Essay/Term paper: Metallica

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Music

Introduction

Metallica was a band that that started out in the garage of one of the members when they were in high school. The band went through many changes and tragedies and found solutions for them and somehow remained playing. They started in 1980 as one of the first, if not the first Black/Metal band. Their popularity decreased in 1987 and form there they went on to become really popular later on.

Summary

Metallica started playing in 1980 and are still a band to this day. They have gone through many changes over the years. The original members of the band were James Hetfeild, Lars Ulrich, Dave McGovney, and Dave Mustain. Hetfeild was the rhythm guitarist and singer. Lars is a very great drummer. McGovney was the original bass player. And Dave Mustain was the original lead guitarist. Lars first began playing at the age of 13 when his grandmother brought him home a cheap set of drums which he pounded in. He was inspiried and began to like music after his father took him to a Deep Purple concert. His family migrated from Denmark to Newport Beach, California in 1980 to find the sunny climate to play tennis. After that he met the band as friends and then began to play.

Hetfeild went to Downey East Middle School where he started playing in the auditorium on the stage with friends. Three years later his mother died of cancer. There was a song written in memory of her memory titled "The God that Failed." Then he moved to L.A. where he met the band. Lars knew Kirk but he already had enough guitars in the band. Eventually Dave Mustain was kicked out of the band because he disagreed with everyone. McGovney followed with him. Kirk was already playing with a band called Exodus but quit to join Metallica. And the band acquired bassist Cliff Burton to join.

Cliff was in the group when they made their oldest album called Kill em' All. But died in a bus accident on tour. The band was shook up and didn't play in concert for years. Not only did the death of Cliff startle them, but they also had to acquire a new bass player. Jason Newstead was chosen of many other people who tried out for the band. Those people included Les Claypool of the band Primus. Newstead grew up in Niles, Michigan where he and his family raised horses. They moved to Kalamazoo then to L.A. Jason Newstead came from a band named Flotsam and Jetsam named after a chapter in J.R.R. Tolkien's trilogy Lord of the Rings.

Metallica has played many concerts, shows, and world tours over the years. They gained popularity from playing concerts improving their talents. On tour they have played with many bands including Van Halen, Danzig, Motorhead, and Guns and Roses. They have played all over the world for many purposes. They are going on tour headlining Lollapalloza to support their new CD entitled Load which comes out June 4th. And they have appeared in Metal Mania a metal many times.

Opinion

I enjoyed this book because it showed me how Metallica became successful. They only achieved success through many years of practice and struggling to be best. Metallica have overcome many tragedies over the years andcame out on top. The moral of this book is practice makes perfect because Metallica spent many years practicing to become as great as they now are. I like the whole book because it always seemed so interesting.