I'd argue they were the most groundbreaking of the 4.

I don't remember Metallica making hardcore punk albums or working & touring with hip hop artists.

You could have a point there Urban, i forgot about their hip-hop adventures with Public Enemy and also their rap-metal crossover 'I'm The Man', so they did help pave the way for rap-metal. Whether they were the most ground-breaking though could be hard to judge.

My vote would easily go to Metallica, and I would call them the greatest band of the 1980's followed closely by R.E.M. (not related to thread, I know)

--Kill 'em All: Underrated. This album invented the thrash guitar sound
--Ride the Lightening: Their Best
--Master of Puppets: Second Best
--Justice: Most Progressive
--Black: Great album, even if commercial
--Load and Reload: Filler with great material mixed in
--St. Anger: Big Mistake
--Magnetic: possibly the greatest comeback album of all time, of any band

I'd put Megadeath second. I only have Reign in Blood by Slayer, and I'm not that impressed; there's not enough diversity there. Anthrax, I'm that familiar with.

It's very hard to make a choose...but I vote for Metallica!

Metallica all the way!

I'm disappointed Slayer isn't winning...

SLAYER! is argully the best and fastest metal band in the 80's, I really don't like Metallica except for Kill Em' All

The thing that gets me is that Metallica is a great band. I just don't see them that much heavier or faster than say, Iron Maiden. Slayer actually feels like it took leaps forward in that department.

Welcome to Facebook

awesome!!!

Anthrax bridged the gap between Metal and Hip Hop and were more influential than has been credited.

A lot of metal fans looked into Hip Hop because of Anthrax and this may have lead to a few bands being formed daring to fuck with the rigid parameters that Metal set itself at that time.

Looking back, Anthrax were never truly great but they were definitely inspirational and had the best attitude of the big 4.

It could also be argued that they inadvertently created the breakdown that has become synonymous with many crap band these days when they recorded 'Indians'. which is still the best breakdown in thrash BTW.