Metallica are easily the best, most influential heavy-metal band of the last 20 years, responsible for bringing the music back to earth. Instead of playing the usual rock star games of metal stars of the early 1980s, the band looked and talked like they were from the street, and through that connected with a disparate tribe of punks, metallers, skate kids and anyone into high-energy thrash music. Metallica expanded the limits of thrash, using speed and volume not for its own sake, but to enhance their intricately structured compositions. The release of 1983's Kill 'Em All, marked the beginning of legitimisation of heavy metal's underground bringing a new complexity and depth to the genre. Tracing their musical development through each album, looking at their influences, the events that inspired their songs, and what they mean to their fans, this is the essential companion to Metallica's biggest songs.