Claim: Metallica plays heavy metal music.

Metallica is an American heavy metal band based in San Rafael , California . The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles when vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield responded to an advertisement posted by drummer Lars Ulrich in a local newspaper . Metallica 's current line-up comprises founding members Hetfield and Ulrich , longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo . Guitarist Dave Mustaine -LRB- who went on to form rivals Megadeth -RRB- and bassists Ron McGovney , Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted are former members of the band .   The band 's fast tempos , instrumentals , and aggressive musicianship placed them as one of the founding `` big four '' bands of thrash metal , alongside Megadeth , Anthrax and Slayer . Metallica earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and won critical acclaim with its first four albums ; their third album Master of Puppets -LRB- 1986 -RRB- was described as one of the most influential and heaviest of thrash metal albums . The band expanded its musical direction and achieved substantial commercial success with its eponymous fifth album Metallica -LRB- 1991 -RRB- , which resulted in an album that appealed to a more mainstream audience . The album was also their first to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 , a success that they also achieved on their following five studio albums . In 2000 , Metallica joined with other artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster for sharing the band 's copyright-protected material without consent from the band . A settlement was reached and Napster became a pay-to-use service . The release of St. Anger -LRB- 2003 -RRB- alienated fans with the exclusion of guitar solos and the `` steel-sounding '' snare drum , and a film titled Some Kind of Monster documented the recording of St. Anger and the tensions within the band during that time . The band returned to its original musical style with the release of Death Magnetic -LRB- 2008 -RRB- , and in 2009 , Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . After touring for most of the next eight years , the band followed up with the double album Hardwired ... to Self-Destruct -LRB- 2016 -RRB- , which demonstrated examples from some of the different musical styles that the band has dabbled in throughout its career . To promote the album , the band released music videos for all 13 new songs on the deluxe edition of the album ; prior to the album 's release , the band had only released 26 music videos in their career .   Metallica has released ten studio albums , four live albums , five extended plays , 39 music videos and 37 singles . The band has won eight Grammy Awards and six of its albums have consecutively debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 . The band 's eponymous 1991 album has sold over 16 million copies in the United States , making it the best-selling album of the SoundScan era . Metallica ranks as one of the most commercially successful bands of all time , having sold over 110 million records worldwide . Metallica has been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by many magazines , including Rolling Stone , which ranked them 61st on its list of The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time . As of January 2016 , Metallica is the third-best-selling music artist since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991 , selling a total of 59.12 million albums in the U.S. Metallica collaborated over a long period with producer Bob Rock , who produced four of the band 's studio albums between 1990 and 2003 and served as a temporary bassist during the production of St. Anger . In 2012 , Metallica formed the independent record label Blackened Recordings and took full ownership of its albums and videos . The band is currently touring to promote Hardwired ... to Self-Destruct , which was released on November 18 , 2016 .