History Of Metallica

The band Metallica was formed on October 15 1981 by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Starting at the very beginning on February 10 1962 Cliff Burton was born.

On November 18 of the same year Kirk Hammett was born. On March 4 1963 Jason Newstead was born. On August 3 James Hetfield was born and on December 26 Lars Ulrich was born. These are the main members in the band Metallica.

It was 1977 when Jason Newstead formed his first band Diamond with Kevin Kendrick, Todd Smiedendorf and Tom Depoy in Niles, Michigan U.S.A. it was also in this year that the Newstead family relocated to Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the September of this year James Hetfield started his first year at Downey high school and befriended Ron Mcgovney who would latter become the first bassist in Metallica.

In 1978 James Hetfield joined his first band Obsession with Jim Arnold, Rich and Ron Veloz. 1979 was the year when James's mother passed away and this led to the family relocating to L.A California.

James formed a band called Phantom Lord in 1980 - 1981 with Jim Mulligan and Hugh Tanner. It was also in this year that James first got together with Lars Ulrich. This happened after replying to an advert in local paper the Recycler where Lars was advertising to find like minded musicians. This lead to the infamous falling cymbal and bad playing experiences. James felt that he couldn't play with Lars at his current skill level.

Ron Mcgovney joined Phantom Lord which renamed to Leather Charm but the band fell apart when the drummer and guitarist left. It was in this year that Lars persuaded friend Brian Slagel to include a band he could get together to have a slot on a heavy metal compilation LP that he was producing. Lars approached James with the idea of forming a band but this time with the offer of getting a song onto a record  which would become the "Metal Massacre L.P".

The band METALLICA is formed on October 15 1981.

On October 31 Jason Newstead and Tom Hamlin relocate to Phoenix Arizona from Kalamazoo, MI.

1982 was the year in which Metallica really took off by the end of the year they would have played their first headlining gig, changed their bass player, recorded four demo tapes and had their first appearance on an official record (Metal Massacre).

The first demo that Metallica produced was recorded in January of 1982 it was a one track demo of Hit the Lights Lloyd Grant overdubbed the guitar solo. In March the band recorded their second demo it was a three track demo one original song, the second version of hit the lights and 2 cover songs killing Time / Let It Loose. The band recorded this demo so that they could get the opening slot with Saxon at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in California.

It was on March 14 that Metallica played there first gig at radio city Anaheim in California. The demo that the band recorded proved to be worthwhile as they got the slot opening for Saxon and played there on March 28.

In April Metallica recorded their third demo tape untitled but later to be called "The Power Metal Demos" this demo tape was four original songs the 3rd version of Hit The Lights, The Mechanix, Jump In The Fire and Motorbreath.

Metallica's only appearance as a 5 piece happened on April 23 with Damien Phillips (aka Jeff Warner). James did not want to have to sing and play guitar so the band were looking for a vocalist. James Hetfield played his first gig on rhythm guitar on May 25 at Lars High school at Back Bay Costa Mesa California. It was at this point that Dave Mustaine joined the band he came to replace Lloyd Grant and played lead guitar, the joining with Dave Mustaine brought the band allot more equipment which they needed at that time.

It was on June 14 that the Metal Massacre LP was released it was Metallica's first appearance on an official record the first release of the LP contained a few mistakes though the bands name was miss spelt Mettallica and Lloyd grants name was misspelled as Loydd Grant. Brian Slagel did not have the money to reprint the sleeves and they had to stay as the were.

July 6 marked the start of the recording of the No Life Til Leather demo tape which contained the songs Hit The Lights (version 4), Seek And Destroy, Motorbreath (version 2), The Mechanix (version 2), Jump In The Fire (version 2), Metal Militia and Phantom Lord. This demo was funded by High Velocity Records

Metallica played their first San Francisco gig at the Keystone on September 18. On November 11 the band played at the Woodstock in Los Angeles supporting Y&T but it was on November 29 that Metallica played their first headlining show in San Francisco with Kirk Hammett's band Exodus opening for them. Ron Mcgovney played his last gig with Metallica on November 30 it was at Mabukay Gardens in San Francisco. It was only on December 10 that Metallica and Ron Mcgovney parted company though.

December 28 1982 was the day when Cliff Burton joined Metallica after persuading them to relocate to San Francisco, this was Cliff's deal for joining the band. This led to Metallica musically reaching a stage they may not have reached if Cliff had not joined the band his influence was immediately noticeable.

1983 was the year that Metallica really made an impact. They moved to San Francisco during February and played their first show on March 5 at the Stone a now legendary venue for Metallica. Kirk Hammett's band Exodus opened for them on what was to be Cliff Burtons first gig with Metallica. It was on the move from LA to SF that the band got a little bit, too personal a view into Dave Mustaines life style. It was decided as soon as they reached SF that they needed to have a new guitarist they already knew Kirk Hammett and it was decided to replace Dave with Kirk. On April 1 Kirk Hammett was asked to join the band. Dave Mustaine played his last gig with Metallica on April 9. It was only on April 11 that the band actually told Dave he was out of the band and gave him a coach ticket back home to LA.

(A PHOTO TAKEN AROUND 1983 WITH JAMES HETFIELD, KIRK HAMMETT, LARS ULRICH AND CLIFF BURTON)

Kirk Hammett played his first gig with Metallica on April 16 in Dover New Jersey. Another very important reason for Metallica's relocation to SF was the work of a record shop owner called John Zazula, John put the band up when they moved to SF in the beginning, they paid their rent by the sale of the No Life Til Leather demo tape through John's shop. John also at this time had a record label called Megaforce records. Metallica signed to this record label it was their first contracted record label. Only days later on May 10 Metallica started work on their first album later to be titled Kill Em' All (after the people who wouldn't let the album be called Metal Up Your Ass with the picture of a hand holding a knife coming out of a toilet bowl on the cover). the recording of Kill Em' All was finished on May 27.

Metallica start their Kill em' all for one tour with Raven two months later on July 27 the tour went on until September 3. The band then had a short break until they started recording demos for their second album on September 24 which was to be later titled "Ride the Lightning". It was during these sessions that the band recorded the fake live tracks of Phantom Lord and Seek and Destroy which appear as B Sides on the Jump in the Fire single (European release) and Whiplash (USA release). These were the bands first singles they released.

It was around September of 1983 that Jason Newstead formed the band Dogz with Kelly Davidson and when Erik AK joined the band changed their name to Flotsome and Jetsome. This remained Jason's band until he joined Metallica.

Jump in the Fire was released on January 10 1984 the day after the band had there equipment stolen in Boston Ma. It was this event which led to the inspiration for Fade to Black.

Metallica's first European tour started on February 3 with Venom in Zurich Switzerland the tour continued through until February 12th.  It was on February 20 after this tour that the band went into the studio to begin recording their second album "Ride the Lightning" at sweet silence studios in Copenhagen Denmark it was to be the first of three albums engineered by Flemming Rasmussen. They finished recording the album on March 14. Once the album had been finished it led to more live shows but a particularly famous one on March 27th at the Marquee Club in London, it was to be Metallica's first appearance in the UK.

Twisted Sister joined Metallica for their second European tour which started on June 6 and lasted until June 10th . It was soon after this tour that Metallica had their first meeting with future manager and future record label Chris Burnstein from Q Prime, this happened on august 1 1984. Metallica let the old manager Jon Zazula go on the August 2. It was also around this time that Metallica were also talking to Bronze record label.

Metallica signed with Elektra records on September 12 this became the bands American record label. Elektra records promptly re-released Ride the Lightning on November 16. Creeping Death EP is released on November 23 with 2 cover songs on the B-Side Am I Evil? by Diamond Head and Blitzkrieg by Blitzkrieg this was to coincide with their first major European tour which started with Tank on November 18. The night before the tour started the band played Trapped Under Ice live for the first time in Paris France. Nearly a month later they played there first headlining show in the UK at the Lyceum Ballroom in London England it was the last show of the European Ride The Lightning tour.

At the beginning of January 1985 with only a two week break Metallica start their USA co head lining tour with W.A.S.P., with Ammored Saint supporting to promote Ride The Lightning. It was on this tour when Fade To Black was played live for the first time in Chicago on February 9. On March the 9 Ride The Lightning peaked in the USA charts at number 100, nine days later the tour ended in Portland Or. Metallica's now legendary performance at the infamous Monsters of Rock festival in England happened on August 17 when the band appeared between Ratt and Bon Jovi in front of 70,000 people. A week later they performed in front of 90,000 people in Oakland, California at the Day On The Green festival.

The recording of Master Of Puppets the bands third album started on September 2 again at the Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen with producer Flemming Rasmussen. During this period the band took time out to play two major festivals the first was the Metal Hammer festival in England on September 14 this was the show where Disposable Heroes was first played live. The second was the Day On The Green festival in Oakland Ca.

Master Of Puppets was finally completed on December 27 1985. They played their last show on December 31 at the Civic Center in San Francisco with Megadeath, Exodus and Metal Church.

   

(THE LEGENDARY CLIFF BURTON PLAYING LIVE)

New Year's Eve, 1986: Metallica plays the Civic Centre in San Francisco, with Megadeth (first time), Metal Church and Exodus.

January, 1986: Master Of Puppets is mixed in L.A. under guidance of Michael Wagenar, followed by a press tour of Europe, which Lars takes care of. While Lars talks about the record across the Atlantic, Jaymz and Cliff form a band called Spastic Children, featuring Fred Cotton on vocals, Jack McDaniel on guitar, Cliff on Bass, and Jaymz drumming.

February, 1986: Jaymz and Lars head to the Bahamas for a break after the release of Master Of Puppets.

March, 1986: Master Of Puppets gets released, then a tour in the states supporting Ozzy, beginning on March 27.

June 26, 1986: Jaymz breaks a wrist trying to skateboard down a hill. All dates remaining on the tour had Jaymz only singing while Kirk's roadie, John Marshall is on rhythm.

September 10, 1986: Metallica headline London's legendary Hammersmith Odeon, with Anthrax supporting.

September 27, 1986: Cliff Burton is killed in a bus crash on the way to Copenhagen.

October, 1986: The rest of the band returns to America with disbelief. Soon the group starts to audition new bassists. Jason Newsted from Flotsam & Jetsam fills the place.

November 8, 1986: Metallica play first show with Jason at the Country Club in L.A.

November 9-14, 1986: Metallica begins a tour with Metal Church supporting in Canada and the East Coast of America.

January-February, 1987: Metallica and Metal Church tour Europe, playing East Europe for the first time, ending in Gothenburg, Sweden on February 13.

May 1987: Jaymz breaks his arm skateboarding, for a while playing Europe's annual Monsters Of Rock festival in August becomes questionable.

August, 1987: Metallica warm up for Monsters Of Rock at London's 100 club. Metallica plays 3 shows at Donnington, Nurnberg and Pfordsheim in front of 200,000 people, afterwards they release Garage Days Re-Revisited.

December 4, 1987: Metallica put out a video titled "Cliff Em All" a tribute to Cliff. with a collection of bootleg and unprofessional recordings show during 1982-86. Within 2 months it goes both platinum and gold. By the end of 1988 it becomes the year's top-selling music home video.

January 19, 1988: Metallica officially begin recording their fourth album, ...And Justice For All.

May, 1988: Metallica complete the recording process of the ...And Justice For All album and begin mixing while preparing a 2 month tour as part of the US Monsters Of Rock package. May 27 tour begins in East Troy, Wisconsin. 

July, 1988: Master Of Puppets goes platinum

September 5, 1988: And Justice For All is released

September 11, 1988: Metallica play a sold out show in Budapest, Hungary supporting their new album.

November 15, 1988: US tour begins in Toledo, Ohio, with Queensryche opening.

December 6, 1988: The band film their first-ever video "One," in L.A. a day before the first of their two-night appearance at the Long Beach Arena.

February 5, 1989: Metallica's show at the Reunion Arena in Dallas is broadcast nationally via the Z-Rock radio network.

February 22, 1989: Metallica play "One" on national TV as part of the Grammy Awards, where the band was nominated in the Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal Group. But lost to Jethro Tull.

April 21, 1989: The Cult take Queensryche's place on Metallica's tour.

October 8, 1989: Metallica ends their Damaged Justice tour in Sao Paulo, Brazil

January, 1990: Metallica record the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy" to go on a compilation LP celebrating Elektra Records' 40-year Anniversary.

May, 1990: Metallica play several European festivals alongside WarriorSoul and Dio. A couple of impromptu appearances at London's Hippodrome and a secret gig at The Marquee (under the name Vertigo).

June, 1990: Metallica play a few stadium shows with Aerosmith and Warrant in northern New York and Canada.

July-September, 1990: Metallica begin work on their 5th album.

Early October, 1990: Metallica enter One On One Studios in L.A. with producer Bob Rock to begin recording 12 songs for their next album.

October, 1990 - July, 1991: Metallica and Bob Rock make sure Metallica's next album sounds exactly how they want it. The LP is remixed 3 times.

August 12, 1991: "The Black Album" is released, within a week of release, it sells over 600,000 units in the US alone, debuting at #1 on the Billboard Pop Chart and stays there for a month.

1991-1993: After "The Black Album" is released, the band plays more than 300 shows in 37 countries.

February 1991: Metallica wins a Grammy for "Best Heavy Metal Performance" for their rendition of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" From Elektra's Rubaiyat compilation

Summer 1992: Metallica tours with Guns N Roses

Summer 1994: Shit in the Sheds tour!

October 1994: Lars and Jaymz begin work on Load

February 15, 1995: Metallica shows up to play for KNAC-FM, because it was the stations last day on the radio.

February 1995: Metallica and Bob Rock enter The Plant in Sausalito, California to begin recording load. They come up with enough to fill a double album and debate on what to do, they decide to release load as a 70 minute long CD and wait a year to release the other CD.

December 14, 1995: Metallica honour Lemmy from Motorhead at his birthday bash at the Whisky. They play under the name "The Lemmys," and perform a set of Motorhead covers dressed as Lemmy.

June 4, 1996: Load is released.

June, 1996: Metallapalooza begins with Metallica and Soundgarden as the Headliners and others supporting the tour, bands such as the Ramones, and Rancid.

Summer/Fall 1996: Metallica Tours Europe

November 13, 1996: Metallica recorded 3 live songs for the TV program "Later With Jools Holland," on the British channel BBC2. Among the songs were "Wasting My Hate," "Mama Said," and "King Nothing." They played the songs live. It was broadcast on November 16th.

November 14, 1996: Metallica tricked MTV Europe at their Video Awards show. Metallica was supposed to play "King Nothing" and as the lights went down and the band started playing "Last Caress" and "So What?" leaving the people that hated them dazed and the fans going crazy. The band was nominated for "Best Rock Video," but lost to the Smashing Pumpkins. Jaymz later said in an interview "We needed to wake people up at the show! We felt it was a little boring, and we had been daring each other to do that for years."

November 18, 1996: The single Mama Said is released world wide.

November 18 & 19, 1996: Apocalyptica opens for Metallica in Helsinki, Finland.

January 17, 1997: King Nothing premiered on MTV.

January 26, 1997: Lars got married to his long time girlfriend Skylar. Lars had told everyone that they weren't going to so no one would interrupt the marriage.

January 27, 1997: Metallica performed "King Nothing" on the AMA and won best metal/hard rock album. During the thanks, Lars said, "I would like to thank this man, James Hetfield, for putting on his best suit and being my best man at my wedding last night."

February 22, 1997: Ted Nugent was guest star at the show at Palace Of Auburn Hills. They weren't too happy with him for what he did. Ted basically forced his way into their show, then ruined everything.

August 22-24, 1997: Metallica took a break from recording to play 3 festivals in Europe. First day was at the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt, Belgium. Second Day was at the Blindman's Ball Festival, Stuttgart, Germany. The third was at the Reading Festival, Reading, U.K.

October 6, 1997: In order to promote ReLoad Metallica wanted to hold a free concert, but they didn't know where at. They gave the fans a few details and a 800 telephone number where they could call in to make suggestions. The show had to be on Tuesday, November 11 (Veteran's Day), outdoors. Because this had to be a free concert for anyone wishing to make the trip. Over 120,000 Metallica fans called in.

October 10, 1997: Anton Corbijn took pictures of Metallica live for the booklet for ReLoad. There was
also two more photo shoots after the release, for press use.

October 18, 1997: Metallica played an entirely acoustic the 11th Annual Bridge School Benefit Shows at Shoreline Amphitheatre, San Francisco. The set around a hour. On Friday Alice in Chains' Jerry Cantrell came out to play with Metallica for the song "Tuesdays Gone" by Lynrd Skynrd. Metallica also played Lowman's Lyric for the first time. On Saturday Metallica played the second Annual Bridge School Benefit Show as well. The sets were the same except they didn't play Low Mans Lyric, instead they played another new tune called "My Eye's".

October 20 & 21, 1997: The band shot the "Memory remains" video at the Van Nuys Airport in L.A.. It cost Metallica around $400.000.00. Which featured Metallica in a huge revolving box that cost them around $100.000.00. The video premiered on November 15, 1997 on MTV's Mattrock.

October 26, 1997: The final day for the fans to call in to suggest a place for Metallica to play the free concert. Metallica wound up playing in the CoreStates Arena parking lot in Philadelphia.

November 7, 1997: South Philadelphians that didn't want the concert to go on went court to try to stop the free outdoor concert. Vincent Fumo asked his lawyer, Christopher Craig, to see what he could do. Craig spent all day drafting a request for an injunction that he delivered to Common Pleas.

November 11, 1997: Metallica's free concert, called the "Million Decibel March," was a great. They opened up with Jaymz playing the famous ESPN Sports center music on his guitar. a local newspaper called the Philadelphia Inquirer said this about the show: "It was part burlesque show, part rugby match, and hearing-loss loud. The band was profane on stage and charming before the show. Police pronounced the fans better behaved than a Philadelphia Eagles crowd. And neighbours who feared the worst from the self-styled Loudest Band in the World complained more about the sound from the news choppers circling overhead."

November 12, 1997: Memory Remains single released in America.

November 13, 1997: Metallica play a free show at London's premier dance venue Ministry Of Sound to promote "Re-Load." After the show Lars said "I've never heard of the Ministry Of Sound but I'm sure Metallica playing there will make it a hit!"

December 6, 1997: Metallica performed live on Saturday Night Live.

March 1998: The tour in supporting Reload will start in Asia. They will visit Australia as well.

March 1998: The live film will be completed in March 1998. 52 minutes of the film will be available for launch parties world-wide, completed with personalised IDs. The band have said that they may consider use of the promotional film for TV broadcasts.

June 23 1998: Rehearsals for the upcoming "Poor re-touring me 98". The tour started the day after in West Palm Beach, Florida, and ended in San Diego, California September the 13th.

August 15, 1998: Lars becomes a father. Skylar Ulrich gave birth to a baby boy, Myles Ulrich, at 4:15 am in New York City. He was 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches

September 5, 1998: George, WA (The Gorge) Someone in the crowd threw a glass bottle towards the stage and hit Jason in the head! Jason got hurt but came back and finished the show as strong as ever. "We are here to give it all we got but I don t understand why we have to watch out for shit thrown at us during the show. I hope they find that fucker who did it" - James comments to the audience after the incident.

September 14, 1998: Metallica went straight in to the studio the day after the last show in San Diego. They recorded the new songs on the "Garage Inc." CD

October 18, 1998: Playboy Mansion, Los Angeles. A 45 minutes gig in front of some of the most beautiful women in the world and other celebrities. Metallica played at the Playboy party

October 19, 1998: Photo shoot in Los Angeles Metallica spent 6 hours at the old "Ambassador Hotel" together with photographer Danny Clinch. The pictures were meant for the "Garage Inc." cover

October 21, 1998: Metallica spent Wednesday the 21st recording the video for their version of Bob Seger's Turn The Page from the upcoming Garage Inc. album. The clip is directed by Swedish director Jonas Akerlund, who also filmed Madonna's Ray of Light video and Prodigy´s Smack my Bitch. It all took place at Raleigh Studios in Los Angeles.

November, 1998: Metallica filed a lawsuit against online store Amazon.com over the bootleg album entitled "Bay Area Thrashers: The Early Days." The group is seeking an unspecified amount in damages, in addition to an injunction preventing future sales of the album.

November 22, 1998: Metallica finished the video shoot for 'Whiskey in the Jar' in Brooklyn, NY in the first week of December 1998.

November 19 & 20, 1998: Metallica perform to promote the release of Garage Inc. The Aragon Ballroom -Chicago the 19th and State Theatre, Detroit, MI on the Nov 20th. According to the industry trade publication Pollstar Metallica made $32 million dollars this year

January 14, 1999: Metallica filed a lawsuit against Victoria's Secret and Victoria's Secret Catalogue, citing trademark infringement, false designation of origin, unfair competition, and dilution.
The following is from the lawsuit: "Victoria's Secret manufactures and sells lip pencils bearing the mark Metallica. The packaging for Victoria's Secret's Metallica lip pencils also bear the mark Metallica. These lip pencils continue to be sold by Victoria's Secret throughout the United States.

January 25, 1999: Whiskey in the Jar video and singles released. The single comes as a 3 CD set where parts 2 and 3 are limited to 10,000 copies

February 24, 1999: 41st annual Grammy Award winners announced. Best metal performance: "Better Than You" by Metallica

March 16, 1999: The Recording Industry Association of America gave Diamond awards to AC/DC, The Eagles, and Metallica. The Diamond award goes to single titles that sell 10 million or more copies, and Metallica got it for the black album. The awards was presented at a special ceremony in New York City's Roseland Ballroom with 46 recording artists representing 62 titles.
Until this day, the RIAA has only presented record sales awards for Gold (500,000 units), Platinum (1 million units) and Muti-Platinum® (2 million or more units). The Diamond Award was bestowed for the first time by the RIAA to the biggest names in the music industry.

James Hetfield thanked producer Bob Rock "for making the big noises extra big."

March 20, 1999: Kirk Hammett played with Swarm, a band formed by several of his friends

April 11, 1999: Metallica started their world tour in Honolulu. They also did two dates at the Berkeley Community Theatre in San Francisco which later ended up on the S&M album. A few dates in south America followed before they headed over to Europe where they ended the tour in Lisbon, Portugal. Many festival shows, including the Roskilde festival in Lars' home country Denmark

April 21-22, 1999: Metallica and San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen perform together the 10 songs later know as S&M at Berkeley Community Theatre.
Gig reports said that ".....thrashier songs as "Battery" the orchestra basically bolsters the sturm und drang by underscoring the powerful themes that drive it. With other numbers, notably "Master of Puppets" and newer tunes like "Devil's Dance," there's more room for interplay between rock and classical elements - horns flash brassily in the mix and percussion peppers the grinding grooves."

April 30, 1999: Pantera frontman Phil "Animal" Anselmo joined Metallica onstage in Mexico City on April 30th. The quintet performed Creeping Death to the delight of 50.000 Mexican fans.

May 23, 1999: At the Dynamo Open Air show Metallica invited Evan, Billy and Danny from Biohazard, Scott Ian from Anthrax and Anthony from Merauder on stage to sing the "die die die" part of Creeping Death.

June 5, 1999: Metallica had a nice surprise in Milan, Italy. They invited King Diamond and Hank Sherman from Mercyful Fate for the 12 minute long Mercyful Fate medley!

June 14, 1999: Die Die Die My Darling single released with live tracks recorded at the Roseland Ballroom in New York November 1998. In Australia the single was released on the 19th and it included as a bonus an enhanced CD-ROM with "Turn The Page" and "Whiskey In The Jar" video clips.

July 22-25, 1999: US Woodstock 1999 which commemorated the 30th anniversary of the original festival held in Bethel, N.Y. Of course, Metallica played there as they did in 1994.

September, 1999: Power. Performance. Attitude. These are keywords when we do talk about the HotWeels Turbo racing game. And this time they can really call it Powerful. The game released on Nintendo64 and Playstation September 1999 with Metallicas "Fuel" in the soundtrack on the Playstation edition.

November 19 & 23, 1999: In conjunction with the new release "S&M, Metallica played two live symphony shows, one in Madison Square Gardens, New York with the New York Symphony orchestra, and a show in Germany with Babelsberger Film Orchestra. A short tour followed.

November 23, 1999: The 2CD live album S&M released in the states. The date did vary depending on where you lived on the planet. Several Metallica videos were released on DVD at the same time "Cliff 'Em All" and "A Year and A Half... PT 1 & 2".

December 31, 1999: Silverdome, Pontiac, USA . Metallica and Ted Nugent will usher in the next millennium together with a New Year's Eve show in Pontiac, Michigan

January 9, 2000: Kid rock joined Metallica on stage in Minneapolis, MN, USA and sang the chorus of Turn the Page along with James. Kid Rock was supporting Metallica on their short mini tour.

February 23, 2000: The big M added another Grammy Award to their collection. This one for Garage Inc's Whiskey In The Jar for Best Hard Rock Performance. This is Metallica's fifth Grammy.

March 20, 2000: single "No Leaf Clover" released. Again there will be 3 different versions of the single. Fans can also watch a 45 minute CD-ROM documentary on Metallica's symphonic collaboration split in 15 minute edits across the single's 3-CD format

April 13, 2000: 11 year old Rueben Moss fronts with 14 year old Evan Moss on drums and backing vocals. Jason is to sit in on 6 of their songs from their first CD "North Side of the Tree." The show was at Last Day Saloon in San Francisco.

April 13, 2000: In what marks the first significant blow in the brewing battle between artists and the emerging online music distribution aid Napster, Metallica has filed suit against the tech company.
The metal giants filed suit in U.S. District Court naming Napster, and several schools. The suit charges Napster and the schools in question with copyright infringement, unlawful use of digital audio interface device, and violations of the Racketeering Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act

Napster is still in its relative infancy, but the technology has managed to nestle itself at the center of a media storm (and to raised the ire of the music) during its brief life span. Napster boasts that its technology gives users one simple interface through which to search for and download MP3s of their favorite songs.

Metallica and co-plaintiffs E/M Ventures and Creeping Death Music claim that the company "encourages and enables visitors to its website to unlawfully exchange with others copyrighted songs and sound recordings without the knowledge or permission of Metallica."

April 25, 2000: The radio play for the soundtrack song "I Disappear" for the movie "Mission impossible II" started on the 25th of April. The movie soundtrack was released two weeks later. This song was available on the net in MP3 format prior to this and some radio station even played it before it was official released.

May 2, 2000: The band did an online chat with the fans to explain why they started the Napster case. Proir to the chat Metallica made an official statement saying (edited)
"Metallica is suing Napster because we felt that someone had to address this important artistic issue, and we have always been known for taking a leadership role in the fight for artist¹s rights. We were the first band to sue our record company, Time Warner, for the right to control our future. Rather than allowing the record company ­or any other corporation­ to own our recordings and compositions, we chose to fight for (and eventually win) control of our music.

This issue is no different. Why is it all of a sudden okay to get music for free? Why should music be free, when it costs artists money to record and produce it?"

May 4, 2000: Kirk Hammett was welcomed on stage to jam with Sammy Hager and the WaboRitas.

May 18, 2000: the world welcomed James' son Castor Virgil Hetfield at 3:23 PM. He's a big boy at nine pounds and six ounces, and 22 1/2 inches long. Mom and son are doing great.

June 1, 2000: Motorhead played at the Maritime Hall in San Francisco. Right before the last song, James Hetfield came on stage, grabbed a guitar and said "These are the godfathers of heavy metal" and then jammed with them on Overkill.

June 3, 2000: Performed at the 2000 MTV Movie Awards, at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, California. Metallica played "I Disappear," from the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack

June 26, 2000: New single as "I disappear" is released. This is the soundtrack for "Mission impossible 2" and the first track Metallica wrote for a movie. They wanted them to do the theme but said no and this did song instead. The soundtrack album was released 7th of July.

Summer 2000: Metallica took yet fresher steps towards establishing freedom from convention, proving that it was possible to assemble, and headline, your own stadium tour without promoting a record. Summer Sanitarium, Hetfield's back not withstanding, was a huge success, and anticipation grew as to when the band would hit the studio again.

June 23, 2000: Short US tour starts in Memorial Stadium in Seattle

July 4, 2000: A 21-year-old man fell to his death at Baltimore stop on the Summer Sanitarium 2000 tour
The victim, identified as Martin Muscheet of Connecticut, fell from the upper deck of Psinet Stadium on to the pavement outside the venue. It appears he had his legs over the railing and either fell or lost his balance.

July 7, 2000: James wasn't on stage with the band when they played in Atlanta as he were in the hospital with a few disks in his lower back slipped out of place. As for the show, Kirk, Lars and Jason came out and explained the situation and said that they will be playing again in Atlanta on August 4th to make up for Jaymz's absence. They came out about 30-45 minutes later in their usual attire and began the show. The show was filled with a lot of guest appearances including members from Kid Rock, System of a down and Korn.

July 11, 2000: Statement of Lars Ulrich before the Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate. A few lines of the statement:
To underscore what I've spoken about today, I'd like to read from the "Terms of Use" section of the Napster Internet web site. When you use Napster you are basically agreeing to a contract that includes the following terms:

"This web site or any portion of this web site may not be reproduced, duplicated, copied, sold, resold, or otherwise exploited for any commercial purpose that is not expressly permitted by Napster."

July 18, 2000: The veteran band played a secret gig at the House of Blues for 1,000 contest winners from across the United States, none of whom knew for sure who would be taking the stage until the curtains were pulled back. Before leaving the stage, Lars thanked Miller "for helping pay the rent this month"

August 2, 2000: First of 6 "make-up-shows" since Metallica couldn't play full set when James was injured. People could enter using the old ticket stub. For these shows Corrosion of Conformity opened for them

September 6, 2000: Metallica and Dr.Dre contacted several universities and asked them to ban "Napster" on the schools computers.

September 26-27, 2000: Rumors said that the band were in the "One on one" studio to start recording on their next CD, but the truth was that they were there to record an episode of VH1's "Classic albums" program.

November 5, 2000: Kirk Hammett among other stars and musician join forces in a protest march in San Francisco against the increase rental prices for rehearsal studios. The new economy with all the internet companies made a higher demand for rooms, so many bands and artists were kicked out. Kirk also had a speech at the event.

November 17, 2000: James is know to be a big Misfits fan, and he has been so for more than 20 years. The Misfits played in San Francisco and Mr. Hetfield was in the crowd. He hopped onstage with them during their gig at Maritime Hall to sing with the ghouls on "Last Caress" and, later in the set, "Die, Die My Darling."

November 30, 2000: Metallica was invited to perform at the "VH1 music award" and you know the guys, they always have to do something different. Metallica played at the parking lot outside for 200 fans and fanclub members, instead of playing inside in front of other celebrities. They also won the price for "Best stage spectacle".

January 2001: Lars is in New York mastering the debut album by Systematic, a band he has signed to his label "The record company". Peter Collins is producing the LP.

January 17, 2001: The news shocks the whole world of Metallica fans, Jason will leave the band! Metallica did a full press-release which said:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 17, 2001
11:00AM (EST)

STATEMENT FROM THE MEMBERS OF METALLICA
Metallica regrets to announce that after 14 years as Metallica's bass player, Jason Newsted has chosen to leave the band.

Jason Newsted: "Due to private and personal reasons, and the physical damage that I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love, I must step away from the band. This is the most difficult decision of my life, made in the best interest of my family, myself, and the continued growth of Metallica. I extend my love, thanks, and best wishes to my brothers: James, Lars, and Kirk and the rest of the Metallica family, friends, and fans whom have made these years so unforgettable."

Newsted joined Metallica from Flotsam And Jetsam in the fall of 1986 after the tragic death of bassist Cliff Burton. He participated in the recording of 6 Metallica albums (...And Justice For All, Metallica, Load, Re-Load, Garage Inc., and S&M), which have sold over 55 million copies worldwide to date. In addition, he played on numerous worldwide tours to millions of fans representing over 1000 gigs in all. While with Metallica, the band won countless awards including 5 Grammy Awards and 2 MTV Video Music Awards.

James Hetfield: "Playing with someone who has such unbridled passion for music will forever be a huge inspiration. On stage every night, he was a driving force to us all, fans and band alike. His connection will never be broken."

Lars Ulrich: "We part ways with Jason with more love, more mutual respect, and more understanding of each other than at any other point in the past. James, Kirk and I look forward to embracing the next chapter of Metallica with both a huge amount of appreciation for the last 14 years with Jason and the excitement of rising to the challenges that lay ahead to make Metallica shine brighter than ever."

In the spring, Metallica will begin writing and recording a new studio album with release sometime in late 2001 or early 2002.

Kirk Hammett: "Jason is our brother. He will be missed."

February 1, 2001: "Who want to be a millionaire" TV program with Lars Ulrich is recorded at ABC TV's studios. This was an all-star episode of the game show and each celebrity picked a charity to donate the money to, and they were guaranteed $32,000 even if they never hit the seat. Lars got out on the $64,000 question, about a comedy act, but still won $32,000 which he gave to a hospital for homeless in San Francisco. The show was broadcasted on the 11th of February

February 11, 2001: MacFarlane Toys is showing the Metallica action figures to the public for the first time at the Manhattan's Toy Fair. The models are based on the band during And justice for all.

February 11, 2001: James and Lars showed up Sunday night at the Cactus Club in downtown San Jose to watch friends and former tour mates, Corrosion of Conformity perform. Since C.O.C hasn't performed in a few years in Bay area it was no surprise to see James, a long time fan of the band, in attendance. About halfway through the set Hetfield got up on stage and played a song with them.

June 4, 2002: James, Lars, Kirk, and Metallica's producer for the last few albums, Bob Rock, put on a show in a club called Kimo's in San Francisco. They performed under the name Spun and they played four Ramones songs:Commando, Today Your Love Tomorrow The World, 53rd and 3rd, Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. After the tribute songs, the band went into Hit the Lights, Leper Messiah, For Whom The Bell Tolls, and then A NEW SONG!. The band then played I Disappear and ended with Die, Die My Darling.

The band realized there was much work to be done on both their personal and creative relationships, and spent the first part of 2001 investigating spontaneous avenues of discovery both in and out of the studio. They set up shop at an old ex-Army barracks called The Presidio, jammed together at length and made a decision not to rush the process of finding a new band member, opting instead to have producer Bob Rock do all bass parts.

In the middle of 2001, James Hetfield reached a place in his life where he felt rehabilitation, rest and re-focus were necessary for him to not only continue but also flourish. It meant that for many months, the members of Metallica embarked upon various levels of deeper discovery about themselves, the band and their lives both as a band and human beings. The results were to manifest themselves two-fold: when they came together again in the Spring of 2002 there was a deeper respect and appreciation for each other than ever before. And they were finally ready to make a new album, free of outside expectations, free of inner expectations and independent of anyone.

Settling into their new HQ, the band set about making 'St Anger' with Bob Rock. Those early Presidio sessions had certainly helped shape the freeform thinking and expression that was to come, but no-one, least of all the guys themselves, could've known just how fierce, raw and passionate the 'St Anger' material would turn out to be. With Rock always offering prompt and support, lyrics were written by everyone, writing was shared and performance was off the cuff, spontaneous and a 180 degree turn from the months of cut-and-paste which had become a part of the Metallirecording process in the past.

This Metallica was proud, confident, appreciative, humble, hungry, edgy, angry and also happy. Nervous? Sure, a little bit, but that too was good, yet another driver to new places and creative achievements that Metallica were enjoying.

It was in the Fall of 2002 that the band decided it was time to search for a new bassist, and after some closed auditions with personal invitees over a few months, ex-Suicidal Tendencies/Ozzy Osbourne bass player Robert Trujillo was chosen to be the new member of Metallica. Note, member. Not bassist or hired gun or replacement. But a band member. His whole demeanor, happy, relaxed, warm, enthusiastic blended with over 15 years of experience and a ferocious finger-picking style made Robert the only natural choice.

And so it is that as you read this, 'St Anger' has been completed, expectations are reaching heights that even the band cannot believe and there is the excitement of the first proper tour since Summer Sanitarium 2000. Looking at them, listening to them and seeing them, Lars, Kirk, Robert and James look like excited, eager children, men who cannot wait to be let out of then house to go and wreak aural havoc. Why? Because they can't! Metallica are about to hit a whole new level...