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There are soon to be many stories about our favourite foursome so keep checking back to see how its all coming along
Short History On Metallica
It's the sort of story that scriptwriters would get laughed out of conference rooms for entering. The sort of story that illustrates perfect synchronicity between hunger, passion and time.The sort of story that only happens every 30-odd years. And the type of story that needs about 500 pages to do it justice.
Metallica. A household name. The 7th biggest selling act in American history. Who'd have thought it when, on October 28th, 1981, drummer Lars Ulrich made guitarist/singer James Hetfield an offer he couldn't refuse: "I've got a track saved for my band on Brian Stagel's new Metal Blade label." The truth is, Lars didn't even have a band at that time, but he did that day when James joined up with him. The two recorded their first track on a cheap recorder with James singing, playing guitar AND playing bass. Lars pounded the drums like only he can and helped with musical arrangements and acted as manager. James later managed to talk his housemate, Ron McGovney, into taking over the bass duties and Dave Mustaine, now with Megadeth, took over as lead guitarist.The band took the name Metallica from a friend in the Bay Area named Ron Quintana and they quickly began playing shows in the LA area, opening for Saxon and other such bands. Eventually recording a full length demo called No Life Til Leather, Metallica quickly saw the tape whistle around the tape-trading community and they become a big underground name, especially in and around San Francisco and New York.
Metallica played 2 shows in San Fran and found that the crowds were friendlier and more receptive than the superficial audiences in LA. They caught a glimpse of an up-and-coming band called Trauma, and more importantly, their bassist Cliff Burton. Despite offers to join Metallica, Burton refused to up and leave for a place like LA. Metallica thought "if you won't come to us, we'll come to you" and relocated to SF. Cliff joined Metallica almost instantly In New York, a copy of No Life Til Leather made its way to Jon Zazula's record shop, named Metal Heaven. Zazula quickly rcruited Metallica to head eastwards to play some shows and record an album. They made it there in a stolen truck! Mustaine, the lead guitarist, was having troubles with drink and drug dependencies and was thusly given his marching orders. A roadie called Mark Whitakker suggested to the band that they check out a Bay Area band called Exodus, and more specifically, their lead guitarist, Kirk Hammett. Two phone calls and one flight later, on April 1, 1983, Kirk Hammett was officially a member of Metallica. The Four Horsemen were now complete.The first album, Kill 'Em All, was released towards the end of '83, and some heavy-duty touring saw the band's stock rise in the US and Europe. In 1984, they went to work with producer Flemming Rassmussen in Lars' hometown of Copenhagen, Denmark to work on their second album, Ride The Lightning. The new album proved that Metallica weren't "just another thrash band". The writing and sound showed a growth in both maturity and intensity which saw them targeted by major management (QPrime) and a major label (Elektra). Both deals were done, and Metallica's reputation continued to grow. In 1985, the band returned to Copenhagen to record their third album, which many consider to be their finest, Master Of Puppets. It was mixed in LA and released in early 1986. They managed to get a tour spot with heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne and that, along with a Top 30 album position, saw their popularity and fanbase rocket. What had seemed so unlikely in 1981 was getting nearer and nearer: world domination. On September 26th, 1986, the dream was given most shattering of blows. During an overnight drive, somewhere in Sweden, the band's tour bus skidded out of control and flipped over, killing Cliff Burton immediately. His influence on the musical growth of the band was enormous. Cliff combined the DIY philosophies and experimenting with an acute knowledge of musical theory, and James in particular found a lot in his playing and personality. It was impossible to imagine there even being a Metallica without Cliff Burton. The band gave much thought to giving it a day, feeling they'd never be able to reach the highs they reached with Cliff on the bass. However, Cliff didn't particularly care for throwing in the towel the first time adversity is met. After a brief but intense mourning period, Metallica pulled itself out of it's slump and began looking for a replacement. From over 40 applicants for the vacant bass position, James, Lars and Kirk chose Jason Newsted of Arizona based Flotsam And Jetsam. The quartet began touring immediately and recorded an EP of cover tunes called Garage Days Re-revisited. An apt name, considering the EP was recorded in Lars' garage! With Jason firmly established as a member of Metallica, the band recorded their 4th album, ...And Justice For All, released in August on 1988. The explosion that was threatening to happen for so long finally happened. It reached No. 6 on the US chart, received a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock/Metal Album, the band blew headliners Van Halen off the stage during the Monsters Of Rock tour and embarked on a worldwide tour. They even delved in their first promotional video, a route the band had previously avoided. Nonetheless, in true Metallica style, the footage for 'One' was the most "anti-establishment" video of it's time. The band took their show back on the road and left no stone unturned in doing so. ...And Justice For All spawned two singles and a video for the song 'One'. In 1991, Metallica released their self-titled album, or 'The Black Album' as it is more commonly known. Their popularity shot into the stratosphere. With a new producer, Bob Rock, this album was a departure from previous album sporting shorter songs and simpler arrangements. It went straight to number one worldwide and stayed there for several weeks, racking up over 15 million sales all over the world, spawning several singles as well as earning a Grammy and MTV award. The band toured for close to 3 years, playing a solo arena tour in 'An Audience With Metallica', with Guns N' Roses for the duos' joint-headline stadium tour and as headliners at many a festival. Of course, by the time 1993 had rolled around, the band were mentally and physically exhausted. With the exception of a few Summer Shed action, the band took a break to allow their personal lives to catch up with their real lives.Almost 4 years would pass before the next Metallica album would see the light of day. Entitled 'Load' and recorded at The Plant in California, it was the longest Metallica album to date with 14 songs, and signalled some significant changes for the band, both musically and cosmetically. Produced by Bob Rock, the material was loose, powerful and eclectic, the sound thick and punchy and the image one which screamed change and freedom from enslavement to the Black Album era. So many songs come from the sessions, a follow-up album, called ReLoad, was released in 1997. The Load tour was spectacular, making good use of cutting-edge technology, stuntmen, two stages and two hours of performance. What doubts people might have had were swiftly blown away, and although Load would never be able to reach the same heights that that Black Album did saleswise, Load and ReLoad were phenomenally successful albums in their own rights. In 1998, they re-packaged the old B-Sides, covers and the two previous Garage Days sessions and entered The Plant to lay down another 11 covers. Electric, exciting and raw, the double disc Garage Inc. served as a great reminder that for all the success , Metallica's heart was still in the music. This point was proven even further in 1999, when with conductor/composer, Metallica collaborated with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra to add a whole new dimension to some of their greatest hits. Any scepticism about the admittedly ambitious project were blown well away after two nights in April at the Berkeley Community Theatre which proved to be a most epic milestone in the group's history. Far from being compromised, the material gave symphonic instruments the chance to explose into the spaces and fill them with more power than ever before. Having recorded and filmed the event, in the offchance that it might turn out ok, Metallica released the double disc S&M and DVD of the concert in late '99. In 2001, several rumours were proved correct when Jason Newsted confirmed that he was leaving the band after 15 years of service. No one reason called be labelled as the cause for the decision, more the build-up of several tiny issues until they became unavoidable. Many have speculated that this marks the beginning of the final chapter of the Metallica story.Not true. Despite what has been written in several magazines, The three remaining Horsemen and getting on better than ever before. There is an excitement as to what the future holds. No schedules, no deadlines to maintain, only the band's own enthusiasm, which will enforce their own schedule, soon rather than later, it appears. If you thought the Metallica story was exciting now, you ain't seen nothing yet.
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