The Mother of All Metal Bands

[center]Hello everyone, today i'm gonna talk about one of the greatest bands in the world...Metallica.
[center]The Mother of all Metal Bands



Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles, California. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper, Metallica's original line-up consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, and bassist Ron McGovney. McGovney and Mustaine were later ejected from the band, in favor of Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett, respectively. The ejection of Mustaine has subsequently resulted in a feud between him and Metallica. Mustaine later went on to form Megadeth. In 1986, Metallica's tour bus skidded out of control, and Burton was crushed under the bus and was killed. Jason Newsted replaced him, although he left the band in 2001 and was replaced by Robert Trujillo in 2003.

Metallica's early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship that placed them as one of the "big four" of the thrash metal genre alongside with Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax. The band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community, and some critics say the 1986 release Master of Puppets is one of the most influential and "heavy" thrash metal albums. The band rose to fame with its 1991 self-titled album Metallica, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Some critics and fans believed the band changed its musical direction to appeal to the mainstream audience.

With the release of Load in 1996, Metallica distanced itself from earlier releases in what has been described as "an almost alternative [rock] approach", and the band faced accusations of "selling out". Metallica filed a lawsuit in 2000 against Napster for sharing the band's copyrighted material for free without the members' consent. A settlement was reached, and Napster became a pay-to-use service. Despite reaching number one on the Billboard 200, the release of St. Anger in 2003 disappointed some critics and fans with the exclusion of guitar solos, and the "steel-sounding" snare drum. A film titled Some Kind of Monster documented the recording process of St. Anger.

Metallica has released eight studio albums, two live albums, two EPs, nine videos, and is working on a ninth studio album. The band has become one of the most commercially successful and influential musical acts. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, including 57 million in the United States alone, the band has won seven Grammy Awards, and has had four albums peak at number one on the Billboard 200. The band's 1991 album Metallica, has sold over 20 million copies,which makes it the 25th highest selling album in the United States.


STYLE AND LYRICAL THEMES.
Influenced by Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin, early Metallica releases contained fast tempos, harmonized leads, and nine-minute instrumentals. Steve Huey of All Music Guide said that Ride the Lightning featured "extended, progressive epics; tight, concise groove-rockers". Huey felt Metallica expanded its compositional technique and range of expression to take on a more aggressive approach in following releases, and lyrics dealt with more personal and socially conscious issues. Lyrical themes explored on Master of Puppets included religious and military leaders, rage, insanity, monsters, and drugs.

In 1991, with new producer Bob Rock, Huey felt Metallica simplified and streamlined its music for a more commercial approach to appeal to the mainstream audience. The band abandoned its aggressive, fast tempos to expand its music and expressive range, said Robert Palmer of Rolling Stone. The change in direction proved commercially successful as 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 grunge band Nirvana in the 1990s. In what has been described as "an almost alternative [rock]" approach, the band focused on non-metal influences and changed musical direction. Moving away from lyrical themes dealing with drugs and monsters, Metallica's new lyrical approach focused on anger, loss, and retribution. Some fans and critics were not pleased with this change, which included haircuts, the cover of Load, and headlining the alternative rock concert Lollapalooza. 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. With the release of ReLoad in 1997, the band focused on blues, rock, and country influences as exemplified in the song "The Unforgiven II", incorporating more rhythm and harmony in song structures.

St. Anger marked the biggest musical change of the band's career. Bored with guitar solos, Ulrich chose to omit them from the album, leaving a "raw and unpolished sound". The band used drop C tuning, and Ulrich's snare drum received particular criticism. New York Magazine's Ethan Brown noted it "reverberates with a thwong", Lyrics on the album dealt with Hetfield's stint in rehab, including references to the devil, anti-drug themes, claustrophobia, impending doom, and religion's hypocrisy. The band's ninth studio album will return to E tuning at the advice of producer Rick Rubin, contain guitar solos, and have Middle Eastern influences.

[/left]BAND MEMBERS.

James Hetfield - lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1981 - present)


[left]Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963, in Downey, Los Angeles County, California. His family were of English, Irish, and German descent. The father, Virgil Hetfield (a truck driver) and mother, Cynthia (a light opera singer) were devout and strict adherents to Christian Science, and accordingly, much of his young life revolved around religion. In accordance with their beliefs, Hetfield's parents strongly disapproved of medicine or any medical help and remained vigilant in their faith even as his mother began to die of cancer. Her death and his subsequently turbulent relationship with religion are both recurring subjects that have been the focal point of some of Metallica's lyrics (the songs "Mama Said", "Dyers Eve" and "The God That Failed," are about Hetfield's mother and father, and "Until It Sleeps" is about cancer, from which both of his parents died).

Hetfield was nine years old when he took his first piano lessons, before taking on his brother David's drums and finally picking up a guitar at the age of fourteen. His main influence was Aerosmith, and he has said that they were the reason why he wanted to play guitar. Other bands such as Black Sabbath, The Beatles, Queen, Led Zeppelin and Thin Lizzy also had a major influence on him. Hetfield formed his first band, Obsession, in his early teens. Composed of the Veloz brothers on bass and drums, Jim Arnold on guitar, and Hetfield providing lead vocals, the band spent plenty of time in the Veloz brothers' garage jamming, with Ron McGovney and Dave Marrs acting as roadies. Marrs and McGovney subsequently joined the band itself when the Veloz brothers quit.

After moving to Brea, California due to the death of his mother, James attended Brea Olinda High School and met up with drummer Jim Mulligan. The two jammed at lunch time, scaring fellow guitarists with their loud and heavy sounds. Hetfield's next band Phantom Lord was born with Tanner on guitar, Mulligan on drums, and Hetfield singing while also playing guitar. The group went through a few bass players until graduation, when Hetfield moved back to Downey.

Once back in Downey, Hetfield moved into a house owned by McGovney's parents that was slated for demolition due to an expressway expansion. Hetfield talked McGovney into taking up bass, Phantom Lord disbanded, and then the third band under Hetfield's leadership, Leather Charm, was born. Hetfield no longer played guitar and McGovney played bass guitar, while Tanner and Mulligan retained their former Phantom Lord positions. Leather Charm was largely a hard rock combo, playing a few originals and in addition to covers, such as Iron Maiden's "Remember Tomorrow". The band performed at a few parties and recorded a demo, but then began to fall apart.

Tanner left the band, to be replaced by Troy James. Then Mulligan left for a more progressive, Rush-like band. Without a drummer, the rest of the band decided to call it quits. Although it was Mulligan's departure that led to Hetfield searching for a new drummer, it was Hugh Tanner who introduced him to Lars Ulrich, which led to the creation of Metallica.

Kirk Hammett - lead guitar, backing vocals (1983 - present)


Born in San Francisco to a Filipino mother and an Irish Merchant Marine father, he later attended De Anza High School in El Sobrante, California when his family moved to the East Bay where he met Les Claypool from Primus. As a child and teenager, he showed great interest in his older brother Rick's extensive collection of guitars, Rickenbacker Basses and hard rock records, including material by Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Status Quo, The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and UFO. One of his biggest influences was Jimi Hendrix, and Hammett was quoted as saying he wanted to be Jimi. He has also performed parts of Hendrix's songs during his guitar solos. He took up the guitar for the first time at the age of fifteen, beginning with a Montgomery Ward catalog special and little more than a shoebox with a four inch speaker for an amplifier. After picking up a 1978 Fender Stratocaster, Hammett attempted to customize his sound with various guitar parts, eventually falling for a 1974 Gibson Flying V. He also took a job at Burger King to raise money for a Marshall amplifier.

Robert Trujillo - bass guitar, backing vocals (2003 - present)


He was born on October 23, 1964 as Roberto Agustيn Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz; grew up in Culver City, California where his father was a teacher at the local high school (Culver City High School).

Lars Ulrich - drums, percussion (1981 - present)


Lars' father, Torben Ulrich, who was an acclaimed tennis pro from the late 1970s into the early 1980s, was also a musician, playing jazz with such giants as Stan Getz and Miles Davis; legendary saxophonist Dexter Gordon is Ulrich's godfather. In February 1973, Torben Ulrich obtained five passes for five of his friends to a Deep Purple concert that was being held in the same Copenhagen stadium as one of his tournaments. When it was discovered that one of the friends could not go, their ticket was handed over to the nine year-old Lars. The young Ulrich found himself mesmerized by the performance, buying the band's Fireball album the very next day. The concert and the album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring his entrance into the world of rock and roll and later on, heavy metal. As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first drum kit at the age of thirteen, a Ludwig.

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