In 1981 a teenage Lars Ulrich put an ad in a paper searching for like-minded musicians to create a band. James Hetfield responded to that ad, and for a short while it was just the two of them. Lars played drums and made musical suggestions while James covered all guitar parts (rhythm, lead, and bass,) as well as singing. Soon after Dave Mustaine took over lead guitar while Ron McGovney became Metallica's 1st bassist. Mustaine and McGovney were ultimately replaced by Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton. Soon after this replacement, things just happened. San Fransisco and New York both gave Metallica their biggest success early on as they were accepted by Elektra. 1983 saw the release of Kill 'Em All, Metallica's 1st album. The guys toured like mad, gaining a strong fan base in their early days. Early in 1984 Metallica released their 2nd album, Ride the Lightning, which had greater musical depth than their debut album. They gained Flemming Rasmussen as their producer, who stayed on for 3 albums. After more touring, they released Master of Puppets in 1986, which was Cliff's last. One night Kirk and Cliff drew straws to see who got the top bunk on the bus. Cliff got the shortest straw, so he got the top bunk. Because of this luck, Cliff died when their tour bus was in an accident and rolled over. Metallica was devastated. Soon they gained Jason Newsted as their new bassist, and finished out their Puppets tour with him. In Metallica's following album, ...And Justice For All, released in 1988, they mourned the loss of Cliff with songs like To Live is To Die (which was written by Cliff) and Shortest Straw (which refers to the shortest straw that Cliff pulled that fateful night.) Including a video for the anti-war anthem, One, Justice turned out to be a turning point for Metallica. They were soon touring with Ozzy Osbourne and were becoming recognized on the streets by many people. ...And Justice For All is still hailed as the most perfect metal album ever done, by many critics. In 1991 the stars aligned, and Metallica hit #1 in the charts with their self-titled album, appropriately dubbed "The Black Album" (produced by Bob Rock who is still on board today with Metallica.) They toured for 24 months after this release. After taking some time off, they were back in their studio, Metallica HQ in San Rafael, recording Load. Soon after they recorded Reload, which explored Metallica's musicianship more than ever before. Garage Inc., Garage Days Revisited, and Live Sh*t and Binge also hit the market around the time of Black Album, Load, and Reload. In 1999 Metallica joined forces with the San Fransisco Symphony and recorded S&M. This release combined the best of Metallica with Michael Kamen's symphonic mind and produced some of the best versions ever of the songs that were performed by this massive joining. Metallica eventually got caught up in the Napster disaster, which did damage the band's fan base... for a little while. In 2001, Newsted stepped off as Metallica's bassist. This was a huge blow to the band. Soon after, James Hetfield entered alcohol rehab, which utterly devastated Metallica. The future of Metallica, after a run of almost 20 years, was very bleak. After most of '02, James returned to Metallica sober and ready to record. So Bob Rock covered bass duties while the trio retained their old posts in the band, and Metallica recorded their rawest album to date, titled St. Anger, which pushed Metallica's 20 year-old sound to new planes of existence. Shortly after recording, Metallica recruited their newest member, bassist Robert Trujillo, who is the young blood of the group. Metallica fans everywhere were excited that Metallica was finally a full band again, and looked forward to the coming tours. In 2003 Metallica was named the MTV Icon of the year. Many other bands came to perform Metallica music at the ceremony, and the new Metallica played their 1st show together that night. Quoting James Hetfield, "We're an Icon, but we sure ain't done yet!"
Bio written by: HarvesterofSorrow286 |
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