Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images Entertainment / Getty Images
In 1981 43 years ago today, the future of heavy metal would change forever. On October 28th, 1981, Metallica was formed when Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield got together to jam with bassist Ron McGovney. Hetfield had responded to a newspaper ad placed by Ulrich looking for "other metal musicians". They soon added Dave Mustaine on lead guitar and recorded their first demo, No Life 'Til Leather. Before long, bassist Cliff Burton would replace McGovney and Kirk Hammett would replace Mustaine, creating the lineup for the band's first three albums.
Source: Metallica.com