In 1986, while touring in Sweden, their tour bus crashed killing Burton. The driver said that the bus skidded on "black ice". James was so distraught that he wandered down the road angrily looking for the black ice that could not be found. With much difficulty, Metallica decided to move on and a few weeks later, they picked up new bassist, Jason Newsted. In order to get used to having Jason in the band, Metallica recorded the EP Garage Day Re-revisited before recording ...And Justice for All.
In 1991, after nearly a year of recording, Metallica released their most succesful album, Metallica. They toured for this album for almost 2 years before taking a break. Metallica resurfaced in 1996 with new haircuts and a new album, Load. They have continued to release an album nearly every year since 1996 and have even contirbuted to the Mission: Impossible 2 soundtrack. They also became the first band to sue Napster.
After more than 2 decades, Metallica is still going strong. In 2002, Jason left the band. In interviews, Jason said that he left because the other members discouraged him from working on side projects even though Metallica was not moving forward with anything. Since then, Metallica has collaborated with rapper Ja Rule on a song and recorded a new album with producer Bob Rock on Bass. In 2003, Rob Trujillo joined the band as the new bassist.
In 1981, Lars Ulrich met James Hetfield through an L.A. newspaper advertisment and formed the band, Metallica. He enticed James to join by telling him that he had a spot on an album for a song; this ended up being "Hit the Lights" on Metal Massacre. Other original members included a bassist, Ron McGovney, and a lead guitarist, Dave Mustaine. Mustaine also provided some vocals. In 1983, they acquired eccentric bass genius Cliff Burton. Lars and James first saw Cliff jaming by himself in a bar; he was so good that they were amazed to see that he was playing a bass and not a guitar. Lars, James, and Mustaine were so eager to have him in the band that they relocated to San Francisco where Cliff was living. While on a trip to New York City in 1983 (and while living with the band Anthrax), their manager advised them to fire Mustaine because of drug and alcohol problems. They picked up Kirk Hammett, who already knew all of the songs, to replace him. They recorded their first album, Kill 'Em All, later in the same year (1983).
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