There is no doubting what the Metallica discography stands for. It simply is a testament that the band is a living legend all its own. Of course, many other metal bands would argue they too deserve to occupy a legendary status. In reality though, few metal bands can claim to be as well known and esteemed as Metallica. Even people who don’t like metal music know the group.

The original band members did not come together in the same way that members of other famous bands did. Metallica was not composed of long time friends but of strangers. Lars Ulrich started the ball rolling when he posted an ad for jam partners. Jams Hetfield took on Ulrich’s invitation and Metallica was born in 1981. Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney came in later to handle guitar and bass. McGovney however was later egged out in favor of Cliff Burton who exemplified the group’s definition of excellent bass playing.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for the group at the beginning. Just like other legendary music acts, they initially faced a lot of rejection. They were only able to create their first album under Megaforce Records with borrowed money. Also, band member problems already started to creep in with Mustaine getting booted out for drug use. He was replaced by Kirk Hammett. Mustaine picked himself up and jump started rival band Megadeth.

In 1983, the birth of Metallica merch and CDs became a future vision. It was on this year that they released their first album Kill ‘Em All. Although this initial release did not bring in the money, it did build a loyal fan base for the group. This paved the way for better reception of succeeding albums. Their third release, Master of Puppets in 1986 gave them their first glimpse of rising success with the album reaching gold status.

It was unfortunate that on the year the group first had a taste of excellent album sales they lost Burton in a bus accident. Although the incident jarred the group, they eventually decided to move on and settled on Jason Newsted to fill in Burton’s shoes. It was with him that the group recorded …And Justice for All which was the first of the band’s work to reach a prime spot in the Billboard 200 at number 6. By 2001 however, Newsted decided to leave the band and was replaced by Robert Trujillo.

Undoubtedly, Trujillo had the chops to play in the group but he seemed to have joined at a time when there was a slight shift in Metallica. St. Anger, the album that they released at this time was noted to be vastly at odds with all of the group’s other works. Both fans and critics noticed immediately that the work did not carry a lot of what made Metallica’s music what it was, namely, long instrumentals, guitar solos and quick paces. Even so, the album still grabbed #1 in the Billboard 200.

There is just no arguing about how popular and respected Metallica is now. After putting together a Metallica discography of nine albums and selling more than a hundred million album copies, the group has garnered for itself a slew of awards including nine Grammy awards. They finally entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009. From here on onwards it’s clear that more fans will be wearing studded belts in their honor.

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