Metallica
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Metallica is an American heavy metal band. They were formed in October 1981. With 57 million albums sold in the United States (RIAA Total Sales), and 40 million albums sold outside the U.S. [1] [2], the total number of album sales is approximately 100 million. The band has become one of the most commercially successful heavy metal acts in history, as well as the 18th biggest selling act in American music history.
After building a following through its role in the development of modern heavy metal, especially thrash metal, (considered the leader of the "big four" of thrash metal, which includes Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax) in the mid-1980s, the band broadened its audience in the early 1990s. Accordingly, the band has stood as the most commercially visible example of the metal genre since the beginning of that decade.
In 2003 Metallica released their 8th studio album, entitled St. Anger. Although critical reviews for the album were deeply divided, their 2004 "Madly in Anger with the World" tour in support of the album was very successful.
History
The early days (1981-1985)
Metallica was formed in Downey, California in 1981 by drummer and son of a former tennis prodigy, Lars Ulrich, along with guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, who met after each had separately placed classified advertisements in the American publication The Recycler. Ulrich, who had been influenced by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, tried to start his own band before 1981 but was unsuccessful. By 1981, Hetfield responded to Ulrich's call. Bassist Ron McGovney was an original member, and the band used a few transient guitar players, such as Brad Parker and Jeff Warner. Their first session played was in Lars Ulrich's garage. At that time there were only three members, Ulrich, Hetfield, and Lloyd Grant. McGovney joined a few days later. Metallica got its name when Ulrich was helping San Francisco-area metal promoter Ron Quintana pick out a name for a new magazine to promote metal and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands. Quintana came up with "Metallica," but Lars quickly suggested another and decided to use that name for the band he and Hetfield had just started.
In early 1982, Metallica recorded "Hit the Lights" for the first Metal Massacre compilation. Guitarist Lloyd Grant was brought in to do the solos on the track but was never a full member of the band. Desperate for a full time lead guitarist, Ulrich posted an ad in the local newspapers. Dave Mustaine from Huntington Beach, California, a guitarist from the band Panic responded, and upon arrival started a sound check. Ulrich and Hetfield were so impressed with Mustaine's warm-up and equipment that they asked him to join before actually auditioning. A few months later the band recorded a full demo, No Life 'Til Leather, which quickly drew attention on the underground tape trading circuit. Conflicts with Mustaine eventually caused McGovney to leave the band, and he was replaced by Cliff Burton from Castro Valley, California, lured from his band Trauma in exchange for the other members of Metallica relocating to the San Francisco area.
Upon arriving in El Cerrito, California, the group quickly built a healthy local following in the Bay Area Thrash Scene via word-of-mouth and live performances. Metallica then traveled to Rochester, New York in 1983 at the urging of local promoters Jon and Marsha Zazula, and after a few gigs the band signed with the Zazulas' brand new label, Megaforce Records. Shortly after arriving in New York, Mustaine was fired due to various disruptive, unproductive behaviors related to alcoholism and other addictions. Kirk Hammett was drafted from Exodus to replace him. Mustaine would go on to create the thrash metal band Megadeth. A pupil of Joe Satriani, Hammett brought to the band his own unique style, quite different from Mustaine's. This would become more apparent after Ride the Lightning, the first album to feature Hammett's songwriting.
Metallica's first album, Kill 'Em All, was released in 1983 on Megaforce Records. The album set the template that they would follow throughout the 1980s, prominently featuring Hetfield's heavy vocals and aggressive rhythm guitar. Kill 'Em All did not have huge sales after its initial release, but it did establish a loyal fan following in the growing 'underground metal' scene. A year later, Metallica released their second 'Megaforce' album, Ride the Lightning. The new album expanded their form with longer songs that featured lyrical and instrumental growth that rose above some of the playing on Kill 'Em All. Perhaps the most significant feature of Ride the Lightning was the inclusion of "Fade to Black", a slower, more introspective song that some thought mused on the thoughts of someone contemplating suicide. The song, in fact was written after the band's gear was stolen in Boston (most notably, a Marshall amp, requiring James Hetfield to search multiple continents to find one with the same sound). "Fade to Black" is the first such song in a tradition that would come to include "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "One". The inclusion of these slower, introspective songs distinguished Metallica from most other thrash or heavy metal bands such as Anthrax, Slayer, and Megadeth.
Some fans saw Metallica's formation as a direct reaction to the prevalent rock and roll music of the early 1980s. Metallica was inspired by bands such as Motörhead, Diamond Head (declaring in the sleeve notes of 1998's Garage Inc. that "two heads were better than one"), Saxon and other bands of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. They also took inspiration from hardcore punk bands like the Misfits and Discharge. By putting all these elements together, Metallica was single-minded in their desire to break the grip of soft metal on heavy metal fans.
Mainstream success (1986-1994)
Metallica, Damage Inc tour
After signing a major label deal with Elektra Records in 1984, Metallica released a new album entitled Master of Puppets on February 21, 1986. The album is regarded by many fans as their best work and is considered by some to be the greatest heavy metal album of all time.[3] Despite the fact that no singles were ever released for the album, the band received some minor airplay from album tracks "Master of Puppets" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)". The supporting Damage Inc. tour was very successful and the album charted at number 29 on the Billboard Top Album Charts.
The band had become infamous for their extensive use of alcohol, so much so, that they were nicknamed "Alcoholica". And they were proud of it. Alcohol had become an integral part of their music and performance, and would continue to be for many years.
On September 27, 1986, during a European leg of shows, bassist Cliff Burton was killed near Ljungby, Sweden when Metallica's tour bus skidded off an icy road and flipped over.[4] Burton was thrown out of the window, and the bus landed on top of him. It is uncertain if Burton was dead at this point or not. A winch that was being used to lift the bus off of him snapped, resulting in the bus crushing him a second time.
Earlier that night Hammett and Burton had a friendly disagreement on their sleeping quarters on the tour bus that night; they both wanted the same bunk. They drew out a deck of cards and they both proceeded to draw one to determine the winner. Burton picked out the highest possible card, the ace of spades. Burton slept in the bunk that night that put him in the position for his untimely death. Hammett still struggles with the fact it could have been him.[citation needed]
The band's future was left in doubt following Cliff's death. The three remaining members knew it would be Cliff's wish that they carry on, and with the Burton family's blessings, the band decided to continue and seek a replacement. Auditions began almost immediately. Among the most promising of the auditioneers was a young Les Claypool, a childhood friend of Hammett's. The band liked Claypool but claimed his style was "too funky". Claypool would go on to form the highly successful funk metal group Primus.
Three weeks after Burton's funeral, Jason Newsted, formerly of Flotsam and Jetsam officially joined Metallica on October 28, 1986. With Newsted, the band finished the Damage, Inc. tour in the early months of 1987. The transition from Burton to Newsted was anything but smooth: the band delighted in subjecting Newsted to months of hazing, simply to test the limits of the new member's patience, treatment that became legendary in Metallica's history. Tour expenses were often charged to Newsted's hotel rooms on the road, he was tricked into swallowing a significant amount of wasabi in a sushi restaurant, and was often denied limo transportation with the rest of the band. Following the tour, the band quickly recorded The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited (This name was to make sure that fans buying the CD would not be ripped off by greedy CD store managers) in July of that same year as a way to test a new studio they had constructed (according to the EP's liner notes) and to test the talents of Newsted. This EP continued Metallica's fascination with covering songs by relatively obscure (to American audiences) British metal and hardcore bands.
In 1988 the band recorded ...And Justice for All. An album full of some of the band's most structurally complex music, it was the first 'true' studio album released following the death of Cliff Burton. Jason Newsted was listed as bass player on the album's credits but very little bass was audible during playback of the album. Some have speculated that this was done intentionally by the original members of the band as a reaction to the death of Burton (or perhaps as a way of further hazing Newsted). The most likely reason, as mentioned by Hetfield and Ulrich in subsequent interviews, was that Newsted wasn't present in the mixing sessions, and as such wasn't able to input his opinion on the final mixing processs. ...And Justice for All was a milestone in the history of metal. Noting its intense focus on topics related to personal control and independence, many writers celebrated the album (and, by extension, Metallica itself) for the way it appeared to divorce hard rock from the blues in ways bands such as Mötley Crüe or Poison resisted. Although the song-writing was praised, the production of this album was heavily criticized as Lars Ulrich's drums clicked more than thudded and the guitars had a thin sound. Because of the complexity and length of the songs, the band would later (in the mid-90's) cease to play most of them live. Metallica made their first music video for the morbid but accessible World War I-themed "One". Featuring clips from the film Johnny Got His Gun (based on the Dalton Trumbo book), it was popular on MTV and gained the band considerable additional exposure. The album also contained their last instrumental to date, "To Live Is To Die". It was a sort of tribute to Cliff Burton and contained unused riffs written by him and a poem also written by him and read by Hetfield. Importantly, Metallica never lost interest in always providing fans with a sensational live act. They retained their original humility and sense of humor and occasionally gave the fans a 'band-switch' treat. That is, the song "Am I Evil" would be played with James on drums, Kirk on bass, Jason on guitar, and Lars doing the singing.
In 1991, the self-titled album, Metallica (popularly known as The Black Album) broadened the band's horizon again. The record was co-produced with Bob Rock, whose resume included work with hard rock acts The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe and many others. The album featured a black cover that evoked humorous comparisons to Spinal Tap. The majority of the making of the Metallica album and the following tour was recorded, of which around four hours were used in the documentary A Year and a half in the life of Metallica. The recording sessions were a long and arduous processs, lasting over a year due to infighting amongst the band's members and endless arguments with Rock about the direction, scope and sound it should have. The cost of recording the album was reputed to be over $1 million. However, despite the battle to finish the album, it quickly became the band's most successful release, debuting at number one on the Billboard charts and going platinum within weeks.
The album featured the hit "Enter Sandman", which exemplified the radically pared-down style of songwriting across the album; it became Metallica's best-known song and has been used by wrestlers and baseball players as their theme music. Another hit was "Nothing Else Matters", a more plaintive, acoustic ballad that outraged some of their more hardcore fans. The album was a massive crossover hit, bringing Metallica firmly into the mainstream, and it was with this album that the band first encountered significant accusations of having "sold out." This album had been preceded by a cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" which was contributed to Rubáiyat, a compilation album commemorating Elektra's 40th anniversary, and which Hetfield, together with Queen's remaining band members performed live at the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Metallica also played a set at the concert.
There is a point of interest about the track "Don't Tread on Me". In the beginning of the song, a familiar melody takes place on the electric guitars. The melody is actually from the Leonard Bernstein classic "America" from the movie "West Side Story".
Charges of selling out would follow Metallica throughout the 1990s, to which the band often joked that they did indeed sell out — each and every date of the tour. Indeed, the tour following the 'Black Album' was especially successful and eventful. Many dates were held with no opening act, instead showing an introductory film that included interview footage filmed during A Year and a Half... not included in the film, and other footage of band members' antics backstage. The best-known incident during this tour was a pyrotechnics accident in 1992 in Montréal while Metallica was performing a series of joint shows with Guns N' Roses. Hetfield suffered severe second and third degree burns to his left arm during the opening of "Fade to Black," leaving him unable to play guitar for a portion of the tour (former Metallica roadie and Metal Church guitarist John Marshall filled in while Hetfield continued to sing).
The Load era (1995-1999)
After almost three years of touring to support the Black Album, Metallica took a respite until late 1995. On December 13, they recorded during their rehearsal for Lemmy's 50th birthday party; the track "Hero of the Day" and four Motörhead covers were later released as a two-part limited edition CD single. The band spent around a year writing and recording new songs, resulting in Load (1996). At one point during early production, Load was intended to be a double album. Ultimately, it was decided that it would be best to release half of the songs first, and continue to work on the remaining songs and release them the following year. This resulted in the follow up album ReLoad (1997). Some songs written during Load were changed by the time they were recorded for ReLoad; in particular, "Fuel" had different lyrics than the version played during the Load Tour, as evidenced by the version played on the Cunning Stunts concert film (the song was then-titled "Fuel for Fire").
These albums represented a significant musical change for Metallica. The band's breakneck metal tempos and layered guitar compositions had largely been replaced by bluesy rock songs, full of bent notes, warm guitar tones, slide guitar, as well as shuffle rhythms. Hetfield's vocals took a larger role than ever before, and several songs (such as "Mama Said" and "Low Man's Lyric"), broadened Hetfield and the rest of the band's willingness to experiment with various sounds and instruments. These changes included the use of the steel guitar (commonly used in country music) in "Mama Said", as well as the use of the hurdy-gurdy and violin in Low Man's Lyric. Some fans felt that the intricacy and intelligence of Metallica's songwriting had not necessarily been watered down, but that it had been presented in a radically different - or perhaps a simply more varied - stylistic package. Hetfield noted later in the documentary film Some Kind of Monster that many songs on these two albums were initially thought by the band to be of only average quality, and polished and re-worked repeatedly until judged to be releasable.
By 1996, all of the band members had cut their hair (although Hammett eventually regrew most of it), which was made the point of ridicule by many people, including band friends Alice in Chains, whose edition of MTV's Unplugged featured, on Mike Inez's bass, the words "friends don't let friends get Friends haircuts." Metallica were in the audience for the taping of the show. Their hair seemed to overshadow their music in press coverage.
Many of the changes on Load and ReLoad had been anticipated by earlier experiments (especially on the Black Album), but listeners generally regard the two albums as the band's turning point. Sales were lower tha
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