Event Robot

Metallica was easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the '80s, responsible for bringing the music back to Earth. Instead of playing the usual rock star games of


metal stars of the early '80s, the band looked and talked like they were from the street. Metallica expanded the limits of thrash, using speed and volume not for their own sake, but to enhance their intricately structured compositions. The release of 1983's Kill 'Em All marked the beginning of the legitimization of heavy metal's underground, bringing new complexity and depth to thrash metal. With each album, the band's playing and writing improved; James Hetfield developed a signature rhythm playing that matched his growl, while lead guitarist Kirk Hammett became one of the most copied guitarists in metal. Lars Ulrich's thunderous, yet complex, drumming clicked in perfectly with Cliff Burton's innovative bass playing. After releasing their masterpiece Master of Puppets in 1986, tragedy struck the band when their tour bus crashed while traveling in Sweden, killing Burton. When the band decided to continue, Jason Newsted was chosen to replace Burton; two years later, the band released the conceptually ambitious ...And Justice for All, which hit the Top Ten without any radio play and very little support from MTV. But Metallica completely crossed over into the mainstream with 1991's Metallica, which found the band trading in their long compositions for more concise song structures; it resulted in a number one album that sold over seven million copies in the U.S. alone. The band launched a long, long tour which kept them on the road for nearly two years. By the '90s, Metallica had changed the rules for all heavy metal bands; they were the leaders of the genre, respected not only by headbangers, but by mainstream record buyers and critics. No other heavy metal band has ever been able to pull off such a trick. However, the group lost some members of their core audience with their long-awaited follow-up to Metallica, 1996's Load. For Load, the band decided to move toward alternative rock in terms of image -- they cut their hair and had their picture taken by Anton Corbijn. Although the album was a hit upon its summer release -- entering the charts at number one and selling three million copies within two months -- certain members of their audience complained about the shift in image, as well as the group's decision to headline the sixth Lollapalooza. Re-Load, which combined new material with songs left off of the Load record, appeared in 1997; despite poor reviews, it sold at a typically brisk pace through the next year. Garage Inc., a double-disc collection of B-sides, rarities, and newly recorded covers, followed in 1998. In 1999, Metallica continued their flood of product with S&M, documenting a live concert with the San Francisco Symphony; it debuted at number two, reconfirming their immense popularity.

The band spent most of 2000 embroiled in controversy by spearheading a legal assault on Napster, a

file-sharing service that allowed users to download music files from each other's computers. Aggressively targeting copyright infringement of their own material, the band notoriously had over 300,000 users kicked off the service, creating a widespread debate over the availability of digital music that raged for most of the year. In January 2001, bassist Jason Newsted announced his amicable departure from the band. Shortly after the band appeared at the ESPN awards in April of the same year, Hetfield, Hammett, and Ulrich entered the recording studio to begin work on their next album, with producer Bob Rock lined up to handle bass duties for the sessions (with rumors of former Ozzy Osbourne/Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez being considered for the vacated position). In July, Metallica surprisingly dropped their lawsuit against Napster, perhaps sensing that their controversial stance did more bad than good to their "band of the people" image. In late summer 2001, the band's recording sessions (and all other band-related matters) were put on hold as Hetfield entered an undisclosed rehab facility for alcoholism and other addictions. He completed treatment and rejoined the band and they headed back into the studio in 2002 to record St. Anger, released in mid-2003. The recording of St. Anger was capped with the search for a permanent replacement for Newstead. After a long audition process, former Ozzy Osbourne/Suicidal Tendencies bass player Robert Trujillo was selected and joined Metallica for their 2003/2004 world tour. The growing pains the band experienced during the recording process of St. Anger were captured in the celebrated documentary Some Kind of Monster which saw theatrical release in 2004. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine & Greg Prato

FUCK METALLICA...ALL THIS BAND HAS DONE SINCE THE BLACK ALBUM IS DESTROY METAL..THEY HAVE DONE NOTHING GOOD, IN THAT, FOR THE FANS..ALL "SELLOTUICA" HAS DONE IS CONTINUE TO MAKE PEOPLE HATE THEM EVEN MORE THAN THEY ALREADY DO....LARS IS THE BIGGEST FUCKING PILE OF DOG SHIT ON THIS PLANET....SUING A LIPSTICK COMPANY FOR USING THE NAME METALLICA....WHICH IN THE DICTIONARY MEANS (A HEAVY METAL)...WELL LARS U SHOULD START SUING ALL THE DICTIONARY PEOPLE AS WELL CAUSE METALLICA IS IN THE DICTIONARY.....FUCKING PUNK ASS BITCH...YOU HAVE WATED TOO MUCH OF OUR TAX DOLLARS TO GET YOUR ASS MORE AND MORE MONEY....FUCK YOUR MOTHER UP THE ASS YOU FUCKING PATHETIC, GREEDY COCKSUCKER....FUCK YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY!!!!

Metallica's shit.

metallica was good
WAS
but now there not metal anymore, there having a breakdown

metallica has losts its way

metalhead6sic6 said: metallica was good
WAS
but now there not metal anymore, there having a breakdown

AND LARS STARTED THE MELTDOWN...AS MUCH AS ALL THE METALLIHEADS WANT THE BLAME ELSEWHERE...ITS ALL LARS' FAULT....

I still love Metallica.

metalhead6sic6 said: metallica was good
WAS
but now there not metal anymore, there having a breakdown

I agree the last good music they put out was the first 12 or so tracks of the second disk of Garage Inc. (witch were all recoreded right up to the black album era *before jamez blew his voice on tour*)

metallica is not what they used to be

If my brother never had the black album on cassette, I probably never would've started listening to metal. That album, Sabbath's "Paranoid," and the 1st KoRn CD in 1994 were my first metal albums.

Yes, their music has gone way downhill, but they are still solid musicians and BY FAR the best live band I've ever seen.

Metallica is one of my favorites. I have been listening to them since Kill 'em all in '83. I believe that their last good album was And justice for all. Black album was a sell out. But still very good and elaborate. As was the later albums. They are caught up too much in trying to produce these elaborate albums that show off their talent, when most of us would rather see them just jam out like on kill em all. am I right?
Whats with the horrible recording of St. Anger? All that money and the production of the album was horrible. Drums sound like he was using garbage cans! Music was good though. I'd like to hear that with a better recording. Would have probably sold alot more!

Gaytallica

Metallica is one of the best bands ever created, I consider every album from Kill 'Em All to Reload to be masterpieces, with St. Anger being the only weak link in their discography thus far.

Metallicas older shit was good this new stuff can suck my balls

Its funny how they are soooo against file sharing and shit when the thing that made them big in the first place was underground bootleg trading. They bitch as if they are poor or something.

Gaytallica sucks!!!

Metallica is the reason I play my guitar soo much & they got me to work harder & get better on guitar. To me they are one of the greatest bands ever. I would like to see them go back to playing stuff like they did in the 80s but they are still one of my all time favorite bands.