Metallica
American heavy metal and hard rock band, Metallica is best known for its aggressive and distinct music style.
The group was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield.
Having inspired numerous rock generations with their loud and truculent way of playing during their live shows and performances, the group’s fan base has grown massively over the years.
Metallica’s sound, in their primary years, was mostly influenced by other great heavy metal artists and bands such as Deep Purple, Queen, Kiss, and a few others.
For a period in the life of the band, they tried switching from their aggressive signature style to a non-metallic sound but faced sharp criticism in spite of the resulting commercial successes.
There have been a few line-up changes for the group but its most consistent line-up consists of the following musicians:
- James Allen Hetfield (Lead Vocalist, primary songwriter & rhythm guitarist)
- Lars Ulrich (drummer)
- Kirk Lee Hammett (lead guitarist & songwriter)
- Robert Trujillo (bassist)
Achievements
With a career spanning more than 40 years, the group’s musical efforts have been acknowledged and celebrated by grandiose organizations and award shows.
Metallica has sold over 125 million records across the globe earning them a spot on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Six of the band’s albums have remained in Billboard’s list of Best 200 Albums of All Time consecutively.
They were recognized as the third best-selling music artists in the United States in 2017 after selling well over 58 million albums in the US alone.
They have been nominated 14 times and won 9 awards from the Grammys from 1989 till 2018. Some of those awards were won for Best Metal Performance, Best Recording Package, Best Rock Instrumental Performance and Best Hard Rock Performance.
They won two AMA awards for Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist in 1993 &1997, ECHO and NME awards for Best International Band in 2017.
Metallica is reputed as one of the most commercially viable and successful rock bands of all time by many standards.
They have been inducted in the San Francisco Walk of Fame and earned their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2009.
Interesting Facts about Metallica
The heavy metal band is known to be responsible for bringing the metal genre back to earth, disregarding the usual pop style and creating their own.
Below are some exciting facts about the band and its members that their fans may or may not know:
The band was birthed out of a newspaper advertisement Lars Ulrich put out, requesting other heavy metal artists who were interested in playing in his band.
James Hetfield got caught on fire during one of the band’s live performances.
The group has managed to base in San Francisco for the most part of their career. Due to the nature of the lifestyle led by most bands and the subsequent exposure it brings, it is very difficult to remain static in one location for a long time. Metallica, however, has been working and recording most of their songs right where they began over four decades ago, in San Francisco.
The band headlined their self-titled documentary, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, in 2004 which was about the internal conflict within the group at the time and the difficulty they encountered with the production of their eighth album.
Brief Conclusion
Since their formation, the band has shown great success and improvement one album and single at a time, expanding their reach throughout the globe.
Their distinct nature has earned them a reputation yet to be undermined in the music industry.
The band is still thriving successfully making strides through their career. As of 7 January, 2021, the heavy metal rock band had collaborated with Miley Cyrus and other artistic bands including the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Metallica continues to work on new materials and tours for the upcoming years.
Top Metallica Songs
“The Thing That Should Not Be”
Some More Interesting Facts
Aside from music, Hetfield and Ulrich are great fans of sports, unlike Kirk Hammett who has no interest at all in sports and the likes of it.
The band always begins their live shows singing their song Ecstasy of Gold as an opening act.
Metallica’s song Creeping Death is a folktale about the plagues that befell Egypt.
All four of the current members are married. Some of them with children and others without.
Former bassist of the band, Clifford Lee Burton (Cliff Burton) died in a bus crash on September 27, 1986. His remains were cremated and spread in the bay area. He was with the band from 1982 until his death.
Kirk Hammett is a vegetarian.
The band’s third video album Master of Puppets released in March 1986, is the groups most played album. They have played it over a thousand times during their live performances.
As of 2019, Lars Ulrich was officially named the richest rock drummer with a net worth of $300 million.
