Metallica
Metallica is an American
heavy metal band, formed in
October 1981.
With 57 million albums sold in the United States (
RIAA Total Sales) and over 35 million albums sold outside the U.S. [
1] [
2], the band has sold just over 90 million albums, making them one of the most commercially successful heavy metal acts in history. Metallica are currently 18th on the RIAA's list of top selling acts in the United States.
After building a loyal following through its role in the development of modern heavy metal, especially thrash metal (the most successful of the "big four" of thrash metal, which also included
Megadeth,
Slayer, and
Anthrax) in the mid-1980s, the band broadened its audience in the early 1990s. Since then, the band has stood as the most commercially visible example of the metal genre.
In
2003 Metallica released their long-delayed 8th studio album, entitled
St. Anger. Although the album polarised critical and popular opinion, their 2004 "Madly in Anger with the World" supporting tour was a success. [
3]
The early days (1981-1985)
Metallica was formed in
Downey, California in 1981 by drummer and son of a former prodigy,
Lars Ulrich, along with guitarist and vocalist
James Hetfield who he met after each had separately placed classified advertisements in the publication
The Recycler. Ulrich, who had been influenced by the
New Wave of British Heavy Metal or NWOBHM, tried to start his own band before 1981 but was unsuccessful. By 1981, Hetfield responded to Ulrich's call. Bassist
Ron McGovney was an original member, and the band used a few transient guitar players, such as Brad Parker and Jeff Warner. Their first session played was in Lars Ulrich's garage. At that time there were only three members, Ulrich, Hetfield, and
Lloyd Grant. McGovney joined a few days later.
Metallica got its name when Ulrich was asked by San Francisco-area metal promoter Ron Quintana to help pick out a name for his new magazine to promote metal and the NWOBHM bands. Quintana came up with a list that included "Metallica," but Lars suggested "Metal Mania" and decided to use "Metallica" for the band he and Hetfield had just started.
In early 1982, Metallica recorded "Hit the Lights" for the first
Metal Massacre compilation. Desperate for a full time lead guitarist, Ulrich posted an advert in a local newspaper.
Dave Mustaine from
Huntington Beach, California, from the band
Panic responded, and met for an audition. Ulrich and Hetfield were so impressed with Mustaine's warm-up and equipment, they asked him to join before the audition began.
A few months later the band recorded a full demo,
No Life 'Til Leather, which quickly drew attention on the underground tape trading circuit. After conflicts with Mustaine, McGovney left the band, and was replaced by
Cliff Burton from
Castro Valley, California. Burton was lured from his band Trauma on the proviso Metallica relocated to the
San Francisco area.
Upon arriving in
El Cerrito, California, the group quickly built a healthy local following in the
Bay Area Thrash Scene through their live performances and word-of-mouth. Metallica then travelled to
Rochester, New York in 1983 at the urging of local promoters Jon and Marsha Zazula, and after a few gigs the band signed with the Zazulas' brand new label,
Megaforce Records. Shortly after arriving in New York, Ulrich and Hetfield decided that Mustaine's aggressive and disruptive behaviour (relating to his extensive alcohol and drug problems) was becoming too much to handle. Mustaine was asked to leave the band and
Kirk Hammett was drafted from
Exodus to replace him. A former pupil of
Joe Satriani, Hammett brought to the band his own unique style. This would become more apparent after
Ride the Lightning, the first album to feature Hammett's songwriting. Mustaine would go on to create the hugely-successful
Megadeth.
Metallica's first album,
Kill 'Em All, was released in 1983 on Megaforce. The album set the template that they would follow throughout the 1980s, prominently featuring Hetfield's heavy vocals and aggressive rhythm guitar.
Kill 'Em All did not have huge sales after its initial release, but it did consolidate their loyal fan following in the growing underground metal scene. A year later, Metallica released their second 'Megaforce' album,
Ride the Lightning, adding complexity and further melodic flair to the thrash metal of their debut. Longer songs showcased lyrical and musical growth, like "
Fade to Black", a slower, more introspective song that some thought mused on the thoughts of someone contemplating suicide. The song, in fact was written after the band's equipment was stolen (most notably a Marshall amplifier, leading
James Hetfield to search multiple continents to find one with the same sound). The inclusion of slower, introspective songs with clean or acoustic guitar would distinguish Metallica from most other thrash or heavy metal bands at the time. Some tracks on
Ride The Lightning contain riffs brought by Kirk Hammett from Exodus songs; "Trapped Under Ice" is reminiscent of Exodus' "Impaler".
Some fans saw Metallica's formation as a direct reaction to the prevalent glam metal scene of the early 1980s. Metallica was inspired by bands such as
Motörhead,
Diamond Head (declaring in the sleeve notes of 1998's
Garage Inc. that "two heads were better than one"),
Saxon and other NWOBHM bands. They also took inspiration from
hardcore punk bands like the
Misfits and
Discharge. By putting all these elements together, Metallica was single-minded in their desire to break the grip of
soft metal on
heavy metal fans.
Mainstream success (1986-1994)
|
Metallica, Damage Inc tour |
After signing a major label deal with
Elektra Records in 1984, Metallica released a new album entitled
Master of Puppets on February 21, 1986. The album is regarded by many fans as their finest work and is considered by some to be the greatest heavy metal album of all time.[
4] Despite the fact that no singles were ever released for the album, the band received some minor airplay from album tracks "
Master of Puppets" and "
Welcome Home (Sanitarium)". The supporting
Damage Inc. tour was very successful and the album charted at number 29 on the
Billboard Top Album Charts.
On September 27, 1986, during a European leg of shows, bassist
Cliff Burton died near
Ljungby,
Sweden when Metallica's tour bus skidded off an icy road and flipped over.[
5] Burton was thrown out of the window, and the bus landed on top of him. It is uncertain if Burton was dead at this point or not. A winch that was being used to lift the bus off of him snapped, resulting in the bus crushing him a second time. It is said that Hetfield repeatedly yelled at the bus driver, asking him where the patch of ice was.
The band's future was left in doubt following Cliff's death. The three remaining members knew it would be Cliff's wish that they carry on and with the Burton family's blessings the band decided to continue and seek a replacement. Auditions began almost immediately. Among the most promising of the auditioneers was a young
Les Claypool, a childhood friend of Hammett's. The band liked Claypool but felt that his style was "too funky". Claypool would go on to form the band
Primus after playing in other bay area thrash metal bands, like
Blind Illusion with the ex-
Possessed's Larry Lalonde (who would later play with him in Primus).
Three weeks after Burton's funeral,
Jason Newsted, formerly of
Flotsam and Jetsam officially joined Metallica on October 28, 1986. With Newsted, the band finished the
Damage, Inc. tour in the early months of 1987. The transition from Burton to Newsted was anything but smooth: the band delighted in subjecting Newsted to months of hazing, simply to test the limits of the new member's patience, treatment that became legendary in Metallica's history. Tour expenses were often charged to Newsted's hotel rooms on the road, he was tricked into swallowing a significant amount of wasabi in a sushi restaurant, and was often denied limo transportation with the rest of the band.
Following the tour, the band quickly recorded
The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited in July of that same year as a way to test a new studio they had constructed (according to the EP's liner notes) and to test the talents of Newsted. This EP continued Metallica's fascination with covering songs by relatively obscure (to American audiences) British metal and hardcore bands.
In 1988 the band recorded
...And Justice for All. Featuring some of the band's most structurally complex music, it was the first studio album of new material released following the death of Cliff Burton. Very little of Newsted's bass is audible on the album. Some have speculated that this was done intentionally by the original members of the band as a reaction to the death of Burton (or perhaps as a way of further hazing Newsted). The most likely reason, as mentioned by Hetfield and Ulrich in subsequent interviews, was that Newsted wasn't present in the mixing sessions, and as such wasn't able to input his opinion on the final mixing process. Ulrich has also stated the lack of perceived bass is also due to Newsted exclusively mirroring Hetfield's rhythm tracks.
Noting its intense focus on topics related to personal control and independence, many writers celebrated the album for the way it appeared to divorce hard rock from
the blues in ways bands such as
Mötley Crüe or
Poison resisted. Although the song-writing was praised, the production of this album was heavily criticized as Lars Ulrich's drums clicked more than thudded and the guitars had a thin sound. Because of the complexity and length of the songs, the band would later cease to play most of them live (though several songs, most notably "One", would remain a constant in the group's live performances).
In 1989, Metallica received it's first
Grammy nomination for the album
...And Justice for All for
Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrument. However, in one of the most misunderstood Grammy decisions to date the award was given to
Jethro Tull for the album
Crest of a Knave The result generated much controversy, as Metallica was widely expected to take home the award, and was standing off-stage waiting to receive it after performing the song
"One" for the telecast. Lars Ulrich even referenced the snub in accepting a Grammy for "One" the following year, stating, "We gotta thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year."
The album also contained their last instrumental to date, "To Live Is To Die", which was a sort of tribute to Cliff Burton and contained unused riffs written by him and a poem also written by him, read by Hetfield.
It was during this time that Metallica began to come out of their shells and embrace the mainstream music world, with their first ever music video. Ironically, they would chose the song "
One", a song based upon the controversial World War I-themed anti-war novel "
Johnny Got His Gun", written by
Dalton Trumbo.
For the video, the band recorded a performance of the song in an abandoned warehouse. They then arranged for their song and their performance of said song, to be extensively "
remixed" with footage of the film version of
Johnny Got His Gun. The end result was a "mini-movie" that featured a coherent but shortened "mini-movie" version of "Johnny Got His Gun" and which featured very intricate level of syncronicity between the song and the dialogue from the film, to create a singular narrative between the two.
The "remix" video was submitted to MTV, with the alternate "performance only" version held back in the event that MTV would ban the remix version of the song. MTV would accept the remix version and it despite it's length (the video ran for nearly ten minutes) put the video in heavy rotation. The song became a huge hit for Metallica and the remix video is ranked as one of the top music videos of all time.
In 1991, the self-titled album,
Metallica (popularly known as
The Black Album by fans) saw the band reaching out to a wider audience. The record was co-produced with
Bob Rock, whose resume included work with hard rock acts
The Cult,
Bon Jovi,
Mötley Crüe, and many others. The album featured a black cover that evoked humorous comparisons to
Spinal Tap. The majority of the making of the
Metallica album and the following tour was documented in
A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica. The recording sessions were a long and arduous process, lasting over a year due to infighting amongst the band's members and endless arguments with Rock about the direction, scope and sound it should have. The cost of recording the album was reputed to be over $1 million. However, despite the battle to finish the album, it quickly became the band's most successful release, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and going platinum within weeks.
The album featured the hit "
Enter Sandman", which exemplified the radically pared-down style of songwriting across the album; it became Metallica's best-known song and has been used extensively at sporting events. Another hit was "
Nothing Else Matters", a more plaintive, acoustic ballad that outraged some fans, but secured the album as a massive crossover hit and brought Metallica firmly into the mainstream. The intro to the track "Don't Tread on Me" pastiches
Leonard Bernstein's "America" from the musical "
West Side Story".
This album had been preceded by a cover of
Queen's "
Stone Cold Crazy" which was contributed to
Rubáiyat, a compilation album commemorating Elektra's 40th anniversary, and which Hetfield, together with Queen's remaining band members performed live at the
The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Metallica also played a set at the concert.
Charges of
selling out would be aimed at Metallica throughout the 1990s, to which the band often joked that they did indeed sell out â€" each and every date of the tour. Indeed, the tour following
The Black Album was especially successful and eventful. Many dates were held with no opening act, instead showing an introductory film that included interview footage filmed during
A Year and a Half... not included in the film, and other footage of band members' antics backstage. The best-known incident during this tour was a
pyrotechnics accident in 1992 in
Montréal while Metallica was performing a series of joint shows with
Guns N' Roses. Hetfield suffered severe second and third degree burns to his left arm during the opening of "Fade to black", leaving him unable to play guitar for a portion of the tour (former Metallica roadie and
Metal Church guitarist
John Marshall filled in while Hetfield continued to sing). The Guns 'n' Roses set was also cut short, when lead singer
Axl Rose left the stage claiming he was unhappy with the sound. After two setlists cut short, fans grew angry and a riot ensued.
The Load era (1995-1999)
After almost three years of touring to support
The Black Album, Metallica took a respite until late 1995. On December 13, they recorded during their rehearsal for
Lemmy's 50th birthday party; four Motörhead covers were later released as a two-part limited edition CD single. The band spent around a year writing and recording new songs, resulting in
Load (1996). At one point during early production,
Load was intended to be a double album. Ultimately, it was decided that it would be best to release half of the songs first, and continue to work on the remaining songs and release them the following year. This resulted in the follow up album
ReLoad (1997). Some songs written during
Load were changed by the time they were recorded for
ReLoad; in particular, "
Fuel" had different lyrics than the version played during the
Load Tour, as evidenced by the version played on the
Cunning Stunts concert film (the song was then-titled "Fuel for Fire").
These albums represented a significant musical change for Metallica. The band's breakneck metal tempos and layered guitar compositions had largely been replaced by bluesy guitar tones,
slide guitar and shuffle rhythms. Hetfield's vocals took a larger role than ever before, and several songs (such as "
Mama Said" and "
Low Man's Lyric"), and showed the band's willingness to experiment with varied sounds and instruments. These changes included the use of the
steel guitar (commonly used in country music) in "Mama Said", as well as the use of the
hurdy-gurdy and
violin in "Low Man's Lyric".
Many of the changes on
Load and
ReLoad had been anticipated by earlier experiments (especially on
The Black Album), but listeners generally regard the two albums as the band's turning point. Sales were lower than sales of the previous three albums. Some fans began to sarcastically refer to the band as "Poptallica" or "Alternica" (or simply "Lica", as "the metal was gone") in light of the band's apparent conformity to more mainstream styles of pop or alternative metal music. Many songs from
Load and
ReLoad received extensive radio play, including "
Until It Sleeps", "
Hero of the Day", "
King Nothing", "
The Memory Remains", "
The Unforgiven II", and "
Fuel".
Hetfield noted later in the documentary film
Some Kind of Monster that many songs on these two albums were initially thought by the band to be of only average quality, and polished and re-worked repeatedly until judged to be releasable.
By 1996, all of the band members had cut their hair (although Hammett eventually regrew most of his), which was ridiculed by many, including band friends
Alice in Chains, whose edition of
MTV's Unplugged featured, on
Mike Inez's bass, the words "friends don't let friends get
Friends haircuts." Metallica were in the audience for the taping of the show.
In 1998 Metallica compiled a double CD called
Garage Inc.. The first CD contained newly recorded covers, ranging from obvious Metallica influences such as
The Misfits,
Thin Lizzy,
Mercyful Fate and
Black Sabbath to more unexpected choices like
Nick Cave and
Bob Seger (the band's cover of Seger's "
Turn the Page" garnered extensive radio airplay). The second CD gathered together previously released covers, including the original
The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited, which had become a scarce collectors' item. The CD also included B-side covers going as far back as 1984.
On March 7, 1999, Metallica were inducted into the San Francisco Walk of Fame. The mayor of San Francisco,
Willie Brown, proclaimed the day "Official Metallica Day" in San Francisco. A month later, on April 21-22, 1999, Metallica recorded two performances with the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, then conducted by
Michael Kamen. Kamen, who had previously worked with Bob Rock on "Nothing Else Matters", approached the band with the idea of pairing Metallica's music with a symphony orchestra. Kamen and his staff composed additional orchestral material for a number of Metallica songs and the concerts featured broad selection of songs dating as far back as
Ride the Lightning. Metallica also wrote two brand-new Kamen-scored songs for the event, "
No Leaf Clover" and "
âˆ'Human." The audio recording and concert footage were released later that year as the album/concert film
S&M, in November 1999, on CD, VHS, Video CD|VCD, and DVD.
Napster controversy (2000-2001)
In
2000, Metallica discovered that a demo of their song "
I Disappear" was being distributed via the
Napster P2P file-sharing network. Not only was the song unfinished, it was supposed to be released in combination with the
Mission: Impossible II soundtrack.
They soon discovered that in addition to the demo, their entire catalogue was also freely available. The band initiated legal action against Napster and, in the process, demanded that 300,000 Napster users found to be trading Metallica songs be banned from the network. Legal actions were also started against
Yale University,
University of Southern California, and
Indiana University for not blocking Napster from their campuses. In
2001, Metallica and Napster agreed to an out-of-court settlement which led to many Napster user accounts being locked out. The band did not take legal action against any individuals for copyright infringement. Lars Ulrich provided a
statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding copyright infringement on July 11, 2000.
The lawsuit created a public relations nightmare. Throughout the controversy, many websites hosted cartoon parodies of band members, portraying them as selfish rock stars who were out of touch with their fans. The most popular of these was a cartoon parody entitled
Napster Bad!, by
Camp Chaos, which spawned an entire series. Some critics mocked Ulrich by spelling his name as "Lar$". Public ridicule was widespread as many longtime fans felt Metallica had got their start via underground trading of bootleg recordings of their performances. Metallica's defense was that Napster was allowing free access to their back catalogue and not live bootleg recordings which the band had always encouraged. The fan backlash would not be the only setback the band would experience that year.
Newsted leaves (2001-2003)
As plans were being made to go into the recording studio in
2001,
Jason Newsted left the band, ostensibly due to "the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love." However, subsequent interviews with Newsted and the remaining members revealed that Newsted's desire to release a CD and tour with his
Echobrain side-project â€" and Hetfield's intense resistance to such an idea â€" was the primary cause of Newsted's departure, as Hetfield believed a release by an individual band member would somehow weaken the band. The 2004 documentary
Some Kind of Monster provided more insight into the reasons for Newsted's departure. In the film he says he felt Metallica's desire to hire a therapist to help solve the problems between the band members was "fucking lame and weak".
This would be the first in a series of low-points the band would endure. In July, 2001, Hetfield entered rehab due to "alcoholism and other addictions". For nearly a year, Metallica ceased to function in any meaningful way. Ulrich and Hammett, for the first time, seriously considered the possibility that Metallica might be finished. Hetfield eventually returned to the band following his rehab hiatus. Slowly and cautiously Metallica continued as a 3-piece throughout the writing and recording of their next album. Longtime producer Bob Rock handled bass duties for the sessions.
Metallica held auditions for Newsted's permanent replacement in early 2003.
Robert Trujillo formerly of
Suicidal Tendencies, and
Ozzy Osbourne's band, was chosen as the new bassist. Robert's resume also included
Infectious Grooves as well as a stint with
Black Label Society on their
Boozed, Broozed, and Broken-Boned DVD. As Metallica moved on, Jason Newsted also found a new musical home joining
Canadian thrash metal legends
Voivod in 2002. In an interesting turn of events, Jason became Robert's replacement in Ozzy's band during the 2003
Ozzfest tour (which included Voivod as part of the touring bill).
A new beginning (2003-present)
In June 2003, Metallica released their eighth full-length studio album,
St. Anger. The album debuted at number one on the album charts, as an intentionally raw and unpolished album as a response to critics' complaints that they had lost their edge. Harsh criticism from fans followed, however, for the record's underproduced sound (notably Hetfield's "flexible" sense of pitch), Ulrich's new signature steel snare drum, overwrought songs, and no guitar solos whatsoever (a rarity for Metallica). Reports of second-hand CD shops being flooded with copies of the album circulated on the Internet. Despite the criticism, Metallica won a
Grammy in 2004 for
St. Anger, the band's seventh such award. The documentary
Some Kind of Monster followed the album and offered an inside view into the daily affairs of Metallica as never before. While the film focused on the growing tensions within the band, it fulfilled its original purpose of helping to promote the album. The film also exposed to fans that Metallica had sought the guidance of a therapist, Phil Towle, to deal with a vast amount of the band's inner turmoil.
Having toured extensively for two years with
Godsmack in support of
St. Anger on the
Madly In Anger With The World Tour (in which nearly every performance was professionally recorded and sold on
LiveMetallica.com) Metallica took a break from performing and spent most of 2005 amongst their friends and families.
On
February 16 2006, Metallica officially announced on their official website, that after their 15+ year relationship, longtime producer
Bob Rock has stepped down from recording Metallica's next studio album. Rock had produced every Metallica album since 1991, beginning with
Metallica. His place will be taken by legendary producer
Rick Rubin [
6], who has collaborated with artists such as
Beastie Boys,
Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Weezer,
Audioslave,
Slipknot,
System of a Down,
Johnny Cash,
LL Cool J,
Jay-Z and
Slayer. They are currently working on a brand-new, full-length studio album which is likely to be released sometime in
2007.
Metallica debuted a new, yet-untitled song temporarily labeled "The New Song" in
Berlin on June 6th, 2006 during the
Escape from the Studio '06 mini tour. It can be found on many sites and forums [
7], and has since been performed at other concerts. The band previously unveiled new songs prior to their release: Four songs from
Ride the Lightning (
Fight Fire with Fire,
Ride The Lightning,
Creeping Death, and
The Call of Ktulu) were performed before the release of the album;
Master of Puppets' "Disposable Heroes" was debuted in September of 1985;
...And Justice for All's "Harvester of Sorrow" received its live debut in 1987,
Load's "2x4" was played during the
Escape from the Studio '95 mini-tour; and
Reload's "Fuel", "Devil's Dance" and "Bad Seed" were played at various points during the
Load tour 1996-97 and again on the
Escape from the Studio mini-tour in August 1997 ("The Memory Remains" was teased at the same shows).
Metallica, like a number of other bands, refused to sell their music on
iTunes for a number of years. They finally ended this holdout on Tuesday, July 25, 2006, although only in the
US and
Canada. [
8]
Other appearances
*On September 20, 2005, Metallica went to the studio to record their voice parts for their appearance in an upcoming episode of
The Simpsons. The episode will be the first of Season 18, and will air on September 10, 2006.
*James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett have also recorded guest voices for
Adult Swim's upcoming show "
Metalocalypse". The show will air sometime in August.
* Metallica played two shows with
The Rolling Stones in their hometown of San Francisco on November 13, 2005 and November 15, 2005. Metallica opened both nights and the concert was held at
AT&T Park.
* Metallica played their first shows on the African continent March 18-25, 2006, at the Coca-Cola Co-lab Massive Mix in South Africa. The band was billed alongside such artists as
Collective Soul,
Seether,
Simple Plan, and
Fat Boy Slim.
* The band themselves made an appearance in the
independent film The Darwin Awards, starring
Joseph Fiennes,
Winona Ryder,
David Arquette,
Julianna Margulies,
Tim Blake Nelson,
Juliette Lewis, the late
Chris Penn, and others. Metallica also played at a private party for the premiere of
The Darwin Awards at the
Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2006.
* On March 13, 2006 Metallica inducted
Black Sabbath into the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as well as playing some of the legendary band's songs ("
Iron Man" and "Hole in the Sky"). The ceremony was aired on
VH1, March 21, 2006.
* Beginning on June 3, 2006 at the
Rock Am Ring, Cologne, Germany, and the Download 2006 festival, Donington, UK concerts, Metallica has performed the album
Master of Puppets in its entirety as a homage to the album's twentieth anniversary of release and, more specifically, dedicating the song
Orion to
Cliff Burton. These concerts are the only times that Burton's
Orion has been performed
fully. The band has performed abbreviated versions of the song on many occasions, most notably as part of the bass solo during the
Wherever I May Roam world tour from 1991-1993, and in November 2005 during a pair of dates opening for The Rolling Stones.
* James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich contributed their voices to the
Disney cartoon "
Dave the Barbarian" in an episode titled "Here There Be Dragons", which aired February 27, 2004.
| Year | Band | Recordings |
|---|
Rhythm Guitarist
Vocalist | Lead Guitarist | Bassist | Drummer |
|---|
| 1981 | James Hetfield | Lloyd Grant | James Hetfield | Lars Ulrich | A version of Hit the Lights for Metal Massacre compilation |
|---|
| 1982 | James Hetfield | Dave Mustaine | Ron McGovney | Lars Ulrich | No Life 'Till Leather demo |
|---|
| 1982-1983 | James Hetfield | Dave Mustaine | Cliff Burton | Lars Ulrich | The Megaforce demo [This line-up had no studio recordings, but wrote various tracks and contributions which subsequently appeared on Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning. The writing of this lineup is scattered throughout Metallica's early works. Dave Mustaine wrote many of the lead guitar parts in several songs on Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning, which Hammett later expanded upon.] |
|---|
| 1983-1986 | James Hetfield | Kirk Hammett | Cliff Burton | Lars Ulrich | Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets |
|---|
| 1986-2001 | James Hetfield | Kirk Hammett | Jason Newsted(vocals on one occasion when James Hetfield was injured and did most of the backing vocals ) | Lars Ulrich | Garage Days Re-Revisited, ...And Justice for All, Metallica, Load, ReLoad, Garage Inc., S&M |
|---|
| 2001-2003 | James Hetfield | Kirk Hammett | Bob Rock[Bob Rock wasn't a permanent replacement for Newsted, only filling in on the bass tracks while being the producer of the album.] | Lars Ulrich | St. Anger |
|---|
| 2003-present | James Hetfield | Kirk Hammett | Robert Trujillo | Lars Ulrich | St. Anger live bonus disc, Some Kind Of Monster, TBA (2007) |
|---|
Notes:Temporary live members
*"Damien Philips" (Jeff Warner) - Second guitarist for one gig in 1982 when James only sang due to breaking a bone while riding a skateboard.
* John Marshall (Kirk Hammett's guitar technician, who also played for
Metal Church) - Second guitarist for gigs whilst James was recovering from injuries (1986, broken wrist from skateboarding accident; 1992 burns from pyrotechnics suffered at
Montreal's
Olympic Stadium) when James only sang.
*James injured his back while water-skiing prior to a show on July 7, 2000 at the
Georgia Dome stadium in
Atlanta.
Korn,
Kid Rock and
System of a Down helped out.
*Temporary drummers (when Lars Ulrich was unable to perform at the
Download Festival on June 6, 2004):
Dave Lombardo of
Slayer,
Joey Jordison of
Slipknot, and
Flemming Larsen (Ulrich's drum technician).
Main albums
| Album Cover | Date of Release | Title | U.S. Sales | Chart positions | Other information | | July, 1983 | Kill 'Em All | 3 million | U.S. #120 (1986) | Metallica's pioneering debut album. Rights later sold to Elektra Records. |
| November 16, 1984 | Ride the Lightning | 5 million | U.S. #100 | Includes popular tracks such as Fade To Black, Ride the Lightning, For Whom The Bell Tolls, and Creeping Death. Rights later sold to Elektra. |
| February 21, 1986 | Master of Puppets | 6 million | U.S. #29 | Metallica's first gold album. Also Cliff Burton's last album with Metallica. |
| October, 1987 | The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited (EP) | 1 million | U.S. #28, UK #27 | Consists of cover songs of artists who influenced Metallica in their early history. It is the first recording to feature Jason Newsted. |
| September 6, 1988 | ...And Justice for All | 8 million | U.S. #6, UK #4 | Metallica's most complex album, both musically and lyrically. |
| August 13, 1991 | Metallica | 14 million | U.S. #1, UK #1 | Metallica's biggest selling album to date; commonly referred to as The Black Album for its black cover and camouflaged logos and coiled snake. |
| November 23, 1993 | Live Shit: Binge & Purge | U.S. #26 | Live boxset containing a 3 disc audio recording of a 1992 Mexico City show and a video of their 1992 San Diego show. The set included a video of a 1989 performance in Seattle. |
| June 4, 1996 | Load | 5 million | U.S. #1, UK #1 | Marked a different musical direction, incorporating hard rock/blues influences. |
| November 18, 1997 | ReLoad | 3 million | U.S. #1, UK # 4 | Continuation of the musical experimentation began on "Load". |
| November 24, 1998 | Garage Inc. | 5 million | U.S. #2, UK #29 | A collection of covers, including the previous Garage releases as well as a new disc of cover songs. |
| November 23, 1999 | S&M | 5 million | U.S. #2, UK #33 | 'Symphony & Metallica' is a collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen. It consists of two live shows at the Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, CA in April 1999. |
| June 5, 2003 | St. Anger | 2 million | U.S. #1, UK #3 | A return to a raw, more aggressive sound. |
| June 13, 2004 | Some Kind of Monster (EP) | U.S #37 | Released in contribution to the Some Kind of Monster documentary. |
|
(All album sales are based on U.S. totals. Including worldwide totals, Metallica has sold just over 90 million albums)
Outside of the USA and Canada, Metallica's recorded works are released by Vertigo/Universal.
Collaborations & Individual songs
*Aug. 1988 -
Twist of Cain and
Possession, James Hetfield records backing vocals for
Danzig's self-titled debut*Oct. 1996 -
Man Or Ash, James Hetfield with
Corrosion of Conformity for the album
Wiseblood*Jul. 1997 -
For Whom the Bell Tolls (The Irony of It All) (with
DJ Spooky), for the
Spawn soundtrack
*Jul. 1997 -
Satan, Kirk Hammett (with
Orbital), also for the
Spawn soundtrack
*Jun. 1999 -
Hell Isn't Good, James Hetfield with
DVDA for the
South Park movie*May 2000 -
I Disappear, for the
Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack (MCA)
*2002 -
Drivin' Rain, James Hetfield with
Gov't Mule for
The Deep End, Volume 2*Jan. 2003 -
We Did It Again with
Ja Rule &
Swizz Beatz for the
Biker Boyz soundtrack
*Feb. 2003 -
53rd & 3rd, for
We're a Happy Family: A Tribute To Ramones (
Cretin Hop,
Commando,
Today Your Love, Tomorrow the World,
Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue &
We're a Happy Family were also recorded, but not used for the tribute and instead were used as B-sides for various
St. Anger singles)
*Aug. 2003 -
Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Gone Out of Hand, James Hetfield for
I've Always Been Crazy: A Tribute to Waylon Jennings*Nov. 2005 -
Trinity, Kirk Hammett with
Robert Randolph and
Santana for the Santana album
All That I AmDVDs and videos
Cliff 'em All Release Date:
December 4 19872 of One Release Date:
June 20 1989A Year and a half in the life of Metallica Release Date:
November 17 1992Live Shit: Binge & Purge Release Date:
November 23 1993 (VHS) - DVD was released in late 2003
Cunning Stunts Release Date:
December 8 1998S&M Release Date:
November 23 1999Classic Albums: Metallica - The Black Album Release Date:
November 6 2001Some Kind of Monster Release Date:
January 25 2005 in the U.S./Canada; release dates differ in other countries
Chart singles
Chart Singles Source link*
Download sample of "
Seek & Destroy" from
Kill 'Em All*
Download sample of "
Fade to Black" from
Ride the Lightning*
Download sample of "
Master Of Puppets" from
Master of Puppets*
Download sample of "
One" from
...And Justice for All*
Download sample of "
Enter Sandman" from
Metallica*
Download sample of "
Nothing Else Matters" from
MetallicaMetallica has won seven
Grammy Awards:
*1990:
Best Metal Performance - "
One"
*1991: Best Metal Performance - "
Stone Cold Crazy"
*1992:
Best Metal Performance With Vocal -
Metallica*1999: Best Metal Performance - "Better than You"
*2000:
Best Hard Rock Performance - "
Whiskey in the Jar"
*2001:
Best Rock Instrumental Performance - "
The Call of Ktulu"
*2004: Best Metal Performance - "St. Anger"
MTV Video Music Awards:
*1992: Best Metal Video - "Enter Sandman"
*1996: Best Metal Video - "Until it Sleeps"
American Music Awards:
*1996: Favorite Artist: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock: Metallica - Re-Load
*1996: Favorite Metal/Hard Rock Song - "Until it Sleeps"
Bammies:
*1997: Outstanding Drummer: Lars Ulrich
*1997: Outstanding Hard Rock Album:
Re-LoadBillboard Music Awards:
*1997: Billboard Rock and Roll Artist of the Year: Metallica (RIAA Diamond Award)
Governor's Award:
*2004: Governor's Award - Metallica
Kerrang! awards:
*2003: Hall of Fame
Trivia
* They are one of the few world-recognized bands to have
never officially released a
greatest hits collection.
*
Ennio Morricone is the composer of the song "The Ecstasy of Gold" which Metallica used as an intro to all its live shows from late 1983 to 1995, and again from mid-1998 to the present day. The song is from the
Sergio Leone movie,
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. It was performed in its own right on
S&M - San Francisco Symphony Orchestra & Metallica.
*
Bay Area Metallibangers are Metallica fans from the
Bay Area,
California. The term was originated by the band, and the Bay Area Metallibangers were thanked in the liner notes in the albums
Kill 'Em All,
Ride The Lightning, and
Master of Puppets.
*The cartoon character Beavis (from
Beavis and Butt-Head) wears a shirt with the Metallica logo on it; Butt-Head wears a shirt with an
AC/DC logo. Metallica videos were featured several times on the show. When Butt-Head criticized the band and the videos, Beavis went ballistic and said he would kick Butt-Head's ass if he insulted Metallica again. Metallica was incidentally one of the few bands the show did not completely roast with Beavis proclaiming that Metallica ruled.
*Metallica became eligible for the
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2006, twenty-five years after the release of technically their first recording, their demo
No Life 'Til Leather.
*Metallica was interested in contributing a track to the album "Heavily Armed: A Punk Rock Tribute To Goro", but
Drive-Thru Records did not think that Metallica qualified as a "punk" band, and they were refused.
*Some notable people who nearly joined Metallica during the course of their career:
John Bush of
Anthrax and
Armored Saint was suggested by Hetfield as a possible lead singer in the band's early days but declined the offer.
Mike Inez (
Alice in Chains,
Ozzy Osbourne) and
Les Claypool of
Primus auditioned to replace Cliff Burton in 1986.
Pepper Keenan (
Corrosion of Conformity),
Danny Lohner (ex live bassist for
Nine Inch Nails),
Scott Reeder (
Kyuss),
Jeordie White (ex
Marilyn Manson),
Chris Wyse (
The Cult) and
Eric Avery (ex
Janes Addiction) all auditioned to replace Jason Newsted in 2003
*Metallica is listed at #5 on
VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock".[
9]
*In 2003 an enhanced video on the
St Anger album showed that a Metallica video game was in the works. However, later in 2005 this was cancelled.
*Metallica originally wanted to title their debut album
Metal Up Yer Ass. The name was rejected by their record label; hence,
Kill 'em All refers to record labels in particular.
*"Metallicats" is a name given to fans of the band. It has also been used to refer to members of the band (for example, on the inside cover of the
Garage, Inc. album.)
Appearances
*"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "Orion", and "The Call of Ktulu" are prominently featured in the documentary film
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, marking the first signifcant use of their music in feature films. The follow up film
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations also uses the song "Fixxxer".
*Their song "
St. Anger" was the official theme song of
World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)'s
SummerSlam pay-per-view event in August 2003.
*Their song "
Seek & Destroy" was also the Pro Wrestler
Sting's Theme song in the late days of
World Championship Wrestling [WCW]
*"Seek & Destroy" is also featured on the
PlayStation game
WCW Backstage Assault as
Sting's Theme Song.
*The song "Enter Sandman" (remade by the British metal band
Motörhead) was used as entrance music for
Extreme Championship Wrestling's 'Sandman'. When Sandman came to WWE's version of ECW in 2006 he stopped using the theme music.
*Metallica's cover of "
The Wait" is featured in the movie
School of Rock.
*"
Motorbreath" is featured in the movie
Any Given Sunday.
*"Fight Fire With Fire" is featured in the movie
American Movie.
*"
Master of Puppets" is featured in the movie
Old School.
*Hot Wheels Turbo Racing, a game for the PlayStation, uses "Fuel" for the opening track.
*The
Kid Rock song "American Bad Ass" samples "Sad But True."
*The video game
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 features Metallica's "Whiplash" - a song from their first album
Kill 'Em All.
*Financial commentator
Jim Cramer uses part of "
Fuel" as the intro to his radio show and podcast.
*The talk show
The Savage Nation features Metallica tracks in the introduction, and as bumper music.
*
NBC and
TNT used "
Fuel for the Fire" as its main theme for
NASCAR coverage from 2001 until 2003.
*Metallica have had a number of songs covered by a Finnish classical trio called
Apocalyptica playing cellos. Their first album, entitled simply
Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, covered "Enter Sandman", "Master Of Puppets", "Harvester Of Sorrow", "The Unforgiven", "Sad But True", "Creeping Death", "Wherever I May Roam", and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)". Their versions of "Enter Sandman," "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," and "Wherever I May Roam" appeared on the soundtrack to the 1998 Ben Stiller film "Your Friends and Neighbors." The band has also covered "Fade To Black", "One", "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and "Nothing Else Matters", as well as other covers on their
Inquisition Symphony album. Other Metallica songs covered by the quartet include "My Friend Of Misery", "Fight Fire With Fire", and "Until It Sleeps". They sometimes play "Seek & Destroy" live.
*Radio talk show host
Tom Leykis uses "Enter Sandman" as his show's intro music.
*Professional hockey arenas, especially
HP Pavilion of the
San Jose Sharks, frequently play Metallica songs during intermissions.
*When they are home
New York Yankees's closer
Mariano Rivera comes out of the bullpen onto the field to "Enter Sandman".
*On numerous occasions when the
Chicago White Sox are at home, Metallica is played as first baseman
Paul Konerko comes up to bat.
*Metallica will appear on
The Simpsons in its season premiere September 10, 2006.
Name usage
*
Victoria's Secret was sued in 1999 for selling a lip liner bearing the name Metallica.
*
Guerlain was sued in 2000, in a similar case, for selling a perfume line named 'Metallica.' [
10]
*
Metallica Resources is a Canadian-based mining company.
*In the Japanese comics/animation series
Bastard, the kingdom that the main characters operate out of is named Metallicana in the original Japanese, in homage to one of the creator's favorite bands.*Escape from the studio '06
*Damaged Justice
*List of Rock Instrumentals
*Napster
*So What!
*Metallica.com - The Official Metallica Website
*MetClub.com - The Official Fan Club's Website
*LiveMetallica.com - Official Website for sale of Live Recordings of Metallica's performances on the Madly In Anger With the World Tour
*Metallica On AOL Music
*Napster Users, Metallica Has Your Name - May 2000 MP3 Newswire article on Metallica's Napster controversy.
*Editorial: Facing the Music
*Myspace Page
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