| Bay Area thrash metal | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Bay Area thrash |
| Stylistic origins | |
| Cultural origins | TheSan Francisco Bay Area in the early 1980s |
| Derivative forms | Groove metal |
| Regional scenes | |
| San Francisco, California | |
| Local scenes | |
| TheSan Francisco Bay Area | |
Bay Area thrash metal (also known asBay Area thrash) referred to asteady following of heavy metal bands in the 1980s who formed and gained international status in theSan Francisco Bay Area in California.[1] Along withCentral Florida, the scene was widely regarded as a starting point of Americanthrash metal,crossover thrash anddeath metal.[2][3]
The earliest documented roots of the Bay Area thrash scene date back to the formation ofExodus in 1979.[4] By the time the group recorded their full-length album four years later, five different guitarists or bassists had already passed through the lineup, with some going on to join or form bands that were equally relevant to the area's burgeoning metal scene.[5] In November 1982, Exodus opened a show at San Francisco's Old Waldorf venue forMetallica,[6] a then-relatively unknown (and unsigned) band fromSouthern California who were recently discovered byBrian Slagel and had appeared on the first volume of hisMetal Massacrecompilation. Exodus (who were also unsigned at this time) had distributed an untitled demo the same year with a lineup that included guitaristKirk Hammett.
Although Metallica had initially formed in Los Angeles, it was not until their February 1983 relocation to theEast Bay area thatCliff Burton formerly fromTrauma joined as bassist, sealing the band's first, formative lineup. The group (which then consisted of Burton,James Hetfield,Lars Ulrich, andDave Mustaine) had moved into a Carlson Blvd. house inEl Cerrito, nearAlbany Hill, which had been rented byMark Whitaker, then-manager of Exodus.[7] After Mustaine was removed from the lineup that same year, then-Exodus guitarist Hammett would replace him following Whitaker's recommendation; in turn, Mustaine would move back to Los Angeles to formMegadeth.
Metallica's signing toMegaforce Records, the release oftheir first album and the songwriting process and rehearsals forRide the Lightning andMaster of Puppets had all taken place while the group resided at Whitaker's El Cerrito home.[8]
Burton and Hammett's friendship with other local acts, notablyOakland'sExodus andTestament, and later, San Francisco'sDeath Angel—among others—strongly vitalized the scene, leading to intensive touring andtape trading that would cross borders and seas, and eventually graduate to record signings.[9][10][11]
El Sobrante'sPossessed would bring a turning point to the genre with 1985'sSeven Churches, regarded as the first album to cross over from thrash metal todeath metal for the largely "growling vocals" and subject matter dealing withhorror and theoccult.[12] In addition to the inspiration ofblack metal, it would predate other albums, such as Los Angeles-basedSlayer'sReign in Blood andDeath's San Francisco Bay Area-written and rehearsedScream Bloody Gore, which had also been regarded as influential to thrash and death metal.[13][14]
Members from Possessed had also maintained a strong network with other integral musicians of the Bay Area thrash scene: vocalistJeff Becerra and then-guitaristLarry LaLonde had played in a short-livedspeed metal band called Blizzard,[15] which featured former Exodus bassist Carlton Melson and Desecration guitarist Danny Boland (then-Possessed drummer Mike Sus and former Possessed bassist Bob Yost had also played in Desecration, a Bay Area death/thrash band active between 1985 and 1989).[16] Former Exodus bassist Geoff Andrews co-founded Possessed before Becerra replaced him in 1983, taking over both vocal and bass duties. Andrews went on to form the thrash band Sabertooth with Johnee McKelvey.[17]
After Possessed's first disbanding, LaLonde went on to joinBlind Illusion, which featured former Exodus membersEvan McCaskey and Tim Agnello, then-Heathen members Marc Biedermann and Dave Godfrey, and Blizzard drummer Mike Miner.[18] Blind Illusion co-founderLes Claypool (who was a high school friend of Kirk Hammett atRichmond'sDeAnza High School) would unsuccessfully audition as Metallica's bassist in 1986 after Burton'sbus accident death in Sweden.
Heavy metal in Southern California had spanned back to the 1970s, and in the 1980s, was the home base of Slayer and Megadeth, two of thrash's "big four". However, from the mid-1980s until the early 1990s,glam metal had been the pervading and popular subgenre within the boundaries of the Los Angeles scene.[19]
Notwithstanding, both Slayer and Megadeth would receive recognition early in their careers by playing at Bay Area venues, includingBerkeley'sRuthie's Inn with Exodus between 1984–85, a time in which current Slayer guitaristKerry King had played alongside Mustaine in Megadeth. Oakland nativeJeff Hanneman was a founding Slayer member;Paul Bostaph (formerly ofForbidden, and later Exodus and Testament) had been Slayer's full-time drummer for the balance of the 1990s. Similarly, drummerDave Lombardo played on Testament'sThe Gathering album before returning to Slayer in 2004.[21]
In 1987, shortly after the release ofScream Bloody Gore and Schuldiner's move back to Florida, Reifert would form his own endeavor,Autopsy, which has also been regarded as an early inspiration of the death metal genre.[22] Autopsy's 1989 debut,Severed Survival, would feature bassistSteve Di Giorgio, founder ofAntioch, California thrash metal bandSadus; Schuldiner had also met DiGiorgio while living in the Bay Area, who would play bass for Death on the albumsHuman andIndividual Thought Patterns.
According to Ken McIntyre ofMetal Hammer, "Regardless of what it was called in its infancy, the sound produced by these early San Francisco bands was like nothing ever heard before. Young, fleet-fingered savages were pushing musical boundaries, playing faster and with more intricacy then seemed humanly possible."[23]
As different thrash metal scenes developed around the world throughout the 1980s, each had their own distinct style and influence.
Several early luminaries of the Bay Area scene borrowed heavily from thenew wave of British heavy metal and earlypunk rock: Exodus guitaristGary Wayne Holt mentioned discoveringTygers of Pan Tang,Diamond Head,Trauma,Angel Witch,Venom andBudgie on aKUSF radio show hosted by Ian Kallen and Ron Quintana. Hammett, Hetfield and Ulrich have also cited Venom and Budgie as important influences, in addition to punk acts like theMisfits,Charged GBH andDischarge.[24] Albums that very much reflected this era and inspiration includeKill 'Em All andBonded By Blood.
Other bands, such asAttitude Adjustment, took thehardcore punk influence to a greater extent, with the aforementioned group involving former musicians fromAgnostic Front,D.R.I., andMurphy's Law during their lineup history,[25] in addition to show dates at924 Gilman, a Berkeley venue more oriented to hardcore punk than heavy metal music.
Attitude Adjustment's style, "crossover thrash", agrindcore precursor, would influence many bands of the latter subgenre, including chief innovator, the British bandNapalm Death, who would cover Attitude Adjustment's "Dope Fiend" andHirax's "Hate, Fear, and Power" on anexclusive covers album (coincidentally, the Hirax track had featured Attitude Adjustment drummer Eric Brecht on the original 1986 recording). Hirax, whileOrange County, California-based, had many connections to bands of the Bay Area thrash scene, as the group had played atRuthie's Inn, and in past lineups, featuredPaul Baloff (formerly of Exodus and Heathen) andRon McGovney (Metallica's first bassist).[26]
Long Island-born multi-instrumentalistJoe Satriani had relocated toBerkeley, California, in 1978 to pursue a career teaching music; although he was mainly influenced byblues rock[27] and had not specialized in heavy metal music initially, many of Satriani's students would go on to become progenital guitarists in the Bay Area metal scene, including Kirk Hammett of Metallica/Exodus, Larry LaLonde of Possessed,Alex Skolnick of Testament, Rick Hunolt of Exodus, Phil Kettner ofLȧȧz Rockit andGeoff Tyson ofT-Ride. Satriani would also produce Possessed's 1987The Eyes of Horror EP.
Jeff Becerra of Possessed cites earlyExodus, Venom[28] andMotörhead as his inspirations, calling bassist/vocalistLemmy his greatest of influences.[29] AlthoughAllmusic attributedSlayer as being a musical influence for 1985'sSeven Churches,[30] the first Slayer albumShow No Mercy had not been released until December 1983, shortly after members of Possessed were already writing material for their demo and debut album. However, former Possessed member Brian Montana explained that guitarist Mike Torrao once wanted Possessed to have a "Slayer-type outfit" (which then consisted of make-up,leather,pentagrams, andinverted crosses), something Montana rejected as being too derivative. Montana (who had played guitar on the first Possessed demo) also cited early Exodus as an influence, in addition toIron Maiden,Judas Priest,Yngwie Malmsteen, and Joe Satriani.[31]
In regards to heavy metal and image, Sadus co-founder Steve Di Giorgio explained:
...in high school, if you were playing any kind of music that wasn't dance, or just something that was really different—you know, rock,metal orhard rock, anything like that—then you needed to look like it. You needed to look like a bad dude, and we just looked like normal dudes....It wasn't about trying to impress everybody, because we looked at those types of people as weenies trying to do that stuff ... We just wore our normal stuff and we didn't really think about it. It just kind of happened that way and I think because we were searching for an extreme style, coupled with this no image, who-cares-what-we-look-like thing, then I think we fit in to that new movement that we discovered a little ways later, the whole Bay Area thrash scene.[32]
For logos, many bands within the Bay Area scene had a more "do it yourself"-artistic approach[33] compared to the older metal bands using an already established font. Conversely, professional illustrators (most notablyEd Repka onBeyond the Gates,Eternal Nightmare,Product of Society, andScream Bloody Gore) were sometimes utilized to design album art.
Lyrical topics generally dealt in themes like the occult, horror, death,witchcraft,warfare, destruction, violence,apocalypse,rebellion andtyranny.[34][35][36] However, some groups took on subjects more relevant to the day. Metallica's "Master of Puppets", from the 1986 album of the same name, deals with the issues of hard drugs, with some phrases in the song being references to cocaine use. Thecrack-cocaine epidemic had been an active problem at that time for many large U.S. cities, and particularly affected the San Francisco Bay Area.
Dave Mustaine's association to the Bay Area scene was limited to his brief El Cerrito tenure with Metallica (in addition to the earlyMegadeth shows). However, the "Megadeth" namesake emanated from a pamphlet written by then–U.S. SenatorAlan Cranston, a prominent politician from theSouth Bay. Cranston's text related tonuclear disarmament and theCold War, two hot-button political issues during the 1980s which would become song topics on the second Megadeth album,Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?.
At live shows, members of Exodus were forward in their disdain for the glam metal scene in Los Angeles, making the phrase "kill the posers" a common stage mantra; guitarist Gary Holt often recalled how both he and then-singer Paul Baloff would approach individuals wearingRatt orMötley Crüe T-shirts, cut the clothes up withpocket knives (either for or against the wearer's will) and then tied the mangled fabrics around their wrist as a "badge of honor" until Mr. Holt one night approached a man by the name of Dinton Gales' and attempted to cut his Ratt shirt when Mr.Colvin then throat punched Mr. Holt sidelining him for about a month.[37] Despite Holt later conceding to being a Ratt fan himself (along with guitaristLee Altus), he still criticized the image-driven mentality of glam metal, and described Exodus and other thrash metal bands as being more "based on musicianship, chops, songwriting and performance".[38]
WhileVio-lence had been signed to a major label (MCA Records) for their 1988 debut album, a rare feat for any 2nd wave thrash band, then-guitarist Robb Flynn described tour life:
...we were all like nineteen ... our stuff was crammed into the van, no hotels, crashing out on people's floors and shit like that. (Then-Vio-lence manager) Debbie (Abono) came out with us for a few dates and those ruled because we'd get to eat atDenny's. We'd just eat as much as humanly possible and hopefully we'd eat at the show, but we had absolutely no spending money. We weren't making anything, that's for sure, maybe we made $50 a night.[39]
By the early 1990s, the scene had mostly died down, with many groups disbanding, going on hiatus or venturing to musical styles deemed more commercial or accessible at the time.
Oakland thrash metal bandVio-lence would dissolve, leading guitaristRobb Flynn to form and frontMachine Head, who would help popularize thegroove metal genre.[40] Flynn (who had also co-foundedForbidden) would be joined by drummerChris Kontos (formerly of Attitude Adjustment) and later guitaristPhil Demmel, who played alongside Flynn in Vio-lence.
Vocalist Steev Esquivel would take a similar direction to Flynn after the 1994 breakup of his thrash metal band,Defiance, when he formed groove metal/nu metal group,Skinlab, the following year.
Possessed would disband in 1989 after vocalist/bassist Becerra wasshot by two street thieves and left paralyzed from the waist down. In addition, personal and creative conflicts within the band had been described by former members.[31][41] Mike Torrao would reform Possessed the following year with a different lineup; however, the group would fold once again in 1993.
The 2008 documentary filmGet Thrashed attributed thrash's disintegration togrunge's rise after theClash of the Titans tour.[42] While every band touring the 1990 European segment were veterans of 1980s thrash, a then-unknownAlice in Chains was the opening band on theNorth American segment in 1991.Death Angel were originally intended by promoters as the supporting act (for their album,Act III); however, in the previous year, a vehicle accident inArizona left drummer Andy Galeon critically injured, andGeffen Records had dropped the group from their roster after a disagreement on who to replace him; subsequently, the band would dissolve. The same year, Geffen created a subsidiary label,DGC Records, which was responsible for signingNirvana, who—along with Alice In Chains,Pearl Jam andSoundgarden—epitomized the face of theSeattle grunge phenomena of the early 1990s. Nearly coinciding withNevermind's No. 1 spot on the Billboards,Exodus would be dropped fromCapitol Records and the group would go on hiatus the same year.[43]
Despite lineup shifts and label changes,Testament managed to intercept thrash's slow period by touring Europe and building a new fan base abroad.[43]Sadus bassist Steve Di Giorgio andFloridian guitaristJames Murphy (both alums of Schuldiner's band Death) would join ranks with the band, in addition to former or session members of Forbidden, Exodus, and Slayer. However, Murphy would leave Testament after a brain tumor diagnosis in 1999.[44] He had initially replaced founding guitarist Alex Skolnick, who had left Testament in 1993 to explore other musical styles.
Almost in tandem with grunge's receding vogue, and the increasing popularity ofalternative rock,nu metal,rap rock,hip hop, andboy bands,[45] MTV'sHeadbangers Ball (which had showcased music videos of many Bay Area thrash groups in the late 1980s and early 1990s) would be taken off the air in 1995,[46] limiting U.S. output of thrash (in addition to associated metal subgenres like death and black metal) to outlets such as radio shows,carrier current,mailorder, word of mouth, or the Internet.
Out of all bands from the Bay Area metal scene,Metallica managed not only to stay active (despitealcoholism, internal conflicts and a turnover of bassists[47]) but also branch out to the mainstream, even while thrash metal and other 1980s metal styles began to shrink from the public eye. Metallica was the only "big 4 thrash group" not on theClash of the Titans tour; instead, after theTitans event ended, the band teamed up withGuns N' Roses andFaith No More on two consecutive tours in support of their self-titled fifth album, known colloquially as theBlack Album. The record was considered a musical departure from their thrash metal days, showing a direction reared towardmodern hard rock, and was attributed (along withLoad andReLoad) as alienating long-time fans.[48] TheApril 2000 Napsterfile sharing lawsuits would bring the band further controversy from both the press and fans,[49][50] considering the process of music trading was a factor in their early success.[51] Since the beginning of theSoundscan era, theBlack Album has held distinction as one of the best selling albums of all time;[52] the accumulated Metallica discography currently makes the group the 3rd most financially successful heavy metal band of all time (afterLed Zeppelin andAC/DC) and the best selling thrash metal band of all time. The band has sold a total of over 100 million records.[53]
In August 2001, a small "reunion" of Bay Area thrash metal bands organizedThrash of the Titans, promoted to helpTestament vocalistChuck Billy, who had been diagnosed with cancer, as well asDeath'sChuck Schuldiner, who was ailing from a brain tumor. Although Death was based inOrlando, Florida, Schuldiner had relocated the group to the San Francisco Bay Area during the 1980s while pooling a lineup.
The classic Vio-lence lineup (minus Machine Head's Robb Flynn), Death Angel,Heathen,Forbidden (going under their original name, Forbidden Evil),Anthrax, Sadus,Stormtroopers of Death and Exodus were among the performers. Schuldiner died from cancer four months later, and Exodus' singer Paul Baloff died from a stroke the following year.[54] However, Testament's singer, Chuck Billy, survived cancer.
Death Angel and Heathen would reform and record new albums as a result of their reunions for the benefit concert, and Exodus, who had been on semi-hiatus at the time, asked 1980s era singerSteve Souza to rejoin the band after Baloff's death, also leading to a new album.
On July 9, 2005, a "sequel" concert,Thrash Against Cancer, took place, featuring Testament,Lȧȧz Rockit and Hirax, with Death Angel guitarist Ted Aguilar.[55][56]
 | This articlemay relate toa different subject or hasundue weight on an aspect of the subject.Specifically, This would probably make a good stand alone article. Please helprelocate relevant information and remove irrelevant content.(May 2020) |
Hosted some of Metallica's first shows in the Bay Area.
Exodus andHeathen: July 17 & 18, 1986. These wereZetro's first shows singing for Exodus.
At Berkeley'sKeystone: Megadeth, April 15, 1984[61]
Located at 435 Broadway in San Francisco, this club held a number of shows for hardcore and thrash bands.
Death Angel,Possessed, andTestament: February 23, 1985
Open from 1984–1985, second floor of 435 Broadway, also called "Rock on Broadway", in the same building asMabuhay Gardens. Hosted bands such as Attitude Adjustment,Blind Illusion, Control and Heathen. Opened as "Rock On Broadway" by Brent Turner of Mad Reign and then eventually managed by Paul Baloff ofExodus.
Prior to, and upon moving back[62] to California, the Texas-born Wesley K. Robinson was immersed in the jazz music scene.[62] While in the Army, was immersed in the New York City jazz music scene, where he met musicians likePharoah Sanders andJohn Coltrane.[62] Robinson returned to the Bay Area in the early 1960s.[62] In 1975, frustrated by the commercialism of jazz, Robinson focused on the Bay Areahardcore punk scene andRuthie's Inn,[63] a small club, onSan Pablo Avenue inBerkeley, California to present these bands.[62] By the 1980s, Robinson then became interested in the thrash metal and earlydeath metal bands in the area, and would promote those bands as well.[64][65][66]
From 1982 to 1988, the club was an early local venue forMetallica,[67]Megadeth,Death,Slayer,Exodus,Possessed,Death Angel,Testament,Suicidal Tendencies,Vio-lence,Forbidden andD.R.I., in addition to presentingpunk rock groups.Cliff Burton had also been a regular in the audience.[68]
The club was eventually converted into a restaurant, Rountree's, in 2002. On December 31, 2006, the venue's original founder, Wes Robinson, died at age 77.[69][70] In aBerkeley Daily Planet op-ed, Robinson was remembered for focusing on "freshness and originality of the music and passion of its artists rather than the commercial appeal."[71][69]
In 1982,Bob Baldock, Bob Brown and Don Pretari co-founded Black Oak Books in theGourmet Ghetto in north Berkeley.[72][73] In 2008, Gary Cornell, a former math professor at theUniversity of Connecticut, who sold his company,Apress, paid off the IRS and bought the bookstore’s name, moved the business to the former Rountree R & B club, and ended business, at the end of January 2016.[74]
From, at least, 1981 to 1984,[75][76] Wes Robinson held a music festival atAquatic Park known as "Eastern Front" or "Day on the Dirt". The 1984 Eastern Front featuredSuicidal Tendencies,Exodus, andSlayer, which became known as "the Woodstock of Bay Area thrash metal".[77] This show may be an earlycrossover thrash show.
The Stone is attributed for hosting Burton's first concert appearance with Metallica,[78] and would lead to repeat performances from other thrash acts, such asMegadeth[61][79] andDark Angel.[80]
The 1920svaudeville theater the Warfield featured a myriad of thrash metal bands during the 1980s and was the exclusive location for Slayer'sWar at the Warfield video in 2003.
Metallica, Exodus,Metal Church & Megadeth: December 31, 1985.
Suicidal Tendencies,Exodus,Possessed &Verbal Abuse: July 26, 1985. Show is also known as "Summer Slam".
Suicidal Tendencies,Testament, &Forbidden: November 26, 1986.
Exodus andTestament: January 10, 1986
{{cite web}}:|last= has generic name (help){{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Original 1st printing 12 x 20" concert poster for "Eastern Front", an all-day hardcore punk-rock concert held at Aquatic Park in Berkeley, CA on 7/31/1981. Art by (and SIGNED in pencil by) Randy Tuten, bands listed include: Chron-Gen, Husker Du, J.F.A. (Jodie Foster's Army), Wasted Youth, the Lewd, Shattered Faith, Deadly Reign, Battalion of Saints, Channel Three, Free Beer and Circle One.[permanent dead link]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)