Metallica

**Metallica** is an American heavy metal band formed in 1981 based out of Los Angeles. They are seen as pioneers of 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 of metal, and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. 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. 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 became popular when they released their third album, _Master of Puppets_, on March 3, 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_, commonly known as the "_Black Album_", was their most popular. The band's latest studio album is _72 Seasons_, which was released on April 14, 2023.

Metallica has sold over 125 million total albums.

### 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.

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.

In October 2020, Miley Cyrus announced that she was planning on recording a Metallica covers album and on January 7, 2021, she announced that she has recorded a cover version of "Nothing Else Matters" that would feature Elton John on piano, drummer Chad Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers and Cellist Yo-Yo Ma. This version was produced by Andrew Watt, and was released as a promotional single for the tribute album _The Metallica Blacklist._

## Style and lyrical themes

Metallica played thrash and speed metal on their first four albums before changing their sound to traditional heavy metal on 1991's _Black Album_. _Load_ and _Reload_, released in 1996 and 1997 respectively, saw the band move towards hard rock. 2008's _Death Magnetic_ saw them returning to a more thrash-influenced sound. They's music has been described as heavy metal, thrash metal, speed metal and hard rock

Metallica was influenced by early heavy metal and hard rock bands and artists Blue Öyster Cult, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Rush, Aerosmith, and Judas Priest and by new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) bands Raven, Venom, Motörhead, Saxon, Diamond Head, Blitzkrieg, and Iron Maiden as well as European bands Scorpions, Accept, and Mercyful Fate. Early punk rock bands Ramones, Sex Pistols, and the Misfits also influenced Metallica's style as did post-punk band Killing Joke and hardcore punk acts Discharge, GBH, and Suicidal Tendencies. Lars Ulrich has cited Iron Maiden as probably the biggest influence on Metallica's career. The band's early releases contained fast tempos, harmonized leads, and nine-minute instrumental tracks. Steve Huey of AllMusic said _Ride the Lightning_ featured "extended, progressive epics; tight, concise groove-rockers". He also said Metallica expanded its compositional technique and range of expression to take on a more aggressive approach in following releases, and lyrics dealt with personal and socially conscious issues. Religious and military leaders, rage, insanity, monsters, and drugsamong other themeswere explored on _Master of Puppets_.

In 1991, Huey said Metallica with new producer Bob Rock simplified and streamlined its music for a more commercial approach to appeal to mainstream audiences. Robert Palmer of _Rolling Stone_ said the band abandoned its aggressive, fast tempos to expand its music and expressive range. The change in direction proved commercially successful; _Metallica_ was the band's first album to peak at number one on the _Billboard_ 200. Metallica noticed changes to the rock scene created by the grunge movement of the early-1990s. In _Load_—an album that has been described as having "an almost alternative rock" approach—the band changed musical direction again and focused on non-metal influences. Metallica's new lyrical approach moved away from drugs and monsters, and focused on anger, loss, and retribution. Some fans and critics were not pleased with this change, which included haircuts, the cover art of _Load_, and headlining the Lollapalooza festival of 1996. David Fricke of _Rolling Stone_ described the move as "goodbye to the moldy stricture and dead-end Puritanism of no-frills thrash", and called _Load_ the heaviest record of 1996. With the release of _ReLoad_ in 1997, the band displayed blues and early hard rock influences, incorporating more rhythm and harmony in song structures.

_St. Anger_ marked another large change in the band's sound. Guitar solos were excluded from the album, leaving a "raw and unpolished sound". The band used drop C tuning; Ulrich's snare drum received particular criticism. _New York Magazine_s Ethan Brown said it "reverberates with a thwong". The album's lyrics deal with Hetfield's drug rehabilitation and include references to the devil, anti-drug themes, claustrophobia, impending doom, and religious hypocrisy. At the advice of producer Rick Rubin, for its ninth studio album _Death Magnetic_, the band returned to standard tuning and guitar solos. As a return to Metallica's thrash roots, _Death Magnetic_ was a riff-oriented album featuring intense guitar solos and subtle lyrics about suicide and redemption.

## Band members

- Current lineup
- James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar <small>(1981–present)</small>
- Lars Ulrich – drums <small>(1981–present)</small>
- Kirk Hammett – lead guitar, backing vocals <small>(1983–present)</small>
- Robert Trujillo – bass, backing vocals <small>(2003–present)</small>
- Former
- Dave Mustaine – lead guitar, backing vocals <small>(1982–1983)</small>
- Ron McGovney – bass <small>(1982)</small>
- Cliff Burton – bass, backing vocals <small>(1982–1986; died 1986)</small>
- Jason Newsted – bass, backing vocals <small>(1986–2001)</small>

**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)

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: Metallica
- **image**: Metallica_March_2024.jpg
- **caption**: Metallica at the 2024 Gershwin Prize ceremony. From left to right: Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo, and James Hetfield.
- **alt**: Members of Metallica onstage
- **landscape**: yes
- **origin**: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- **years active**: 1981–present
- **current members**: * James Hetfield
* Lars Ulrich
* Kirk Hammett
* Robert Trujillo
- **past members**: * Dave Mustaine
* Ron McGovney
* Cliff Burton†
* Jason Newsted