the style known as “thrash” represented metal’s true bloodline.
Thrash is to metal as Hard Bop is to jazz. Its techniques have remained the foundation for all but the most saccharine pop metal. In thrash, guitars are crunchy and syncopated, doubling the bass, and accented by the kick drum. Thrash riffs are less melodic and more visceral — they are meant to be felt as well as heard. Classical scales and harmonies are abandoned in favor of a more chromatic approach, seamlessly incorporating blues, phrygian, and spanish scales. Song forms are lengthy and progressive; half and double-time sections are used to vary the intensity, with the “breakdown” emerging as a staple of the extreme metal songwriting vocabulary. Vocals are more gruff than in pop and power metal, often with partly shouted, “call-and-response” refrains. Lyrical subject matter is grimly realistic, portraying disillusionment, insanity, paranoia, and the horrors of war. When thrash lyricists depart from cynicism, their more fun pieces are celebrations of thrash culture, as in the exemplary, adrenaline-soaked “Toxic Waltz,” by Exodus:
Whereas glam bands seemed to draw their inspiration from American shock rockers like Alice Cooper and KISS, thrashers sought to emulate and expand upon the sounds of the NWOBHM. Metallica were overt fans of Diamond Head, Budgie, and hardcore punkers The Misfits; and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine claimed to keep a copy of King Diamond’s Melissa with him as he toured. Metallica and Megadeth, along with Slayer and Anthrax (the only group from the east coast) comprised what critics and fans refer to as the “Big Four” of thrash.
Of the Big Four, Metallica is the most obviously prolific. Founded in Los Angeles and quickly relocated to the Bay Area, its members originally included Dave Mustaine, who was ousted just before the release of their debut album. Metallica’s immense success is no accident; of the four, they were far from the most talented, but they knew quite well how to work around their limitations and produce highly engaging songs, making them the ultimate garage band. Their rise was based on one brilliant career decision after another, from the removal of Dave Mustaine to their refusal to produce a video until well after the release of their fourth album, which helped cement their credibility with the anti-establishment element of metal fans, a demographic who also delighted in Metallica’s lyrics decrying censorship, totalitarianism, and war. In my opinion, their greatest moment is “Disposable Heroes,” from Master of Puppets: YouTube Video
Once fired from Metallica, their former chief songwriter and lead guitarist Dave Mustaine wasted no time in forming Megadeth. Mustaine has a knack for surrounding himself with quality musicians, and his arrangements have been described by other metal musicians as “jazz-like.” However fair an assessment that may be, he certainly demonstrates the advantage of being a one-man show: One’s vision can be most easily realized by the best talent one can afford, without personal loyalties getting in the way. From their album, Peace Sells, But Who’s Buying?, the song “Wake Up Dead” was my introduction to Megadeth, and it rocked my brains out: YouTube Video
New York City’s Anthrax were not only geographically removed from the others in the Big Four, but were stylistically quite distant as well. Their instrumental sound was classic thrash, but with more intense double and even quadruple-time beats and breaks, anticipating the “blast beats” so prevalent in today’s metal and metalcore styles. They took a less cynical approach to lyric writing; in their landmark album Among the Living, they focus on topics like teen angst (“Caught in a Mosh”) and comic book heroes (“I Am The Law”), and even lament the tragedy of John Belushi’s premature death (“Efilnikufesin”). Their willingness to cross over into other genres placed them squarely in the midst of a hardcore punk/thrash crossover movement that stirred enmity between punk fans and their long-haired headbanging counterparts. They also dabbled in hip-hop, teaming up with Public Enemy on the single “Bring the Noise,” subsequently enjoying some mainstream success. Even their image was upbeat; Anthrax routinely sported baseball caps and bright shorts, in contrast to Metallica’s black jeans and plain t-shirts. This is gateway metal for the frat crowd: YouTube Video
Slayer bears the distinction of being the best-aged thrash group. Throughout the decades since the 80′s, during which mainstream metal was first marginalized, then recalled with pitiful disdain, Slayer’s unapologetic thrash has retained its appeal. I attribute this in part to their resilience under fire. Their careers have perennially been plagued by controversy, making them thrash’s whipping boys. Their album art and subject matter explore dark concepts like murder, torture, and demonism, fueling accusations of satanism. For a time, their song “Angel of Death” invited (erroneous) allegations that they were Nazi sympathizers. Still they passed through the 80′s paranoia wave unscathed; and their furious, high-speed grinding has made them prototypes of death metal, black metal, and metalcore acts to come. Many of today’s more aggressive metal bands can trace their lineage to Slayer. YouTube Video
