Lulu (album)

Metallica
Members of Metallica onstage
Metallica at the 2024 Gershwin Prize ceremony. From left to right: Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo, and James Hetfield.
Background information
OriginLos Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres
Years active1981–present
Labels
Members
Past member(s)
Websitemetallica.com

Metallica is an American heavy metal rock 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.[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 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.[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.


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]

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.[5]

Style and lyrical themes

Metallica played thrash[9] and speed metal[11] on their first four albums before changing their sound to traditional heavy metal[14] on 1991's Black Album. Load and Reload, released in 1996 and 1997 respectively, saw the band move towards hard rock.[15] 2008's Death Magnetic saw them returning to a more thrash-influenced sound.[16] 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 Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Kiss, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Ted Nugent, AC/DC, Rush, Aerosmith, and Judas Priest[17] and by new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM) bands Raven,[18] Venom, Motörhead, Saxon, Diamond Head, Blitzkrieg, and Iron Maiden as well as European bands Scorpions,[17] Accept,[19] and Mercyful Fate.[20] Early punk rock bands Ramones, Sex Pistols, and the Misfits also influenced Metallica's style as did post-punk band Killing Joke[21] and hardcore punk acts Discharge,[22] GBH,[23] and Suicidal Tendencies.[24] Lars Ulrich has cited Iron Maiden as probably the biggest influence on Metallica's career.[25] 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".[26] 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.[26] Religious and military leaders, rage, insanity, monsters, and drugs—among other themes—were explored on Master of Puppets.[27]

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.[28] Robert Palmer of Rolling Stone said the band abandoned its aggressive, fast tempos to expand its music and expressive range.[29] 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.[30] 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.[31] 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.[31] With the release of ReLoad in 1997, the band displayed blues and early hard rock influences, incorporating more rhythm and harmony in song structures.[30]

St. Anger marked another large change in the band's sound. Guitar solos were excluded from the album, leaving a "raw and unpolished sound".[32] 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.[33][34] At the advice of producer Rick Rubin, for its ninth studio album Death Magnetic, the band returned to standard tuning and guitar solos.[35] 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.[36]

Band members

Current lineup
Former

Timeline

Discography

References

  1. ↑ "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)
  2. ↑ Vaziri, Aidin (2012-09-09). "Kirk Hammett: Some kind of monster fan". SFGATE. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  3. ↑ "Metallica to get 'Nobel Prize of music'". BBC News. 2018-02-14. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
  4. ↑ NME (9 October 2013). "Metallica's James Hetfield says band are 'itchin to start work on new album". NME.
  5. ↑ Bruce, Jasper (2021-01-07). "Elton John, Chad Smith and more to appear on Miley Cyrus' Metallica covers album". NME. Retrieved 2024-07-14.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "Metallica AllMusic". AllMusic. Archived from the original on October 26, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Metallica makes comeback in thrash metal with new album". TRT World. August 16, 2016. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Phillips, William; Cogan, Brian (2009). Encyclopedia of Heavy Metal Music. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 160–162. ISBN 978-0-313-34801-3.
  9. ↑ [6][7][8]
  10. ↑ Jon Pareles (August 11, 1991). "Recording View; Metallica's Speed Metal, Without the Speed". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 8, 2019. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  11. ↑ [6][8][10]
  12. ↑ "'The ABCs of Metallica' — Heavy Metal Band Releasing Children's Book". WNEP. July 16, 2019. Archived from the original on November 9, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  13. ↑ "Every Metallica Song Ranked". Loudwire. July 16, 2019. Archived from the original on November 13, 2020. Retrieved November 13, 2020.
  14. ↑ [6][12][13][7][8]
  15. ↑ "What's the Difference Between Metallica's 'Load' and 'Reload' Albums? Here's What James Hetfield Had to Say". Ultimate Guitar. Archived from the original on September 16, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  16. ↑ Rivadavia, Eduardo (September 12, 2023). "15 Years Ago: Metallica Returns to Thrash on 'Death Magnetic'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Archived from the original on September 16, 2024. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 "30 on 30: The Greatest Guitarists Picked by the Greatest Guitarists". guitarworld.com. Archived from the original on May 5, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Raven's debut album 'Rock Until You Drop' getting released as 'The 4CD Over The Top Edition'". sleazeroxx.com. March 7, 2022. Archived from the original on March 7, 2022. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  19. ↑ "ACCEPT's WOLF HOFFMANN Says KIRK HAMMETT Citing Him As An Influence Is 'A Huge Honor'". Blabbermouth.net. April 30, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Heavy Metal Culture — 10 Metal Bands that Broke Up too Soon". Heavy Metal Culture. July 4, 2021. Archived from the original on January 8, 2024. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  21. ↑ "James Hetfield's official ballot for the 100 Greatest singers". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 29, 2009. Retrieved February 25, 2009.
  22. ↑ "Metallica Effect: How 'Garage Inc.' Affected Bands They Covered". Ultimate Classic Rock. November 23, 2018. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  23. ↑ Arriaga, Robert (February 24, 1999). "Fast and Frightening". SF Weekly. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Former Suicidal Tendencies Bassist Louiche Mayorga Sues For Unpaid Royalties". Blabbermouth.net. December 9, 2016. Archived from the original on March 16, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2020.
  25. ↑ "Metallica Lars Urlich Thanks Iron Maiden". Loudwire.com. November 23, 2011. Archived from the original on February 6, 2021. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Huey, Steve. "Ride the Lightning – Metallica". Allmusic. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  27. ↑ Huey, Steve. "Master of Puppets – Metallica". Allmusic. Archived from the original on September 23, 2010. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  28. ↑ Huey, Steve. "Metallica Allmusic review". Allmusic. Archived from the original on March 5, 2018. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
  29. ↑ Palmer, Robert (January 21, 1997). "Metallica Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on December 9, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Ali, Lorraine (November 20, 1997). "ReLoad Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 5, 2008. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Fricke, David (December 4, 1996). "Load Rolling Stone review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on November 27, 2007. Retrieved December 7, 2007.
  32. ↑ Cite warning: <ref> tag with name St Anger by Metallica cannot be previewed because it is defined outside the current section or not defined at all.
  33. ↑ Sinclair, Tom (June 9, 2003). "Music Review St. Anger". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on December 20, 2007. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  34. ↑ Loftus, Johnny. "Allmusic – St. Anger". Allmusic. Archived from the original on June 3, 2012. Retrieved December 8, 2007.
  35. ↑ "Metallica Drummer on Producer Rick Rubin: 'He's Forced Us to Rethink Big-Picture Stuff'". Blabbermouth.net. February 13, 2007. Archived from the original on December 16, 2007. Retrieved December 9, 2007.
  36. ↑ Edmondson, Jacqueline (2013). Music in American Life: An Encyclopedia of the Songs, Styles, Stars, and Stories That Shaped Our Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 708. ISBN 978-0-313-39348-8. Archived from the original on July 31, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2017.