Bay Area thrash metal

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For the British record label, see Bay Area Thrash Records

Bay Area thrash metal, or "Bay Area Thrash", referred to a steady following of heavy metal bands in the 1980s who formed and gained international status in the San Francisco Bay Area, California ^[1]. Along with Tampa, Florida, the scene was widely attributed as a starting point of American thrash metal and death metal.^{[2] [3]}

Contents 1 History 2 Decline 3 Revival 4 Notable Venues 4.1 The Fillmore, San Francisco 4.2 Kabuki Theatre, San Francisco 4.3 The Keystone, Berkeley 4.4 Ruthie's Inn, Berkeley 4.5 The Stone, San Francisco 4.6 The Warfield, San Francisco 5 Notable bands 6 References 7 External links

[edit] History

Although Metallica had initially formed in Los Angeles, it wasn't until their relocation to the East Bay area in 1983 that Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett joined as bassist and lead guitarist, sealing the band's first, formulative line-up.

Burton and Hammett's friendship with other local acts, notably Oakland's Exodus and Testament, and San Francisco's Death Angel - among others - strongly vitalized the scene, leading to intensive touring and tape-trading that would cross borders and seas, and eventually graduate to record signings. ^{[4] [5] [6]}

El Sobrante's Possessed would bring a turning point to the genre with 1985s Seven Churches, regarded as the first album to cross over from thrash metal to death metal for the largely "growling vocals" and subject matter dealing with horror and the occult.^[7] In addition to the inspiration of black metal, it would predate other albums, such as Slayer's Reign in Blood and Death's San Francisco-recorded Scream Bloody Gore, which had also been regarded as influential to thrash and death metal.^{[8] [9]}

[edit] Decline

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 band Vio-lence, for instance, would dissolve, leading guitarist Robb Flynn to form and front Machine Head, who would help popularize the groove metal genre ^[10] (alternately referred to as "neo-thrash", "half-thrash" or "post-thrash").

[edit] Revival

In August of 2001, a small "reunion" of Bay Area thrash metal bands organized Thrash of the Titans, promoted to help Testament vocalist Chuck Billy, who had been diagnosed with cancer, as well as Death's Chuck Schuldiner, who was ailing from a brain tumor. The classic Vio-lence line-up (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 would lose his battle with the cancer 4 months later, and Exodus' singer Paul Baloff died from a stroke the following year. ^[11]

On July 9, 2005, a "sequel" concert, Thrash Against Cancer took place, which featured Testament, Lääz Rockit and Hirax, with Death Angel guitarist Ted Aguilar. ^[12]

[edit] Notable Venues

[edit] The Fillmore, San Francisco

[edit] Kabuki Theatre, San Francisco

Metallica, 03/15/1985 ^[13]
Megadeth, 05/31/1985 ^[14]

[edit] The Keystone, Berkeley

Megadeth & Slayer, 04/15/1984 ^[15]

[edit] Ruthie's Inn, Berkeley

In addition to bringing to light many punk rock groups, the club was an early local venue for Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Possessed and Death Angel from 1983-1987. Cliff Burton had also been a regular in the audience.^[16] 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. ^{[17] [18]}.

[edit] The Stone, San Francisco

The Stone is attributed for hosting Burton's first concert appearance with Metallica ^[19], and would lead to repeat performances from other area thrash acts, such as Megadeth ^{[20] [21]}

[edit] The Warfield, San Francisco

The 1920's vaudeville theatre featured a myriad of thrash metal bands during the 1980s, and was the exclusive location for Slayer's War at the Warfield video in 2003.

[edit] Notable bands

• Attitude Adjustment
• Defiance
• Blind Illusion
• Dark Angel
• Death Angel
• Epidemic
• Exodus
• Forbidden
• Heathen
• Lääz Rockit
• Megadeth
• Metallica
• Possessed
• Slayer
• Testament
• Vio-lence

[edit] References

1. ^ [1]
2. ^ [2]
3. ^ [3]
4. ^ [4]
5. ^ [5]
6. ^ [6]
7. ^ [7]
8. ^ [8]
9. ^ [9]
10. ^ [10]
11. ^ [11]
12. ^ [12]
13. ^ [13]
14. ^ [14]
15. ^ [15]
16. ^ [16]
17. ^ [17]
18. ^ [18]
19. ^ [19]
20. ^ [20]
21. ^ [21]

[edit] External links

Heavy metal
Black metal - Classic metal - Death metal - Doom metal - Folk metal - Glam metal - Gothic metal - Grindcore - Industrial metal - Neo-classical metal - Nu metal - Post-metal - Power metal - Progressive metal - Speed metal - Symphonic metal - Thrash metal
Regional scenes
Scandinavian death metal - New Wave of British Heavy Metal - Bay Area thrash metal
Other topics
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