One of the greatest thrash/speed metal bands ever to grace the earth, who have gained much criticism (some of which is understandable) over the suing of Napster for illegal downloads of their music and for the rather shite St. Anger album. Seeing as Metallica are my favourite band this is my attempt to be as unbiased as possible. Ok, I admit St. Anger was one of the worst albums ever made by a band of such quality. And maybe Load and ReLoad disappointed many Diehard Metal fans. But they were still good quality, but rather attempted to aim at a wider, more accessible market with a more rock sound. Megadeth and Metallica have shared many feuds over the last couple of decades, but there is no denying that Dave Mustaine is a far better guitarist than Kirk Hammett. On the flip side I think James is a better vocalist. If you combine the lyrics and vocals of Four Horsemen with the guitaring of Mechanix, the song would be truly amazing. It is a great shame that Dave left the band at such a promising stage because he in my opinion, would of had a major influence on the direction of Metallica. The band has been through a lot too, losing a member is not easy. Cliff was an amazing bassist and is sorely missed by many who idolised and loved him. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Metallica have become famous and people are annoyed because they are more mainstream but lets be honest even the last 3 albums have seldom been played on UK radio. I have only ever heard Enter Sandman and Nothing Else Matters played on radio..They aren't sellouts-just clever businessmen.
P.S Old school metal rules. New stuff sucks...

One of the greatest bands of all time, with over 85 million albums sold. Known to have been pioneers of the 80s metal scene.

One of the most influential and popular heavy metal groups of all time.

San Francisco metal band formed in the early 80's. Their four albums from the 80's are class, and incidentally their best known offerings. However the material released post-1991 is of curiously low standard with the occasional great track.

In 2002 (or was it 03?) they released St. Anger, an album which shocked us again at how low they could go. They completely removed the guitar solo (a vital part of the heavy metal song) from all the songs. This resulted in their worst album and their grouping with nu-metal.

One shouldn't forget, however, that their 80's albums are some of the best from that decade, including great tracks like Fade To Black, Sanitarium, One, Ride The Lightning, Battery, The Four Horsemen, Master Of Puppets.

the greatest band on earth. literally. no doubt about it. they have been producing songs since the eighties, in the heavy-metal genre.

One of the greatest, and most prolific bands of all time. They were pioneers in the genre of thrash metal when they started out, with Kill Em' All. Their next three albums, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice for All, were, and still are, all considered speedmetal masterpieces. When the 90's rolled around, Metallica released a self titled album, nicknamed the black album. This record featured a softer, more mainstream sound, but still had that characteristic Metallica edge to it. After years of tuoring for the black album, Metallica finally went back into the studio to record their 6th album, Load. Load had a much different sound than any of their previous stuff, opting for a more bluesy, hard rock style than the speedmetal that everyone associated the band with. Not too long after Load came out, a follow up album was released, ReLoad, which consisted of other songs that were written during the same time but didn't make it onto the album. Afterwards, an collection of various old cover songs from the 80's was compiled with brand new covers, and released as Garage Inc. And not too long after that came out, Metallica recorded a concert in which they played many of their classic songs, as well as some new ones, with the San Francisco Symphony. The result was the S&M album. Years later, in 2003, Metallica put out their most recent album, St. Anger. The album had mixed reactions among fans and non fans alike, but now, more than two years after its release,...

an awesome heavy metal band that helped pioneer metal and keep it alive and needs no introduction

easily the greatest band in the world 11 albums
James Hetfield - Vocals, rhythm guitar
Lars Ulrich - drums (crazy)
Kirk Hammet - lead guitar
Robert Trujillo - bass