During a sojourn in Montreal, Haines and Shaw began recording demos of the material that would become Metric's debut EP, Mainstream. After its release in 1998, the two relocated to Brooklyn, NY, and collaborated occasionally with Torquil Campbell and Chris Seligman of the group Stars, which later included Amy Millan. After cutting more demos using synths and a drum machine, they were scouted by representatives of a major music publisher who flew them to London to work with producer Stephen Hague. Haines and Shaw combined the London-recorded tracks with material they cut in Brooklyn, and the results formed Metric's first full-length album, Grow Up and Blow Away. In 2000, Metric returned to the United States to sign a deal with Restless Records, but shortly before the album was scheduled for release in 2001, Restless was bought out by Rykodisc, and under the new ownership the Metric album went onto the back burner. Around this time, Haines and Shaw met drummer Joules Scott-Key, a Michigan native who'd relocated to Brooklyn after attending a music school in Texas. Scott-Key was soon invited to join Metric, as was bassist Joshua Winstead, who had attended the same Texas school.

Metric's members moved to Los Angeles while trying to sort out their deal with Restless, with Haines and Shaw returning to Toronto for a spell to work with their old friends Amy Millan and Kevin Drew in the group Broken Social Scene. Once they reconvened in L.A. and began working with their new rhythm section, Metric decided that the pop-oriented, electronic sound of Grow Up and Blow Away was no longer representative of their music. Metric subsequently parted ways with Restless and took the masters for Grow Up with them. In the fall of 2003, the Canadian independent label Everloving Records (later re-baptized Everloving) released Metric's second "debut" album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now? The album, which was also picked up by Last Gang Records, became a major critical and commercial success, especially in the band's native Canada. It was followed in 2005 by Live It Out, another successful release, and the group embarked on a lengthy international tour before taking a hiatus.

During the break, Haines went on an extended vacation in Argentina and made guest appearances on albums by the Stills and Jason Collett, in addition to releasing two records with her solo project Emily Haines & the Soft Skeleton. Scott-Key and Winstead moved to Oakland, CA, and formed the band Bang Lime. Shaw headed back to Toronto and opened a recording facility, Giant Studio. A revised edition of Grow Up and Blow Away received a belated release in 2007, and Metric regrouped one year later, after Haines decided she'd had enough of the downbeat music she'd composed with the Soft Skeleton. Now based in Toronto once again, the group began working on a new album, Fantasies, which was self-released internationally in April 2009 following a drawn-out negotiation with Last Gang Records, who agreed to release the band from its roster. Fantasies became the group's most successful album to date, selling 250,000 albums in less than a year, going platinum in Canada, and spawning a Top 20 single on the American rock charts without the benefit of a label.