Metallica Metallica was a band that that started out in the garage of one of the members when they were in high school. The band went through many changes and tragedies and found solutions for them and somehow remained playing. They started in 1980 as one of the first, if not the first Black/Metal band. Their popularity decreased in 1987 and form there they went on to become really popular later on. Summary Metallica started playing in 1980 and are still a band to this day. They have gone through many changes over the years. The original members of the band were James Hetfeild, Lars Ulrich, Dave McGovney, and Dave Mustai