METALLICABy Kaleb Smith

The Band

• Original lineup: Cliff Burton, Dave Mustaine, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich

• The band was formed on October 28th, 1982. The real First bass player was Ron McGovney, but his stay with Metallica was a short one.

• Dave Mustaine’s rowdy behavior proved to be too much for the rest of the band to handle, and he was soon replaced by Kirk Hammett from the band “Exodus”.

• Released their first album, “Kill ‘Em All” in late 1983, followed by intense touring in the United States and Europe, which gave them much fame and reputation.

• “Ride The Lightning” Album released in 1984, and they were offered and accepted management by Q Prime, a major label in Elektra.

• “Master of Puppets” Album released in 1986, followed by a tour with Ozzy Osbourne which had their reputation increase dramatically.

• Tragedy struck on September 27th, 1986, when bassist Cliff Burton was killed in a tour bus accident while on the road in Sweden.

• Lineup Following Cliff Burton’s Death: Jason Newsted, Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett

• After a brief yet intense mourning period, the band started auditions for a new bass player, and recruited Jason Newsted from “Flotsam and Jetsam”.

• The newly reassembled band went to work on their next album, “Garage Days Re-Visited”. This EP of cover tunes was written and recorded in Lars’ garage.

• The band released their fourth full-length album, “…And Justice For All”, in August of 1988.• Released a self titled album, known by their fans as the “Black Album”, in 1991.• Following this, they toured with Guns N’ Roses in their ‘An Evening with Metallica’ tour.• Released the ‘Load’ album in 1996.• So many songs were made in the sessions that created ‘Load’, they made a second album,

‘Re-Load’ in 1997.• In 1998, Metallica collected all of the B-Sides from their records and the two previous

Garage Days sessions and then recorded eleven new covers, and released it in a double-disc album, ‘Garage, Inc.’

• Performed with the San Francisco Symphony in 1999, and released an audio recording and video recording of the performance, known as ‘S&M’.

• Bassist Jason Newsted left the band in 2001, citing his reason as multiple long-standing issues that grew out of control over time, rather than one exact reason.

• The band decided not to rush into hiring a new bassist, and had their producer, Bob Rock do all the bass parts as they began making a new album.

• In 2001, the lead singer and rhythm guitar player, James Hetfield, sought rehabilitation for his alcoholism.

• He returned in 2002, better than ever, and the band finished work on their new album, ‘St. Anger’.

• In fall of 2002, the band decided it was time to seek a new bass player. They ended up hiring Rob Trujillo, ex-Suicidal Tendencies/Ozzy Osbourne bassist.

• Recorded a music video at the San Quentin Prison for the song ‘St. Anger’ off the same-titled album.

• Released ‘St. Anger’ Album on June 5th, 2002, following the ‘St. Anger’ Tour.• Released ‘Death Magnetic’ Album on September 12th, 2008.• Collaborated with Lou Reed to create the ‘Lulu’ album, released on October

31st, 2011.

James’ and Kirk’s Guitars

Rob’s Guitars

Metallica’s First Music Video

• 'One' Music Video: Jammin' Version• This version is a shortened version

with the clips from ‘Johnny Got His Gun’ (the book and movie after which the song is based) taken out, leaving only the band performing a shortened version of the song.

Sources