

Formed by guitarist Hetfield and drummer Ulrich in 1981, Metallica drew upon bum and early on 1980s british metallic element styles for their beginning album, Kill ’ Em All ( 1983 ). The band followed with Ride the Lightning ( 1984 ), an album that shattered notions of what defined clayey metallic element. With social and political themes that seemed more suit to art rock, Ride the Lightning demonstrated that the isthmus was willing to stretch the boundaries of clayey metal—perhaps most notably with the album ’ randomness close up chase, the nine-minute instrumental “ The Call of Ktulu. ” Heralded as a masterpiece by critics, Metallica ’ s third album, Master of Puppets ( 1986 ), sold more than three million copies with identical little support from broadcast radio. The album ’ s entitle track opened with what would become one of heavy metallic ’ s most recognizable guitar riffs, and songs such as “ Battery ” and “ Damage, Inc. ” defined thrash metallic for an entire generation of fans. Metallica was touring in support of Master of Puppets when the ring ’ second bus rolled over on a while of icy road outside of Stockholm. Burton was thrown through a windowpane and was killed immediately. The isthmus returned dwelling to San Francisco and hired Flotsam and Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted to replace Burton. The new batting order debuted on …And Justice for All ( 1988 ), an album that included “ One, ” the group ’ s first top 40 individual. Metallica produced its inaugural music video for “ One, ” and the antiwar anthem received heavy rotation on MTV. The band followed with Metallica ( besides known as The Black Album ; 1991 ), which sold more than 15 million copies on the strength of singles such as “ Enter Sandman, ” “ The Unforgiven, ” and “ Sad but True. ” Metallica explored a southern rock sound on Load ( 1996 ) and its follow-up Reload ( 1997 ). The two albums were seen as more commercially accessible than previous releases, and “ The memory Remains, ” a song featuring haunting backing vocals by Marianne Faithfull, demonstrated that Hetfield retained his bent for aggressive and intelligent lyrics. however, the driving thrash metallic good of Master of Puppets had intelligibly become separate of the set ’ s by.
It was possibly an attack to recapture the revolutionary sound of their early years that inspired Metallica to enlist the San Francisco Symphony orchestra in the group ’ s adjacent visualize, S & M ( 1999 ). The album collected substantial from a match of concerts that explored the entire Metallica back catalogue, reworked for accompaniment by the full orchestra. Metallica spent a lot of the next year on tour, but band members, most notably Ulrich, were becoming increasingly visible as crusaders against illegal Internet file-sharing services such as Napster. While this stance ultimately doomed Napster ( which was reborn as a legal pay-for-play music service alike to Apple ’ s iTunes ), it generated recoil against the band. In January 2001 Newsted left the group, leaving Metallica without a bassist once again. Work on a new album was delayed while the ring sought a substitution for Newsted, and Hetfield entered treatment for alcoholism. Bob Rock, who had produced the band since 1991, filled in on freshwater bass as Metallica entered the studio to record St. Anger ( 2003 ). True to its title, the album was a rage-fueled exploration of Hetfield ’ s psyche that confirmed to listeners that graveness had not dulled the singer ’ south edge. Metallica added Robert Trujillo, erstwhile bassist for Ozzy Osbourne and skate-punk ring Suicidal Tendencies, to the band ’ mho batting order anterior to embarking on the St. Anger go. The time period from Newsted ’ s departure to his replacement by Trujillo was captured in the objective Metallica : Some Kind of Monster ( 2004 ). The movie showed a band at cross purposes with itself, trying to reconcile family and pornographic responsibilities with the creative and personal conflicts bear of two decades as one of the biggest names in heavy metallic element. Metallica enlisted producer Rick Rubin for their ninth studio album, Death Magnetic ( 2008 ), and the individual “ My Apocalypse ” earned the band its one-sixth Grammy Award for best alloy performance. The group then teamed with Lou Reed for the audacious but critically reviled Lulu ( 2011 ), a two-disc collection inspired by the plays of german dramatist Frank Wedekind. Hardwired…to Self-Destruct ( 2016 ), another two-disc free, was a come back to form that won complete many critics. Metallica reunited with the San Francisco Symphony in 2019 for two concerts, recorded as S & M2 ( 2020 ). The band was scheduled to begin a enlistment former in 2019, but the enlistment was canceled when Hetfield reentered a discussion course of study for kernel misuse. In 2009 the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.