METALLICA STARTED OFF AS JAMES HETFIELD, LARS ULRICH AND LlOYD GRANT. THESE THREE RECORDED THE FIRST METALLICA
SONG TO BE RELEASED “HIT THE LIGHTS” IT WAS PUT ON THE FIRST METAL MASSACRE COMPILATION, RELEASED IN ‘82.A DEMO TAPE WAS PRODUCED IN THE SPRING OF ’82 WHICH HAD JAMES AND LARS ON AS WELL AS DAVE MUSTAINE AND RON McGOVNEY. NO LIFE ‘TIL LEATHER WAS ALSO MADE IN ’82 ,IT WAS NEVER RELEASED BUT COPIES WERE MADE AND CIRRCULATED. IN THE AUTUMN OF ‘82 METALLICA HAD BEEN INTRODUCED TO BASSIST CLIFF BURTON. ON SEEING HIS PERFORMANCE JAMES AND LARS INSTANTLY OFFERED HIM A SPOT IN THE BAND. THEY WERE TO BE DISSAPOINTED HOWEVER AS CLIFF SAID HE WOULD ONLY JOIN THE BAND IF THEY RELOCATED TO SAN FRANSICO. SO IN TIME THEY RELOCATED AND RON LEFT THE BAND.

EARLY ’83 WAS WHEN JON ZAZULA DISCOVERED METALLICA HE TRIED TO GET THEM A RECORD DEAL, FAILING THIS HE STARTED HIS OWN COMPANY. ON THE WAY TO NEW YORK TO PLAY SOME GIGS DAVE'S DRINKING PROBLEMS BECAME APPARENT. THERE WAS SOME INCIDENT INVOLVING DAVE KICKING JAMES'S DOG AND EARLY ONE MORNING DAVE WAS ASKED TO LEAVE. WHILE KIRK HAMMET WAS ON HIS WAY TO REPLACE HIM.

METALLICA WENT INTO THE STUDIO TO RECORD ‘METAL UP YOUR ASS’ BUT THE NAME HAD TO BE CHANGED, AS THE DISTRIBUTORS WOULDN’T STOCK IT. SO IT WAS RENAMED ‘KILL ‘EM ALL’ AND RELEASED IN JULY. THEY THEN DID A BRIEF TOUR WITH RAVEN, AND FINISHED THE YEAR WRITING MATERIAL FOR THE NEXT ALBUM.

IN 1984 THE BAND STARTED TOURING IN SUPPORT OF VENOM. IN JUNE THE SECOND ALBUM ‘RIDE THE LIGHTNING’ IS RELEASED. ARGUABLY THEIR DEFINING ALBUM, BUT SOME DIE-HARD METAL FANS SAID IT WAS POOR BECAUSE OF TRACKS SUCH AS ‘FADE TO BLACK’!!! CLIFF HAD A LOT MORE INPUT INTO THIS ALBUM AND HELPED CREATE THEIR SOUND. AN EXAMPLE OF CLIFF’S GENIUS’ IS ON ‘CALL OF KTULU’ WHERE HE PLAYS A DARK BASS SOLO.

THE MONSTERS OF ROCK FESTIVAL ’85 AT DONNINGTON. SAW METALLICA ON THE BILL ALONG SIDE RATT AND BON JOVI, DOUBTLESS TO SAY METALLICA WERE THE BAND. THE END OF ’85 SAW THE RECORDING OF THE THIRD ALBUM. MARCH ’86 MASTER OF PUPPETS WAS RELEASED, THIS WAS THEIR DEFINING ALBUM, 8 TRACKS OF PURE GENIUS. METALLICA HAD COME INTO THEIR OWN, WITH NOTHING TO STAND IN THEIR WAY OF THE BIG TIME. THEY WENT ON THEIR LAST SUPPORTING TOUR UNDER OZZY OSBOURNE. THIS SAW THEIR POPULARITY RISE RAPIDLY.

IT WAS EARLY MORNING ON THE 27th OF SEPTEMBER WHEN A TRAGIC ACCIDENT BEFELL THE BAND. THE TOUR BUS WAS ON ROUTE TO COPENHAGEN WHEN THE DRIVER PASSED OVER SOME BLACK ICE ON THE ROAD AND LOST CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE. THE BUS CONTINUED TO TRAVEL FOR 60 FEET UNTIL FINALLY COMING TO A REST IN A DITCH ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD. IN THE CONFUSION THAT FOLLOWED EVERYONE WAS TRYING TO GET OUT AND SCRAMBLE TO SAFETY, EVERYONE GOT OUT EXCEPT CLIFF. HE HAD FALLEN OUT OF THE WINDOW AND THEN BEEN CRUSHED BY THE BUS.
THE REST OF THE BAND DEALT WITH THEIR GRIEF AND HAD TO MAKE THE PAIN STAKING DECISION OF WHETHER TO CARRY ON. THEY FLEW BACK TO THE U.S. AND IN OCTOBER STARTED AUDITIONING BASSISTS.

JASON NEWSTEAD AUDITIONS FOR METALLICA; HE PRACTISED SOLIDLY FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE LEARNING EVERY SONG. SO WHEN METALLICA ASKS WHICH SONG JASON WANTS TO PLAY HE SAY ‘ ANYONE YOU LIKE’. HE LATER WENT TO THE PUB WITH THEM AND AT THE END OF THE NIGHT THEY TELL JASON ‘ WELCOME TO METALLICA’.

IN ’87 METALLICA RECORD A COVERS ALBUM ‘GARAGE DAYS RE-VISITED’, AND WORK ON MATERIAL FOR THE NEW ALBUM. ’88 SEES THE RELEASE OF …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL. THIS IS AN OVER WORKED ALBUM, THOUGH QUITE IMPRESSIVE A LITTLE TOO LONG. EACH SONG IS AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES, AND MOST AROUND EIGHT. THE GUITAR PARTS WERE NOT JUST DOUBLED BUT OVER LAYERED ABOUT 8 OR 10 TIMES, THIS MADE THE BASS ALMOST INDISTINGUISHABLE. THOUGH IT DOES HAVE CLASSIC TRACKS ‘ONE’ AND ‘HARVESTER OF SORROW’. METALLICA LATER MAKE A MUSIC VIDEO OF ‘ONE’, AND AFTER A HUGE TOUR THEY TAKE A BREAK.

FOR THE NEXT ALBUM THEY CHOOSE ON PRODUCER BOB ROCK WHO USUALLY WORKS WITH CRAP BANDS LIKE ‘BON JOVI’. LARS’ COMMENT ON THIS WAS SOMETHING ABOUT BON JOVI HAVING A GREAT SOUND ON THEIR CDs BUT TERRIBLE RIFFS.
THE BLACK ALBUM IS RELEASED AND IT SELLS WORLDWIDE. WITH CLASSIC TRACKS ON SUCH AS ‘ENTER SANDMAN’, ’SAD BUT TRUE’, ’UNFORGIVEN’, WELL THE LIST GOES ON AND ON. BUT ANYWAY ITS EXCELLENT AND KIRK HAMMET IS AWARDED BEST ROCK GUITARIST ’91.
METALLICA THEN WENT ON TOUR FOR YEARS.

’96 SAW THE LONG AWAITED ALBUM LOAD RELEASED. AND EVERYONE SAID ‘OH BOLLOCKS’ THEY’VE GONE AND ‘SOLD OUT’. HOWEVER IT WASN’T SO MUCH THAT THEY’D SOLD OUT AS CHANGED THE DIRECTION OF THEIR MUSIC. THE WHOLE ALBUM IS DETUNED, GIVING IT A NICE LOW EDGE, BUT THE DRUMMING IS LAME. LARS’ DECIDES HE’S BORED OF DRUMMING AND NO GOOD AT IT, AND METALLICA’S DRUMMING GOES DOWNHILL. LOAD HOWEVER WAS ONLY HALF OF THE SONGS METALLICA HAD COME UP WITH.

IN NOVEMBER ’97 RELOAD IS RELEASED, IN THE SAME DIRECTION AS LOAD BUT A VAST IMPROVEMENT. THEY CONTINUE THEIR TOUR.
‘CUNNING STUNTS’ IS RELEASED WHICH IS VIDEO FOOTAGE OF THE ‘POOR TOURING ME’ TOUR. IT IS A GOOD QUALITY VIDEO JUST SPANNING A SHOW, WITH NO BACK STAGE STUFF. HOWEVER IT DOES HAVE ALL THE ANTICS ON THE TOUR, SUCH AS THE PYLONS FALLING DOWN AND THE MAN RUNNING ON, ON FIRE.

GARAGE INC. WAS RELEASED IN ’98 WHICH WAS A DOUBLE CD COMPRISING OF THE OLD GARAGE DAYS REVISITED AND SOME NEW COVERS, NOT PARTICULARLY INSPIRING.

’99 AND METALLICA UNLEASHED THEIR PLANS TO TEAM UP WITH MICHAEL KAMEN, WHO COMPOSED THE STRINGS ON ‘NOTHING ELSE MATTERS’, TO PLAY LIVE WITH AN ENTIRE ORCHESTRA. METALLICA PLAYED TWO LIVE SHOWS, WHICH WERE RECORDED WITH A COUPLE OF NEW TRACKS. THESE SHOWS WERE THEN RELEASED ON CD AS ‘S&M’. METALLICA PROVED ONCE AGAIN WHY THEY ARE THE BEST METAL BAND; THEY CROSSED THE BRIDGE WITH THE ORCHESTRA SPECTACULARLY. I ADVISE EVERYONE TO GO AND BUY A COPY, WITH ALL THE DEPTH WITH THE ORCHESTRA IT IS WELL WORTH HEARING. METALLICA THEN WENT ON TO TOUR PLAYING WITH OTHER ORCHESTRA’S LIVE.
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