Metallica

One of the most influential, engaging, vital, enduring and just plain rad bands of the past two decades, San Francisco's Metallica rule all that is metal. Their inexhaustible energy and masterful riffage have the uncanny ability to compel metalheads, indie geeks, hippies and punks to simultaneously pump their fists in the air. Combining genre-defining Speed Metal with spit-in-your-face punk attitude, Metallica provided perfect crossover material for millions of disaffected youth, garnering the band a legion of fans as loyal as they are diverse. The late 1990s found the group shifting toward a stripped down, blues-heavy style. The change tested the resolve of some headbanging fans, but tens of thousands of Metalli-friends new and old still show up to every sold out show, knowing that they will leave completely satisfied.