More than 40 years after its 1981 formation, Metallica hasn’t thrown in the towel just yet. Recently, the metal legends announced a new North American leg of its long-running M72 World Tour set for 2024. Recently, the nine-time GRAMMY Award winners proved why they deserve their status as heavy metal icons.
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Metallica Named Greatest Metal Band of All Time
Since forming in 1981, Metallica has released 11 studio albums, selling more than 66 million copies. The Los Angeles metal pioneers have scored four No. 1 albums across their four-decade tenure.
On Saturday (Sept. 28), financial magazine Forbes unfurled its list of the 38 greatest heavy metal bands. To no one’s surprise, Metallica sits atop that list.
“If there’s one band that’s had both an astronomically massive impact on metal and heavy music, and is also the single biggest band in the heavy metal genre, it’s Metallica,” the article read.
The “Ride the Lightning” hitmakers hit their commercial peak with 1991’s The Black Album, spawning instantly recognizable hits such as “Enter Sandman,” “Sad But True,” and “The Unforgiven.”
The California quartet beat out such heavyweights as Black Sabbath (No. 2) and Iron Maiden (No. 3.)
James Hetfield: The Late Cliff Burton “Still Lives In All Of Us”
Drummer Lars Ulrich and vocalist/rhythm guitarist James Hetfield formed Metallica in 1981. The following year, the pair discovered bassist Cliff Burton—then of the band Trauma—during a show at West Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go.
Blown away by Burton’s “amazing shredding,” they asked him to join Metallica. Burton was an integral part of the band’s first three albums before his tragic death in a 1986 tour bus crash in Sweden. He was just 24 years old.
[RELATED: 6 Metallica Deep Cuts from the Cliff Burton Era]
However, Burton’s influence on Metallica lingers to this day. During a Sept. 25 appearance on the podcast The Metallica Report, Hetfield said he still asks the same question when making new music: “Would Cliff like this?”
“Cliff still lives in all of us,” Hetfield said. “The way he lives in me is I get to channel, you know, ‘Cliff, what would be really cool right here?’ And I do — I do hold him in such high regard that I ask for his help still.”
Featured image by Mariscal/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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