“There was a lot of interference and push to be commercial. We went along for the ride – and got left in the middle of nowhere”: The thrash metal bands who deserved to make it – but didn’t

(from left) Mark Gallagher, Rob "Wacko" Hunter, and John Gallagher, of the English heavy metal band Raven, pose for a group portrait at The Kabuki Theater in San Francisco, California on June 7, 1984.

For every wildly successful Metallica, there are countless metal bands that never grabbed the brass ring. In the ‘80s, extreme metal was breaking through, and there was a plethora of great bands to choose from.

While most never reached the heights of the Big Four, many of them are still slugging it out, and they’ve stuck around long enough for new generations of fans to discover them.