1981-James Alan HetfieldVocals, guitar1981-
Ron McGovneyBass1981-1983
Dave MustaineGuitar1981-1983
Lars UlrichDrums1981-
Kirk HammettGuitar1983-
Clifford Lee BurtonBass1983-1986
Jason NewstedBass1986-2000
Robert TrujilloBass2003-
In 1999 they sued Victoria's Secret for selling lipstick called "Metallica." It was settled out of court.
Ulrich's father, Torben, was a professional tennis player, and tennis was Lars' passion as well until he discovered music.
Cliff Burton was killed in 1986 when their tour bus skidded off an icy road in Sweden. His funeral was held on October 7, 1986 at Chapel Of The Valley in his hometown of Castro Valley, California. He was cremated, and his ashes were spread at a place where he spent a lot of time - the Maxwell Ranch.
Burton's parents started quietly donating his royalties to the music program of his former high school after his tragic death.
>>
Suggestion credit:
Matt - Monroeville, PA
James Hetfield has struggled to stay sober. He entered an Arizona rehab center in 2001 to treat his drug and alcohol addictions, but ended up back in rehab in 2004. After a long stretch when he stayed clean, he returned to rehab in 2019.
Metallica have eight Grammy awards, mostly for Best Metal Performance, but they somehow lost to
Jethro Tull when the first Hard Rock/Metal Performance award was given out in 1988.
Jason Newsted left the band because of "private and personal reasons, and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love." He joined the group Echobrain in 2001.
In 2004, Metallica released the documentary Some Kind Of Monster. It documented the recording of their album St. Anger, and shows how personal differences can hinder the recording process. It was made by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky.
Dave Mustaine was kicked out the band in 1983 and formed Megadeth, which is very successful but nowhere near as popular as Metallica. In Some Kind Of Monster, Ulrich and Hetfield (and their psychiatrist) meet with Mustaine in an effort to work out some unresolved issues. It becomes clear that despite the popularity of Megadeth, Mustaine found it very difficult living in the shadow of his former band.
Ulrich is from Denmark, but his family moved to America when he was in his teens. His first concert was seeing Deep Purple when he was 9, a life-changing moment he talked about when he inducted that band into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2016.
Hetfield was raised a Christian Scientist, a faith that rejects modern medicine. His lyrics often have religious overtones, but he doesn't talk much about his personal beliefs. He has said he believes in a "higher power."
Beatallica is a Milwaukee, Wisconsin group that blends Metallica with The Beatles, taking parts of Metallica songs and parts of Beatles songs and mashing them into a new song. The band drew attention on the Internet and had to deal with some legal issues, but in 2007 released the fully authorized album Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band. Names of the group members: Jaymz Lennfield, Grg Hammettson, Kliff McBurtney and Ringo Larz.
They were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame in 2009 along with Jeff Beck, Little Anthony & the Imperials, Run-D.M.C. and Bobby Womack. They performed at the ceremony with their former bass player Jason Newsted, and Ray Burton spoke in honor of his son Cliff.
Metallica is one of the first groups to popularize what's known as "speed" or "thrash" metal. It's aggressive music dominated by fast, percussive guitar and lyrics that can be very angry.
>>
Suggestion credit:
Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2
Joe Satriani was Kirk Hammett's guitar tutor at the time he joined Metallica.
The band got very pragmatic in their later years, as they learned from many unfortunate incidents that it's best to account for unforeseen circumstances. In the rider for their 2004 US Arena Tour, they demanded an insurance policy for their performance with a coverage of no less than $5 million.
Hetfield told
The Pulse of Radio that he still recalls the group's first gig, with original lead guitarist Dave Mustaine. "First Metallica show was at Radio City in Anaheim. I remember the first song we played, Dave broke a string, and I was stranded up there. I was just singing, I wasn't playing guitar back then, and I was so uncomfortable, I was like, 'So, how's it going...' There were about 200 people. You know, your first gig, everyone shows up. Second gig, there's about 20, you know. [laughs]"
Metallica performed a 10-song show under a dome at the Carlini Argentine Base in Antarctica on December 8, 2013 to become the first band in history to perform concerts on all seven continents in under a year.
Robert Trujillo was the bass player of the Venice, California-based punk metal band Suicidal Tendencies from 1989 to their breakup in 1995. He was also a member of the Suicidal spin-off band Infectious Grooves.
Before joining Metallica in 1983, Kirk Hammett was the lead guitarist for the Bay Area thrash metal band Exodus.
>>
Suggestion credit:
Lucas - Los Angeles, CA, for above two
Kirk Hammett is a lacto-ovo vegetarian, but the reasons are nothing to do with killing animals. In an interview with KNAC-FM, he explained: "I am a vegetarian but not because I love animals. I am one because I think eating animals is not good for your health. James [Hetfield's] hunting doesn't affect me at all, as I have a lot of taxidermy in my house."
Asked by Q Magazine what his best and worst ever gigs were, Lars Ulrich replied: "The best was the first time we played Moscow in 1991, and there was between a half a million and a million people there. Russian military helicopters were hovering over the audience, like something from a movie. The worst one was Wembley Arena, 1992. My drum kit was supposed to rise out of the stage, but decided not to. So I played for 10 minutes under the stage surrounded by crew members with crowbars."
Lars Ulrich is a big water drinker. He told Q Magazine: "The first thing I do in the morning is pound a liter of water. As the English say, get it down your neck. No matter where you are, what is situation, get that f--king water in you. I learnt the hard way. Nobody ever told me that growing up in the Denmark in the '70s. Drinking water was something you occasionally did if there was no soda."
The Swedish couple Michael and Karolina Tomaro ran into trouble in 2007 with their country's authorities after trying to name their baby daughter Metallica. Under Swedish law, both first names and surnames need to win the approval of officials before they can be used and "Metallica" was deemed inappropriate.
Beavis of Beavis and Butt-Head is a big Metallica fan, constantly wearing their T-shirt. Butt-Head goes with AC/DC.
Metallica played their first-ever concert at Radio City in Anaheim, California on March 14, 1982. The group played seven covers and two original songs ("
Hit The Lights" and "
Jump in the Fire"). They charged $15 for the performance, which drew 75 people.
Metallica have an extensive business operation with headquarters in San Rafael, California, outside of San Francisco. Known as "Metallica HQ," it has a recording studio where they've made every album since St. Anger in 2004. It's also where they manage their merch and operate their magazine, So What! It isn't open to the public but the band gives occasional tours and performances from HQ.
On their 2003-2004 tour, Metallica started mixing up their setlists, a process they refined over the years. Lars Ulrich started gathering data and curating the setlists carefully so they wouldn't repeat too many songs in the same city. This wasn't just for the fans: It keeps the band on their toes and makes sure they don't go on autopilot when they're on stage.