Metallica
Metallica is an American thrash metal/heavy metal band. The band started in Los Angeles in 1981, and helped make the thrash sub-genre of heavy metal. The band is one of the "Big Four" of early thrash metal, with Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax. They are well known for many of their songs, including "Master of Puppets", "The Unforgiven", "One", "Enter Sandman", and "Nothing Else Matters". Since then, they have become one of the most popular and successful bands in metal, and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide.[1] The band's fifth album, Metallica, has sold over 22 million copies, making it one of the top 20 best selling albums of all time.[2] Metallica's current members are guitarist and singer James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo. Hetfield and Ulrich write most of the band's songs.
Metallica | |
|---|---|
 Metallica in London, England in 2017. From left to right: Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo. | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Labels | |
| Associated acts | |
| Website | metallica |
| Members | |
| Past members | |
Metallica became popular when they released their third album, Master of Puppets, in 1986. It is called the band's best album. The band was nominated for a Grammy Award for their fourth album, ...And Justice For All, in 1988. Their next album, Metallica, was their most popular. The band's latest studio album is Hardwired... to Self-Destruct. The band will release a new album 72 Seasons in 2023. Metallica has sold over 125 total albums.[3]
Band history
Band starts
The band formed after drummer Lars Ulrich placed an advertisement in a newspaper saying that he was looking for musicians to help him cover songs by Tygers of Pang Tang, Diamond Head, and Led Zeppelin. James Hetfield, a guitarist who would become the lead singer of Metallica, answered the advertisement. Later, Lars and James would be joined by another young guitar player looking for a band named Dave Mustaine. Ulrich, Hetfield, Mustaine, and bass player Ron McGovney started playing in the band. Ulrich and Hetfield saw another bass player, Cliff Burton, playing at a concert, and asked him to join the band to replace McGovney. This was because McGovney was having trouble getting along with other band members. Burton joined the band after Ulrich and Hetfield agreed to move from Los Angeles to San Francisco. In 1983, Mustaine was kicked out of the band for his drug and alcohol problems and violent behavior, and was replaced with guitarist Kirk Hammett who left his previous band, Exodus. Mustaine went on to form his own band named Megadeth. They became very popular in the metal scene, and have become one of Metallica's metal contemporaries, along with Slayer and Anthrax. All four bands are known as the "Big Four" of thrash metal.
Successful albums
In 1983, Metallica released their first studio album Kill 'Em All, on which few of the songs were still credited to Mustaine. One year later, Metallica released their second studio album Ride the Lightning. "Ride the Lightning" and "The Call of Ktulu," the album's final track, were the band's last songs to give Dave Mustaine writing credits. Metallica was one of few bands at the time to deviate from the then popular hair/glam metal trend that was taking place during the 1980s, led by bands like Poison and Mötley Crüe.
In 1986, Metallica released their third studio album, Master of Puppets, which is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time. On September 27, 1986, Cliff Burton was killed when the band's tour bus crashed in Sweden. Burton was subsequently replaced by Jason Newsted after auditioning.
With Newsted as bassist, Metallica released their fourth studio album ...And Justice for All, reaching #6 on the Billboard 200. The album features the song "One," which won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 1990. The album is criticized for its production and inaudible bass guitar, which is commonly believed to be a result of Jason Newsted's hazing, during which the other members turned down the bass guitar volume on the album. The album is also known for having much more complex song structures than previous albums.
Metallica reached even greater success with their self-titled fifth studio album, which debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and has sold over 15 million copies in the United States. The album won a Grammy for Best Metal Performance in 1992, being Metallica's third consecutive Grammy (the second being their cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy").
Stage accident
On August 8, 1992, when the band was playing in Montreal, James Hetfield accidentally walked into a 12 foot high blast of fire on stage. He had second and third degree burns. Fortunately, he recovered and was performing with the band again seventeen days after the accident.
Metallica's music shifted towards a more mainstream hard rock style, and continued their success with Load and ReLoad, released in 1996 and 1997, which both debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200. Despite the albums' success, many fans were unhappy with the large change of style from Metallica's previous albums.
In 1998, Metallica released Garage, Inc., which was an album of cover songs by many of the artists that influenced Metallica, such as Motörhead, Mercyful Fate, Thin Lizzy, and Blue Öyster Cult.
In 2001, Newsted left Metallica to start his own project, Echobrain, much against the band's wishes, particularly James Hetfield. Their eighth studio album, St. Anger, was released in 2003, with producer Bob Rock playing bass after Newsted's departure. St. Anger also debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, but was even further disliked by fans than Load and Reload. Shortly after the release of St. Anger, bassist Robert Trujillo joined the band after a long auditioning process with many bassists. At Trujillo's request, his audition song was Battery, a very fast-paced song from Master of Puppets.
Death Magnetic, the band's ninth studio album, was released in September 2008, and debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200, making Metallica the first band to achieve five consecutive #1 albums in United States. Death Magnetic showed a return to the band's thrash metal roots. From 2008 to 2010, Metallica performed their World Magnetic Tour supporting the album's release. The tour concluded in Melbourne, Australia November 21, 2010.
In June 2010, Metallica attended the Sonisphere Festival in Sofia, Bulgaria with the rest of the Big 4, alongside Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer. Between Metallica's encores, all four bands took the stage to perform "Am I Evil?" by Diamond Head.
In 2011, Lulu, a collaboration album between Metallica and Lou Reed, was released. Many Metallica fans were dissatisfied due to stylistic differences between Reed and Metallica, but the album has managed to garner success.
In October 2013, Hetfield stated in an interview that the band would start working on their next album in early 2014.[4]
Band members
- Current lineup
- James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1981–present)
- Lars Ulrich – drums (1981–present)
- Kirk Hammett – lead guitar, backing vocals (1983–present)
- Robert Trujillo – bass, backing vocals (2003–present)
- Former
- Dave Mustaine – lead guitar, backing vocals (1982–1983)
- Ron McGovney – bass (1982)
- Cliff Burton – bass, backing vocals (1982–1986; died 1986)
- Jason Newsted – bass, backing vocals (1986–2001)
Timeline
Discography
- Kill 'Em All (1983)
- Ride the Lightning (1984)
- Master of Puppets (1986)
- Garage Days Re-Revisited (1987)
- ...And Justice for All (1988)
- Metallica (The Black Album) (1991)
- Load (1996)
- ReLoad (1997)
- Garage, Inc. (1998)
- S&M (1999)
- St. Anger (2003)
- Death Magnetic (2008)
- Lulu (2011)
- Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (2016)
- S&M2 (2020)
- 72 Seasons (2023)
Metallica Media
The classic Metallica logo, designed by James Hetfield and used on most of the band's releases
Dave Mustaine (pictured in 2009) went on to found rival band Megadeth after being fired from the band in 1983.
Kirk Hammett (pictured in 2010) replaced Mustaine in 1983, and has been with the band ever since.
Jason Newsted (pictured in 2013) joined Metallica soon after Cliff Burton's death in 1986.
Metallica performing during its Damaged Justice Tour in 1988
James Hetfield performing with the band during its tour for Load in 1996
Lars Ulrich led the case against Napster for Metallica.
Longtime producer Bob Rock recorded bass for St. Anger following Newsted's departure in 2001.
Robert Trujillo joined Metallica in 2003 after the recording of St. Anger.
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References
- ↑ "Archived copy". Recording Industry Association of America. Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2017-08-31.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ↑ Vaziri, Aidin (2012-09-09). "Kirk Hammett: Some kind of monster fan". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
- ↑ "Metallica to get 'Nobel Prize of music'" (in en-GB). BBC News. 2018-02-14. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-43049190. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
- ↑ NME (9 October 2013). "Metallica's James Hetfield says band are 'itchin to start work on new album". NME.