When Dave Mustaine was kicked out of Metallica, he left behind a treasure trove full of unsued riffs which his former bandmates manufactured into 4 albums worth of songs, becoming world-famous in the process. Apart from a truckload of raw materials - mere riffs - Metallica inherited a couple of half-done songs from their former guitar player; One of these was "Mechanix", a Mustaine song that under Metallica`s hands evolved into something entirely different ("The Four Horsemen" from `tallica`s debut album "Kill `em all"). Metallica went on cannibalizing the stuff that Mustaine had written while he was still part of the band. in 1991, they managed to break into the mainstream with their "Black Album" - until then, MEGADETH had been closely on Metallica`s heels, with their 1990 album "Rust in Peace", Mustaine`s band outshone Metallica`s "...and Justic for All" musically. Having won over a large segment of the mainstream, Metallica embarked on a world tour that lasted for two years. after the end of which the band members parted ways with one another, completely dropping from sight for years on end as a band. Having achieved mainstream success, it would have seemed reasonable for Metallica to cash in on their hype knowing that it wouldn`t last forever. Half a year after Metallica`s "Black Album" had hit the shelves, Nirvana`s "Nevermind" kicked off the so-called GRUNGE revolution, a landslide that would change the musical landscape forever. For all the talk about it being rooted in Metal and Hardcore Punk, much of it sounds like a
