︎ :
Metallica is an American heavy metal band [ 1 ] formed by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich in Los Angeles , California , in 1981. One of the most popular and influential bands in rock history , Metallica is one of the so-called "big four" founders and key bands of the thrash metal genre ( along with Slayer , Megadeth , and Anthrax ) that have had a defining influence on its development, and it is believed that the work of these bands marked the beginning of the development of this direction in music [ 2 ] . The modern lineup of Metallica consists of founders and primary songwriters Hetfield and Ulrich, longtime lead guitarist Kirk Hammett , and bassist Robert Trujillo . Guitarist Dave Mustaine (who continued his career with Megadeth after being fired from the band) and bassists Ron McGovney , Cliff Burton , and Jason Newsted are former members of the band.
The band gained a following among underground music fans and critical acclaim with their third studio album, Master of Puppets (1986), which is now considered a "thrash metal classic" and which significantly influenced the further development of the genre. Commercial success came with the release of their fifth album, The Black Album , or "Metallica", which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 chart . In 2000, Metallica were among the artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster , due to the free distribution of copyrighted material without the permission of the authors. As a result, an agreement was reached under which Napster became a paid service. Despite its first place on the Billboard 200 , the album St. Anger (2003) disappointed many fans of the band due to the lack of guitar solos, the "steel sound" of the snare drum, and the rawness of the sound. The film Some Kind of Monster depicts the creation of St. Anger and the tensions between the band members during that time. In 2009, Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . In 2012, Metallica founded the independent record label Blackened Recordings and bought the rights to all of their studio albums and videos. In 2019, the band was included in the list of the highest-paid musicians according to Forbes magazine . The amount earned was $68.5 million, which is tenth place in the ranking [ 3 ] .
Metallica have released eleven studio albums, four live albums, twelve video albums, a cover album, two extended plays, 37 singles, and 39 music videos. The band has won nine Grammy Awards from 23 nominations, and its last six studio albums (beginning with Metallica ) have consecutively debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. Metallica is considered one of the most commercially successful bands of all time , having sold over 125 million albums worldwide as of 2018. [ 4 ] The band has been included among the greatest artists of all time by magazines such as Rolling Stone , which ranked them number 61 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time . [ 5 ] As of 2017, Metallica is the third-best-selling music artist since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991 , [ 6 ] having sold a total of 58 million albums in the United States . [ 7 ] In 2016, streaming service Spotify released data showing Metallica as the most-streamed metal band in the world, with 7 million regular listeners at the time . [ 8 ]
2025-02-17 14:46:41