March 14, 1982: Enter Metallica

March 14, 2018 | by Jocelyn Hoppa

Look at those goddamn baby faces…

Break out your denim and sleeveless tees, for on this day in 1982, Metallica made their thrashy live debut at Radio City in Anaheim. Today, you can listen to the recordings! (Though they've been posted since 2011 and the videos are erroneously tagged as demos recorded in Ron McGovney's garage earlier that day.)

Guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield really came into his own as time went on, because the vocals here barely sound like him. The shredding is there though, and props for those blistering chops must undoubtedly go to ex-band member and founder of Megadeth, Dave Mustaine.

Late the previous year, Lars Ulrich placed an ad in an LA paper The Recycler that read, “Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with, Tyger of Pan Tang, Diamond Head, and Iron Maiden.”

You can reaaallly hear the new wave of British heavy metal inspired by Diamond Head in Part One and Two of this, Metallica's first live appearance.

Part One

Part Two