Kirk Hammett talked about leaving Exodus to join Metallica in 1983, telling British GQ:
“I formed Exodus when I was 15 or 16 years old, and by the time when I was 20 years old we had been going through some personnel changes.
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“There were some issues between me and the other guys in the band. They started doing different drugs than I was doing. [Laughs]
“It opened up a divide, and then the invitation to come join Metallica came and I jumped at it. Things weren’t so great in Exodus at that point, but they fixed themselves and they got it together after I left.
“And secondly, I kind of recognized after seeing Metallica that I would probably be better playing with them. I actually got that.
“It was a very sobering thing to think that while I was watching that thinking, ‘These guys are really great, they can be so much better with me.’ I actually had that thought.
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“And then literally two weeks later I got a phone call to join the band, and it was almost like destiny. When I heard my friends say, ‘Come to New York’ it was almost as if I was expecting that phone call and expecting that invitation
“It was just a strange feeling – when I look back at it now it really feels like I was fulfilling my own destiny and having some sort of like consciousness about fulfilling it.”