Metallica formed in the early 80's by Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield, Ron McGovney and fellow metal head Dave Mustaine when they produced a full-fledged demo entitled "No Life til Leather" and performed at several clubs in Southern California. It was during this time when bassist Ron McGovney left the group and was replaced with Metal God Cliff Burton.

1983 was a historical year for the group as they replaced guitarist Dave Mustaine with Kirk Hammett after Mustaine proved "problematic" for the group. 

It was also in this year that the band released the Kill 'em All album, containing such rock anthems like "Seek and Destroy" and "Hit the Lights". A significant milestone for the group.

The next year, the bands Ride the Lightning album hit stores shelves and rocked fans with incredible songs like "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Fade to Black". This lead the band to be picked up by professional management and the Elektra Label when their album reached #100 on the charts.

1985, Metallica was in the studio once again working on the Master of Puppets album. This album proved so powerful and inspired that it got them touring with Ozzy Osbourne as well as #30 on the charts that year.

This meant huge things for the band as their records took off propelling them into the realm of rockstardom.

Sadly, on September 27th 1986, the band received a crushing blow when they lost bassist Cliff Burton to a tour bus accident involving "Black Ice". The music world was devastated.

The band however kept going, holding auditions to continue the bands legacy and teamed up with bassist Jason Newsted after a difficult audition process. The newly organized band quickly got back to touring and worked on a cover-album entitled Garage Days Re-Revisted to initiate their newest addition to the group.

Their fourth album, ...and Justice For All, was released in '88 and contained the hard hitting "Harvester of Sorrow" and the controversial "One" metal masterpieces. "One" caused quite a stir that year and was labeled the most ['"Anti-Video" video of it's era.'~[Metallica.com]  "One"  also won the Grammy in '89 for Best Metal Performance, with their album being a huge success for the band in this year it reached #6 on the charts and was nominated for Best Metal/Hard Rock Album at the Grammy Awards.

Then at the 33rd Grammy Awards  Metallica once again took the Grammy for Best Metal Performance with their song "Cold Stone Crazy"

The Black Album was released in 1991, under new producer Bob Rock, the album soared to #1 on the charts and sold over 15,000,000 copies world wide. This impressive arraignment of music etched Metallica into the history of Metal, making the artists Legends to millions of hardened fans.

The Black Album went on to earn the group a Grammy for Best Metal Performance that year. Epic jams like "Enter Sandman", "Holier than Thou", "Nothing Else Matters", "Sad but True", "The Unforgiven","The God that Failed" and "Of Wolf and Man" made this album truly unforgettable.

The band then toured for 3 years, playing a solo tour, a joint-tour with Guns And Roses and many other headliners. This left the group exhausted and worn. They had rocked in front of millions of adoring fans and it was time to return to their non-rockstar lives for a while.

Four years later, the band released another album entitled Load from songs that they worked on during the black albums tours. They had so many tracks that they released Re-Load in 1997 to issue the tracks that they couldn't fit onto their Load Album. Many great Metal songs stemmed from both of these albums including "Until it Sleeps", "King Nothing","The Memory Remains", "Fuel", "Low Mans Lyric", "Carpe Diem Baby" and "The Unforgiven II". The band also won a Grammy in 1998 for the song "Better Than You" from Reload.

Metallica then repackages their B-side songs, cover songs and new covers to produce Garage, Inc. in 1998. This Dual-Disc Set included such covers as Bob Seger's "Turn the Page" and Skynard's "Tuesdays Gone". The set also contained the hit single "Whiskey in a Jar" which won Metallica another Grammy Award that year. 

They then took on a more creative project with their 1999 work entitled S&M which was a fully orchestrated dual disc set and DVD combo. In this set they re-issued newly mastered versions of their hits such as "One", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Sad but True" and "Enter Sandman". This album also won them a Grammy with the song "The Call of Ktulu" a song originally written by the band when Burton and Mustaine were still members.

In 2001, after many rumors, Jason Newsted left Metallica. The remaining members didn't seek a replacement at the time and instead opted to have their producer, Bob Rock, fill in where Jason had left off with the band while they recorded new tracks for the up-and-coming St. Anger Album.

St. Anger set the groups focus in a new direction creatively, the band wrote as a whole and shared input with each other differently, bringing the band closer together and their music more hard edged. 2002, the band decided it was time for a new member, a bassist by the name of Robert Trujillo was inducted into the band. Trujillo was a former member of Suicidal Tendencies as well as playing with the great Ozzy Osbourne. This album won them yet another Grammy during 2003 with the self-titled song "St. Anger"

With such a strong yet troubled career, Metallica has entertained millions around the world with their heavy, aggressive, guitar riffs and brain splattering vocals. The band, however arraigned, continues to produce epic albums that will always reside within the halls of rock and roll. Their new release, Death Magnet, has just been released this year and is a promising account of the bands journey thus far.