San Francisco Scene · 1981–1991
Scenes › Bay Area thrash
Bay Area thrash
In short
Californian teenagers who listened to NWOBHM and hardcore punk at the same time and drew the logical conclusion.
The scene
The scene's founding insight was arithmetic: British metal riffs played at hardcore tempos. Metallica moved up from Los Angeles and released Kill 'Em All in 1983; Slayer went more extreme, Megadeth more technical, Exodus and Testament held the middle. The Bay Area's clubs let bands play long enough to get good, and by the end of the decade thrash had become the commercial centre of metal — which is roughly when the scene stopped being one.
What happened