Top MP3 Ringtones from 2003

2003 was a good year for music. A lot of new artists and old artists came up with some cool music which people still listen to like Audioslave Like a Stone, Puddle of Mudd - She Hates Me and many more.  This blog features links to mp3 ringtones of the Top songs from the year 2003 in no particular order.

Amanda Perez Ringtones - Angel - mp3 Ringtone

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Puddle of Mudd Ringtones - She Hates Me - mp3 ringtone

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Audioslave - Like a Stone - mp3 ringtone

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Eminem ringtones - Superman - mp3 ringtone

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Norah Jones ringtones- Don’t know why - mp3 ringtone

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Daniel Bedingfield ringtones - If you’re not the one - mp3 ringtone

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No Doubt ringtones - Underneath it All - mp3 ringtone

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50 Cent Ringtones - Wanksta - mp3 ringtone

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Train ringtones - Calling All the Angels - mp3 ringtone

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Audioslave Ringtones

Get Audioslave Like a stone mp3 ringtone here

Audioslave was an American hard rock supergroup that formed in Los Angeles, California in 2001. It consisted of ex-Soundgarden frontman and rhythm guitarist Chris Cornell and the former instrumentalists of Rage Against the Machine: Tom Morello (lead guitar), Tim Commerford (bass and backing vocals) and Brad Wilk (drums). Critics initially described Audioslave as an amalgamation of Rage Against the Machine and Soundgarden, but by the band’s second album, Out of Exile, noted that it had established a separate identity.

The band’s trademark sound was created by blending 1970s hard rock with 1990s grunge. Moreover, Morello incorporated his well-known, unconventional guitar solos into this mix. As with Rage Against the Machine, the band prided themselves on the fact that all sounds on their albums were produced using only guitar, bass, drums and vocals; no samples were ever used.

After Audioslave released three successful albums, received three Grammy nominations, and became the first American rock band to perform an open-air concert in Cuba, Cornell issued a statement in February 2007 that he was permanently leaving the band “due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences”. As the other three members were busy with the Rage Against the Machine reunion, and Morello and Cornell had each released solo albums in 2007, Audioslave was officially disbanded.

History

Formation (2000–2001)

Audioslave’s history dates back to October 18, 2000, when lead vocalist Zack de la Rocha announced he was leaving Rage Against the Machine. This led to the band’s break-up, but the remaining three members of the band decided to stay together and announced plans to continue with a new vocalist. Several vocalists jammed with the three, including B-Real of Cypress Hill, but they did not want another rapper or anybody who sounded like de la Rocha. Music producer and friend Rick Rubin later suggested that they jam with Chris Cornell, the ex-frontman of Soundgarden. Rubin also persuaded the three of them to go into group therapy with performance coach Phil Towle after the break-up.^[6] Rubin was confident that with the right new voice Rage Against the Machine had the potential to become a better band; he believed “it could turn into a Yardbirds-into-Led Zeppelin scenario”. Commerford later credited Rubin for being the catalyst that brought Audioslave together, he called him “the angel at the crossroads because if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be here today”.

The chemistry between Cornell and the other three was immediately apparent; as Morello described: “He stepped to the microphone and sang the song and I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t just sound good. It didn’t sound great. It sounded transcendent. And … when there is an irreplaceable chemistry from the first moment, you can’t deny it.” The quartet wrote 21 songs during 19 days of rehearsal, and began working in the studio in late May 2001 with Rubin as producer, while sorting out the label and management issues.

Name

The original idea for the band’s name was “Civilian”, but it was dropped when members found out that it was already taken. Morello later discredited the story, contradicting Commerford and Cornell,^[9][10] and commented that “Civilian” was merely a rumor circulating at the time; he stated: “The band has only ever had one name and that is Audioslave.” Morello described the origin of the “Audioslave” name to LAUNCHcast as follows:

That was Chris’ suggestion that sort of came to him in a vision. We’re all on the two-way pagers, and Chris one night said, “I got it. It’s Audioslave.” We were all, like, “All right, fantastic.”… To paraphrase Elvis Costello, talking about band names is like dancing about architecture—there’s just no point in it because the band name becomes the music and the people.

After the name was announced, it emerged that it was already being used by an unsigned band from Liverpool. The two bands worked out a settlement, with Audioslave paying $30,000 in a deal that allowed each band to use the name. To avoid confusion, the Liverpool band would rename themselves The Most Terrifying Thing.

The name was mocked by critics due to its uninspired nature, and was regarded as one of the worst in contemporary rock music, or even of all time. Pitchfork Media called it the “most asinine bandname of the year”, while Spin magazine chided it as “one of the dumbest band names in recent rock history”.

Audioslave (2002–2003)

On March 19, 2002 Audioslave was confirmed for the seventh annual Ozzfest, even though at that time the band had no official name or release date for their debut album. A few days later, reports surfaced that the band broke up, before they had played for a public audience. Cornell’s manager confirmed that the frontman had left the band, with no explanation given.

Under the name “Civilian” (or “The Civilian Project”), 13 rough rehearsal demo tracks were leaked onto peer-to-peer filesharing networks in May 2002. According to Morello, the band was frustrated because the songs were not in their finished form and in some cases, “weren’t even the same lyrics, guitar solos, performances of any kind”.

Initial rumors suggested that Cornell took issue with having two managers actively involved in the project (Jim Guerinot of Rebel Waltz represented Cornell, and Peter Mensch of Q Prime handled Rage Against the Machine). According to the band, however, the split was not triggered by personal conflicts, but by their quarreling managers. After the mixing of the album was finished, roughly six weeks later, the group reformed and simultaneously fired their former management companies and hired another, The Firm. Their previous labels, Epic and Interscope, settled their differences by agreeing to alternate who released the band’s albums.

The band divulged their official name and launched their web site in early September. The first single, “Cochise”, was posted online in late September, and was on radio in early October. Critics praised Cornell’s vocal style, a distinct departure from the rapping of de la Rocha,^] and found that “the former members of RATM have gone and done a Paul Weller, retreating from the ground they broke back into the sounds that inspired them”. Music video director Mark Romanek shot a video for “Cochise”, which shows the band playing atop an under-construction tower in the midst of a giant fireworks display providing all the lighting. The firework explosions during filming prompted fears of a terrorist attack among residents living near Los Angeles’ Sepulveda Dam, the shooting location.

The self-titled debut album, Audioslave, was released on November 19, 2002 and entered the Billboard 200 chart at number seven after selling 162,000 copies in its first week. It was certified gold by the RIAA within a month of release, and by 2006 achieved triple platinum status. It is the most successful Audioslave album to date, having sold more than three million copies in the United States alone.

Despite its commercial success, Audioslave received mixed reviews. Some critics lambasted the group’s effort as uninspired, and predictable. Pitchfork Media praised Cornell’s voice, but criticized virtually every other aspect of the album, deeming the lyrics “complete gibberish” and Rubin’s production “a synthesized rock-like product that emits no heat”. Other critics, however praised the supergroup’s style reminiscent of 1970s rock and compared it to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, saying they added much-needed sound and style to contemporary mainstream rock.

Audioslave made their live debut on November 25, 2002, performing a brief concert on the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater on Broadway in New York City, for the Late Show with David Letterman. This was the first time any band had appeared on Letterman’s marquee.^[37] That year’s KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas was their first official paying concert, where the band played on the first night, December 7, 2002, after giving a secret club show the night before.^[38] Towards the end of the band’s six song set, Cornell told the audience, “These guys saved my life this year”,^[39] and the show ended with his band mates hugging him.^[40] Afterwards, asked to expand on his comments, he would only say that he had dragged the trio “through a trail of shit” in the past months.

During this time, there was a rumor that Cornell had checked himself into drug rehabilitation. He later confirmed it in an interview with Metal Hammer that was conducted from a clinic payphone.^[10] In a San Diego CityBEAT article, Cornell explained that he went through “a horrible personal crisis” during the making of the first record, staying in rehab for two months and separating from his wife.^[41] He credited Morello, Commerford and Wilk with helping him rebound from the difficult period. He dismissed the rumors about being in rehab for OxyContin or heroin, but when asked, only offered, “Various things. I’m not picky. Mainly for drinking.”

“Like a Stone”, the second single from Audioslave, was released in early 2003. It was the highest-charting single from the album, peaking at number one on Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks and Modern Rock Tracks charts. It was certified gold by the RIAA, making it Audioslave’s most successful single ever.^[30] The music video for the third single, “Show Me How to Live”, was banned from MTV, reportedly because it shows the band in a high-speed car chase running police cars and motorcycles off the road.^[44] The band’s first DVD, Audioslave, was released on July 29, 2003.

The band toured extensively worldwide in 2003, gaining positive reviews for their live performances,including at the revived Lollapalooza.

Out of Exile (2004–2005)

In 2004, Audioslave was among the nominees for the 46th Grammy Awards: “Like a Stone” was nominated for “Best Hard Rock Performance” and Audioslave for “Best Rock Album”. They spent the rest of 2004 on break from touring, and working on the second album. This gave Morello time to concentrate on his solo project, The Nightwatchman, and also take an active part in political activities. Cornell had time to focus on his personal life; after his divorce from his first wife was finalized, he married Vicky Karayiannis, a Paris-based publicist he met during Audioslave’s first European tour.

Work on a new album had started in 2003 during the Lollapalooza tour, and continued at the end of the year when band members entered the studio. Aside from writing new material, the band also had some leftover songs from the Audioslave sessions; according to Morello, they had “almost another album’s worth of stuff [already done]“. “Be Yourself”, the first single from the still-untitled album, was heavily panned by critics, who felt it was “limp and the lyrics are bland and directionless”. Nevertheless, it reached number one on the Mainstream and Modern Rock charts.

In April 2005 the band launched a club tour, which lasted until late May. Although on previous tours Audioslave occasionally played cover songs, they deliberately avoided playing their former bands’ songs to avoid using those songs as a “crutch” to “help sell and break Audioslave”, as their aim was to establish the band as an “independent entity”. After achieving that goal, they thought it was “time to own those histories”, and began performing a selection of the two bands’ most popular songs on the tour.

The second single, “Your Time Has Come” was released through a unique promotion, lasting one week, which involved radio listeners around the world. Radio stations were asked to post a link on their web sites to a special timed-out download of the song. Once one million people clicked on the link, the song was unlocked and became downloadable by all one million.

On May 6, 2005, Audioslave played a free show in Havana, Cuba, in front of an estimated 50,000 people at the La Tribuna Antiimperialista José Martí (José Martí Anti-Imperialist Tribunal) venue, which was purpose-built in 2000 for mass protests against the U.S. government. Audioslave became the first American rock group to perform an open-air concert in the communist country of Cuba. The band traveled to Havana—bringing along their camera crew—on May 4 to spend two days visiting historic sites and interacting with Cuban musicians and youngsters. Morello and the rest of the band insisted that the trip was not to make a political statement, but to take part in a musical cultural exchange. Cornell commented: “Hopefully, this concert will help to open the musical borders between our two countries.”^[54] The trip was organized with the joint authorization of the United States Department of the Treasury and the Instituto Cubano de la Musica (Cuban Institute of Music), as travel by US citizens to Cuba is restricted, but the authorization arrived so late that the band had to cancel and postpone several confirmed dates of their US tour. The 26-song set concert — which included several Soundgarden and Rage Against The Machine songs — was the longest the band had ever played.

Out of Exile was released internationally on May 23, 2005, then a day later in the U.S. It debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart, the only Audioslave album to reach this position. The following week, however, it dropped to number three, with a 62 percent sales decrease^[56]—consequently reaching platinum.^[57] Cornell admitted to writing his most personal songs ever on this album, influenced by the positive changes in his life since 2002. He also described the album as more varied than the debut and relying less on heavy guitar riffs.

The album was received more favorably than Audioslave’s debut; critics noted Cornell’s stronger vocals, likely the result of quitting smoking and drinking,^[59] and pointed out that Out Of Exile is “the sound of a band coming into its own”.^[60] Allmusic, which gave Audioslave a lukewarm review, praised the album as “lean, hard, strong, and memorable”.^[61] The lyrics, however, were still a common complaint, musicOMH.com wrote that Cornell’s lyrics “continue to border on the ridiculous”; ^[62] The album’s softer, slower approach was frequently criticized as well.

Following the album’s release, the band embarked on a European tour, performed at the Live 8 benefit concert in Berlin on July 2, 2005, and played their first North American headlining arena tour from late September to November 2005. The music video for “Doesn’t Remind Me”, the third single from Out of Exile, was posted online in September 2005. Audioslave’s second DVD, Live in Cuba, featuring the concert in Havana, was released on October 11, 2005. It was certified platinum in less than two months.

Revelations and breakup (2006–2007)

In December 2005, Audioslave received its third Grammy nomination at the 48th Grammy Awards in the “Best Hard Rock Performance” category for “Doesn’t Remind Me”. Audioslave began recording their next album; Cornell had already expressed his desire to make “an album every year or year-and-a-half” even before Out of Exile was released. In early July 2005, after the conclusion of the European tour, the band returned to the studio to write new songs; Morello said their aim was to “blur the lines between rehearsing, recording and touring”. The actual recording began in January 2006, with plans to release the album in June.^[67] This time, the band chose Out of Exile’s mixer, Brendan O’Brien as producer.

Audioslave had 20 songs written and recorded 16 of those in only three weeks. However, the album’s release date was postponed to early September, and the band cancelled their previously announced European tour, to have a new album to support, when they embarked on touring. The first single off the album, “Original Fire”, was made available online on Audioslave’s official website for free streaming in early July.

News about Cornell’s departure emerged in July 2006, when insiders stated that after the third album he would split for a solo career. The singer immediately denied the rumors, stating “We hear rumors that Audioslave is breaking up all the time. … I always just ignore [them]“. In the same interview, he also discussed his intentions to record a new solo album, the second in seven years, before the end of August.

A special marketing campaign preceded the new album’s release in August, when the art concept was featured on Google Earth as a fictional utopian island, Audioslave Nation, created in the South Pacific. Several songs from the upcoming album appeared on movie and video game soundtracks; “Wide Awake” and “Shape of Things to Come” were featured in Miami Vice, while “Revelations” was on the soundtrack of Madden NFL 07. Revelations was released on September 5, 2006. The album entered the Billboard 200 at #2 and sold 142,000 copies during its first week of release. It became the band’s least commercially successful album; dropping even faster than Out of Exile, its sales were down 65 percent the following week, achieving gold certification a month later. The album showed funk, soul and R&B influences that were non-existent for the band before; Morello referred to the new sound as “Led Zeppelin Meets Earth, Wind & Fire”. Additionally, several songs took a more overtly liberal political stance than previous Audioslave releases.

The album received a similar critical response to Out of Exile with the majority of reviewers praising the band’s integrity on the record. The new funk and soul influences were also welcomed favorably, Allmusic called the album Audioslave’s “most colorful, diverse, and consistent record yet”.^[75] Many others, however, saw it as “just another rock record”, and musically not much different from the previous album.

Cornell decided to delay the Revelations tour until 2007, because he wanted to “let the album come out for awhile” and also concentrate on his second solo album.^[78] The rest of the band went along; Morello also revealed his plans to release his debut solo album in early 2007. The second, and final single from the album, “Revelations” was released in October 2006 with an accompanying music video a month later.

On January 22, 2007, Rage Against the Machine was announced to reunite for one show only, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, on April 29, 2007. Less than a month later, on February 15, 2007, Cornell officially announced his departure from Audioslave, issuing this statement:

Due to irresolvable personality conflicts as well as musical differences, I am permanently leaving the band Audioslave. I wish the other three members nothing but the best in all of their future endeavors.

He stated that, as far as he was concerned, Audioslave had disbanded, and that a greatest hits collection would be issued in the future, because of label commitments.^[79] The New York Post reported that according to sources the split was not about “irresolvable personality conflicts” but about the money, a friend of Cornell said: “Chris was unhappy with the financial arrangement within the group—he wrote all the music, yet the other three bandmates took an equal share in the multimillion-dollar publishing rights.”

Morello has said that he never officially heard and “still haven’t heard” from Cornell that he was leaving the group. Cornell countered: “Tom and I did have communications about the fact that I was gonna go make a record, and that I was tired of what ended up seeming like political negotiations toward how we were gonna do Audioslave business and getting nowhere with it.”^[82] He also added that this process of “doing Audioslave business” led him to go solo.

Cornell admits that he has not spoken to the other members of Audioslave since the breakup. He has said that the breakup was not about money, but that he was just not getting along with the other members during their later years. Said Cornell, “Getting along as people is one thing. Getting along as a group of people that can work together in a band situation…We weren’t particularly getting along well, no. Bands work in a way where everyone at some point has to have a similar idea of how you do things…Three albums into it, it started to seem like our interests weren’t as conjoined anymore.”

The game Shaun White Snowboarding featured the song ‘Gasoline’ as part of the soundtrack, from the album ‘Audioslave’.^[84] However, this song is not included on the official compilation soundtrack.

Musical style and influences

By combining hard rock with grunge, Audioslave created a distinctive sound.^[85] This mix was driven by Cornell’s wide vocal range, Morello’s ‘innovative’ guitar solos and the rhythm section of Wilk and Commerford. Morello, although stating he “never felt musically limited” in Rage Against the Machine, did say that he had “a lot more scope to explore with Audioslave” and a “wider musical territory”.^[88] This meant that the instrumentalists had the opportunity to write slow and melodic songs, something they had not done before.

As opposed to de la Rocha’s lyrics, Cornell’s were mostly apolitical; Morello referred to them as “haunted, existential poetry”. They were characterized by his cryptic approach, often dealing with themes of existentialism, love, hedonism,^[90] spirituality and Christianity.^[89] Critics were not often impressed with Cornell’s lyrical work; its detractors usually deemed his songs clichéd and meaningless.

Audioslave’s first two albums drew influences from 1970s hard rock such as Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, and from the members’ previous bands (the grunge of Soundgarden and the funk metal of Rage Against the Machine). For Revelations, which was influenced by 1960s and 70s funk, soul and R&B music, Morello used vintage guitars and amplifiers, and Cornell adopted his “seventies funk and R&B-flavor vocals”. The guitarist also cited Sly & the Family Stone, James Brown and Funkadelic as a reason for the funk overtones on the album.

Just as Rage Against the Machine did, Audioslave also included the statement “All sounds made by guitar, bass, drums, and vocals” in their albums’ booklets as Morello’s guitar work often caused listeners to believe that the band used samples, synthesizer effects or different turntable techniques to produce certain sounds.

Songwriting and recording process

All of Audioslave’s lyrics were written by Cornell, while all four members—as a band—were credited with writing the music. Their songwriting process was described by Wilk as “more collaborative” and “satisfying” than Rage Against the Machine’s, which was “a battle creatively”. Cornell also felt the same way; he saw Soundgarden’s songwriting method inferior to Audioslave’s. Rick Rubin, producer of the band’s first two albums, was also lauded as “a great collaborative partner” and was likened to “the fifth Beatle” by Tom Morello.

The time spent on songwriting by the band was always short. They wrote 21 songs in 19 days for the first album, and exceeded that rate for the second album by having a song or sometimes two written every day. This method was adopted for the third album as well.

Cornell’s battle with drug addiction and alcoholism was a defining factor in the writing and recording process of the debut album. The singer admitted that he was “never able to write effectively” while drinking,^[99] and attended rehab after recording Audioslave. Although Morello stated that Revelations was “the first record [Cornell] didn’t smoke, drink or take drugs through the recording”, he later corrected his statement by saying: “Chris was stone sober during the making of our Out of Exile album. Chris was also sober during the making of Revelations and prior to recording he gave up smoking as well.”^[100]

Politics

While Rage Against the Machine’s music was politically influenced, Audioslave’s originally was not. Cornell stated he did not want to become the new singer of Rage Against the Machine or any political band, but he would play benefits the other band members wanted to play. Despite his reluctance to write political lyrics, he himself never discounted the possibility; he already touched upon political issues in Audioslave’s “Set It Off”—a song inspired by 1999’s WTO riots (the “Battle of Seattle“)—then later wrote an anti-war song, “Sound of a Gun”, and what Morello called “the most political song Audioslave’s ever written”, “Wide Awake” for Revelations. “Wide Awake” was an attack on the Bush administration’s failure to act over the consequences of Hurricane Katrina.

The band was openly anti-Bush and against the Iraq War from the beginning; on March 17, 2003, only hours after President Bush announced plans to invade Iraq, the band performed live in Hollywood with messages reading “How many Iraqis per gallon?” and “Somewhere in Texas, a Village is Missing an Idiot”, scrolled across the stage. The music video for “Doesn’t Remind Me” was also critical of the Iraq war.

During the time of the second album’s release several politically-charged Rage Against the Machine songs resurfaced in Audioslave’s live set. Although the members committed to not making political statements during their Cuba tour, Commerford stated in an interview that the concert made Audioslave more politically active than Rage Against the Machine ever was.^[105] While in Cuba, Cornell said that he takes “every aspect of human life” into consideration, when it comes to writing lyrics, and that he would write about the experience in a song, or more songs. This culminated in the political influences on Revelations, although he did not write about Cuba specifically. He asserted that he felt Audioslave can be a band like U2, which is “not overtly political, but Bono gets a lot done”. That year, the band played at two more concerts organized to raise political awareness: Live 8, which aimed to end global poverty, and the Hurricane Katrina benefit concert, ReAct Now: Music & Relief.

Audioslave was prominently involved in the Axis of Justice, a non-profit organization formed by Tom Morello and System of a Down’s Serj Tankian to “bring together musicians, fans of music, and grassroots political organizations to fight for social justice”. Axis of Justice tents were set up at almost every Audioslave show, and with the exception of Commerford all band members appeared on the Concert Series Volume 1 CD/DVD charity album released in 2004.

Discography

• Audioslave (2002)
• Out of Exile (2005)
• Revelations (2006)

all text taken from wikipedia under GNU.

Eminem ringtones

Get Eminem- Lose Yourself mp3 ringtone (click here)

Get Eminem - Superman mp3 ringtone (click here)

Eminem - Sing for the moment mp3 ringtone (click here)

Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known by his primary stage name Eminem, or by his alter-ego Slim Shady, is an American rapper, record producer and actor. Eminem quickly gained popularity in 1999 with his major-label debut album The Slim Shady LP, which won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Album. The following album, The Marshall Mathers LP, became the fastest-selling hip hop album in history. It brought Eminem increased popularity, including his own record label, Shady Records, and brought his group project D12 into mainstream recognition. The Marshall Mathers LP and his third album, The Eminem Show, also won Grammy Awards, and in 2002, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for a song in the film 8 Mile, in which he also played the lead. Eminem has developed into one of the most popular rappers of all-time, then went on hiatus after touring in 2005. He is planning on releasing his first album since 2004, Relapse, on May 19, 2009.

Early life and first releases

Marshall Bruce Mathers III was born in St. Joseph, Missouri, the son of Deborah Mathers-Briggs and Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr. Shortly after his birth, his father abandoned his family. Until he was twelve, Marshall Mathers and his mother often moved between St. Joseph; Kansas City, Missouri and Warren, Michigan, a Detroit suburb. As a teenager, Mathers became interested in hip hop, performing amateur raps at age fourteen under the pseudonym “M&M” and joining the group Soul Intent around 1995, when his first single was released. Although a student at Lincoln High School in Warren, he frequently participated in freestyle battles at Osborn High School across town, gaining the approval of underground hip hop audiences. After repeating the ninth grade twice due to truancy, he dropped out of high school at age 17.

Since 1992, Mathers had been signed to FBT Productions, run by brothers Jeff and Mark Bass. Mathers also held a minimum-wage job of cooking and dishwashing at the restaurant Gilbert’s Lodge at St. Clair Shores for some time. In 1996, his debut album Infinite, which was recorded at the Bassment, a recording studio owned by the Bass Brothers, was released under their independent label Web Entertainment. Eminem recalls: “Obviously, I was young and influenced by other artists, and I got a lot of feedback saying that I sounded like Nas and AZ. Infinite was me trying to figure out how I wanted my rap style to be, how I wanted to sound on the mic and present myself. It was a growing stage. I felt like Infinite was like a demo that just got pressed up.” Subjects covered in Infinite included his struggles with raising his newborn daughter Hailie Jade Scott while on limited funds. Early in his career, Eminem collaborated with fellow Detroit MC Royce da 5′9″ under the stage name Bad Meets Evil.

With the release of The Slim Shady EP, Mathers was accused of imitating the style and subject matter of underground rapper Cage. While promoting the EP, Mathers approached Insane Clown Posse member Joseph Bruce and handed him a flyer which implied that the group would make an appearance at the EP’s release party. Bruce refused to appear because Mathers had not previously approached him for permission to use the group’s name in this way. Taking Bruce’s response as a personal offense, Mathers subsequently attacked the group in radio interviews. Barbs between Insane Clown Posse and Eminem continued.

Jimmy Iovine, CEO of Interscope Records, requested a demo tape of Eminem’s after Eminem won second place at the 1997 Rap Olympics. Iovine played the tape for record producer Dr. Dre, founder of Aftermath Entertainment. The two began recording tracks for Eminem’s upcoming major-label debut The Slim Shady LP, and Eminem made a guest performance on the album Devil Without a Cause by Kid Rock.^[1] Hip-hop magazine The Source featured Eminem in its “Unsigned Hype” column in March 1998.

1999: The Slim Shady LP

According to Billboard Magazine, at this point in his life Eminem had “realized his musical ambitions were the only way to escape his unhappy life”. After being signed to Aftermath Entertainment/Interscope Records in 1998, Eminem released in 1999 his first major studio album, The Slim Shady LP, heavily based on the production by Dr. Dre. The album was, according to the same Billboard article, “brutal” and “light years ahead of the material he had been writing beforehand.” It went on to be one of the most popular albums of 1999, going triple platinum by the end of the year. With the album’s popularity came controversy surrounding many of the album’s lyrics. In “‘97 Bonnie and Clyde”, he describes a trip with his infant daughter, disposing of the body of his wife. Another song, “Guilty Conscience”, ends with his encouraging a man to murder his wife and her lover. “Guilty Conscience” marked the beginning of the powerful friendship and musical bond that Dr. Dre and Eminem would share. The two label-mates would later collaborate on a line of hit songs, including “Forgot About Dre” and “What’s the Difference” from Dr. Dre’s album 2001, “Bitch Please II” from The Marshall Mathers LP, “Say What You Say” from The Eminem Show and “Encore/Curtains Down” from Encore. Thus, Dr. Dre would go on to make at least one guest appearance on all of Eminem’s studio albums under the label Aftermath.

2000–2001: The Marshall Mathers LP

The Marshall Mathers LP was released in May 2000. It went on to sell 1.76 million copies in its first week, breaking the records set by Snoop Dogg’s Doggystyle as the fastest-selling hip hop album and Britney Spears’ …Baby One More Time as the fastest-selling solo album in the United States.^[2][20] The first single released from the album, “The Real Slim Shady”, was a success and created some controversy by insulting celebrities and making dubious claims about them; he states, among other things, that Christina Aguilera performed oral sex on Fred Durst and Carson Daly. In his second single, “The Way I Am”, he reveals to his fans the pressures from his record company to top “My Name Is” and sell more records. Although Eminem had parodied shock rocker Marilyn Manson in the video “My Name Is”, the artists are on good terms. They have performed a remix of the song “The Way I Am” together in concert. In the third single, “Stan” (which samples Dido’s “Thank You”), Eminem attempts to deal with his new-found fame, taking on the persona of a deranged fan who kills himself and his pregnant girlfriend, mirroring “‘97 Bonnie & Clyde” on The Slim Shady LP. Q magazine named “Stan” the third-greatest rap song of all time, and the song came tenth in a similar survey conducted by Top40-Charts.com. The song has since become highly acclaimed and was ranked 290th in Rolling Stone magazine’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. In July 2000, Eminem became the first white person to be featured on the cover of The Source magazine.

Music tours that he participated in for 2001 included the Up In Smoke Tour with rappers Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, and Ice Cube and Family Values Tour with the band Limp Bizkit.

2002–2003: The Eminem Show

Eminem’s third major album, The Eminem Show, was released in summer 2002 and proved to be another hit for the rapper reaching number one on the charts and selling well over 1 million copies in its first week of release. It featured the single “Without Me”, an apparent sequel to “The Real Slim Shady”, in which he makes derogatory comments about boy bands, Limp Bizkit, Moby, and Lynne Cheney, among others. The album reflected on the impact of his rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter, and his status in the hip-hop community. He also addresses the charges he faced over assaulting a bouncer he saw kissing his wife in 2000. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic felt that while there was clear anger present on several tracks, this album was considerably less inflammatory than The Marshall Mathers LP. However, L. Brent Bozell III, who previously criticized The Marshall Mathers LP for perceived misogynistic lyrics in the album, noted The Eminem Show for its extensive use of obscene language, giving Eminem a nickname of “Eminef” for the bowdlerization of motherfucker, an obscenity prevalent in the album.

2004: Encore

On December 8, 2003, the United States Secret Service admitted it was “looking into” allegations that Eminem had threatened the President of the United States. The lyrics in question: “Fuck money / I don’t rap for dead presidents / I’d rather see the president dead / It’s never been said, but I set precedents…”. The song in question, titled “We As Americans”, was being recorded possibly for Encore but wound up on a bonus CD accompanying the album instead.

The year 2004 saw the release of Eminem’s fourth major album, Encore. The album was another chart-topper, as it was driven by the single “Just Lose It”, notable for being disrespectful towards Michael Jackson. On October 12, 2004, a week after the release of “Just Lose It”, Eminem’s first single off Encore, Michael Jackson called into the Los Angeles-based Steve Harvey radio show to report his displeasure with the video, which parodies Jackson’s child molestation trial, plastic surgery, and an incident in which Jackson’s hair caught on fire while filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. The lyrics to “Just Lose It” refer to Jackson’s legal troubles, however he does state in his song “…and that’s not a stab at Michael/That’s just a metaphor/I’m just psycho…”. Many of Jackson’s supporters and friends spoke out about the video, including Stevie Wonder, who called the video “kicking a man while he’s down” and “bullshit”,^[32] and Steve Harvey who declared, “Eminem has lost his ghetto pass. We want the pass back.”^[32] In the video, Eminem parodied Pee Wee Herman, MC Hammer, and a Blonde-Ambition-touring Madonna.

Regarding Jackson’s protest, “Weird Al” Yankovic, who parodied the Eminem song “Lose Yourself” on a track titled “Couch Potato” on his 2003 album Poodle Hat, told the Chicago Sun-Times, “Last year, Eminem forced me to halt production on the video for my “Lose Yourself” parody because he somehow thought that it would be harmful to his image or career. So the irony of this situation with Michael is not lost on me”.^[34] Black Entertainment Television was the first channel to stop airing the video. MTV, however, announced it would continue airing the video. The Source, through its CEO Raymond “Benzino” Scott, wanted not only the video to be pulled, but the song off the album, and a public apology to Jackson from Eminem. In 2007 Jackson and Sony bought Famous Music LLC from Viacom. This deal gave him the rights to songs by Eminem, Shakira and Beck amongst others. Despite the comedic theme of the lead single, Encore had its fair share of serious subject matter, including the anti-war track “Mosh”. On October 25, 2004, a week before the 2004 U.S. Presidential election, Eminem released the video for “Mosh” on the Internet. The song featured a very strong anti-Bush message, with lyrics such as “fuck Bush” and “this weapon of mass destruction that we call our president.” The video features Eminem gathering up an army of people, including rapper Lloyd Banks, presented as victims of the Bush administration and leading them to the White House. However, once the army breaks in, it is revealed that they are there to simply register to vote, and the video ends with the words “VOTE Tuesday November 2″ on the screen. After Bush won the election, the video’s ending was changed to Eminem and the protesters invading while Bush was giving a speech.

2005–2008: Hiatus

In 2005, some industry insiders speculated that Eminem was considering ending his rapping career after six years and several multi-platinum albums. Speculation began in early 2005 about a double-disc album to be released late that year, rumored to be titled The Funeral.^[40] The album manifested itself as a greatest hits album under the name Curtain Call: The Hits, and was released on December 6, 2005 under Aftermath Entertainment. In July 2005, the Detroit Free Press broke news of a potential final bow for Eminem as a solo performer, quoting members of his inside circle who said that he will begin to fully embrace the role of producer and label executive. On the same day of the release of the compilation album, Eminem denied that he was retiring on Detroit-based WKQI’s “Mojo in the Morning” radio show, but implied that he would at least be taking a break as an artist, saying “I’m at a point in my life right now where I feel like I don’t know where my career is going… This is the reason that we called it ‘Curtain Call,’ because this could be the final thing. We don’t know.”

That year, Eminem was a subject of criticism in conservative Bernard Goldberg’s book 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America, being ranked at #58.^[42] Goldberg cited a 2001 column by Bob Herbert of The New York Times claiming, “In Eminem’s world, all women are whores and he is eager to rape and murder them.”^[43] The Eminem song “No One’s Iller” from The Slim Shady EP was used by Goldberg as an example of misogyny in his music.

In summer 2005, Eminem embarked on his first U.S. concert run in three years, the Anger Management 3 Tour, featuring 50 Cent, G-Unit, Lil’ Jon, D12, Obie Trice, The Alchemist, and others. In August 2005, Eminem canceled the European leg of the tour and subsequently announced that he had entered drug rehabilitation for treatment for a “dependency on sleep medication”.

2009: Relapse and Relapse 2

In September 2007, Eminem called into New York radio station Hot 97 during a 50 Cent interview and said he was “in limbo” and “debating” about when and if he would release another album. He said, “I’m always working — I’m always in the studio. It feels good right now, the energy of the label. For a while, I didn’t want to go back to the studio … I went through some personal things. I’m coming out of those personal things [and] it feels good.”

Eminem made an appearance on Shade 45 in September 2008 in which he said, “Right now I’m kinda just concentrating on my own stuff, for right now and just banging out tracks and producing a lot of stuff. You know, the more I keep producing the better it seems like I get ’cause I just start knowing stuff.”^[47] It was around this time that Interscope finally confirmed the existence of a new Eminem album,^[48] with Spring 2009 later being stated as the period span in which the album is due. In December 2008, he gave more details on the album, which he recently reported was being titled Relapse. He said, “Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man. Dre will end up producing the majority of the tracks on Relapse. We are up to our old mischievous ways … let’s just leave it at that.”

In March 2009, Eminem reported in a press release that he would be releasing two new albums this year. The first album, Relapse, is set for release on May 19, while the first official single and it’s music video are set for release on April 7. The second album, Relapse 2 doesn’t have a set release date yet, but Eminem is currently in the studio working on the album, and it should be released in the second half of this year. Eminem said in the press release, “we were on such a roll; we wound up with a ton of new music produced by Dre. Putting out Relapse 2 will let everyone get all of the best stuff.”

Other projects

D12

Around the time of recording Infinite, Eminem and rappers Proof and Kon Artis gathered the group of rappers now collectively in the group D12, short for “Detroit Twelve” or “Dirty Dozen”, performing in the manner of the multi-man group Wu-Tang Clan.^[53] In 2001, Eminem brought his rap group, D12, to the popular music scene, and the group’s debut album Devil’s Night came out that year.^[54] The first single released off of the album was “Shit on You”, followed by “Purple Pills”, an ode to recreational drug use. For radio and television, the censored version “Pills” was heavily rewritten to remove many of the song’s references to drugs and sex and was renamed “Purple Hills”. While that single was a hit, the album’s second single, “Fight Music”, was not as successful.

After their debut, D12 took a three-year break from the studio, later regrouping to release their second album, D12 World, in 2004, which featured the popular hit single release “My Band”.^[54] In April 2006 D12 member Deshaun “Proof” Holton was killed in a club brawl involving U.S. military veteran Keith Bender Jr, who was killed by Proof. The eruption is suspected to have been due to an argument over a game of pool. Proof was then allegedly shot by the bouncer Mario Etheridge, Bender’s cousin. He was then taken by private vehicle to St. John Health’s Conner Creek Campus, an outpatient emergency treatment site, and was pronounced dead on arrival shortly thereafter. Eminem and fellow Detroit Shady Records artist Obie Trice spoke at the funeral.

D12 member Bizarre said that Eminem is not featured on his new album Blue Cheese & Coney Island because “he’s busy doing his thing”.^[57] In a December 2007 interview with the website DefSounds.com, Bizarre confirmed that the group is working on its third studio album, tentatively titled The Ambition, which he said was “halfway finished” at the time of the interview. Producers include Dr. Dre, Eminem, Luis Resto, and Hi-Tek.

Featurings and productions

Although he typically collaborates with various rappers under Aftermath Entertainment and Shady Records, such as Dr. Dre, 50 Cent, D12, Eminem has collaborated with many other artists, including, Redman, Kid Rock, DMX, Missy Elliott, Jay-Z, Method Man, The Notorious B.I.G., Jadakiss, Fat Joe, Sticky Fingaz, T.I. and others.

Eminem rapped a verse in a live performance of Busta Rhymes’ “Touch It” remix at the 2006 BET Music Awards on June 27, 2006. Eminem was featured on Akon’s single “Smack That” which appeared on Akon’s album Konvicted.

Eminem is also an active rap producer. Besides being the executive producer of D12’s two albums, Devil’s Night and D12 World, he has executive produced Obie Trice’s Cheers and Second Round’s on Me as well as 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and The Massacre. In addition, Eminem has produced and appeared on several songs by other famous rappers, such as Jadakiss’ “Welcome To D-Block”, Jay-Z’s “Renagade” and “Moment of Clarity” Lloyd Banks’ “Warrior Part 2″, and “Hands Up”, Tony Yayo’s “Drama Setter”, Trick Trick’s “Welcome 2 Detroit”, and Xzibit’s “My Name” and “Don’t Approach Me”. Most of The Eminem Show was produced by Eminem himself, with co-production from longtime collaborator Jeff Bass.^[61] He split the production with Dr. Dre on Encore. In 2004, Eminem was the Executive Producer of 2Pac’s posthumous album Loyal to the Game with 2Pac’s mother Afeni Shakur. He produced the UK #1 single “Ghetto Gospel” which featured Elton John. He has produced “The Cross” off Nas’s album God’s Son.^[64] On August 15, 2006, Obie Trice released Second Round’s on Me. Eminem produced 8 tracks on the album. He was featured in the song “There They Go”. Eminem has produced some tracks on the new Trick Trick album, The Villain; he’s featured in “Who Want It”.

Shady Records

As Eminem succeeded in multi-platinum record sales, Interscope granted him his own record label. He and his manager Paul Rosenberg created Shady Records in late 2000. He followed this by signing his own Detroit collective D12 and rapper Obie Trice to the label. In 2002, Eminem signed 50 Cent through a joint venture between Shady and Dr. Dre’s Aftermath label. In 2003, Eminem and Dr. Dre signed on Atlanta rapper Stat Quo to the Shady/Aftermath roster. DJ Green Lantern, the former DJ for Eminem, was signed to Shady Records until a dispute related to the 50 Cent and Jadakiss feud forced him to depart from the label; he is no longer associated with Eminem. The Alchemist is now officially Eminem’s tour DJ. In 2005, Eminem signed another Atlanta rapper, Bobby Creekwater, to his label along with West Coast rapper Cashis.

On December 5, 2006, Shady Records released compilation album entitled Eminem Presents: the Re-Up. It started out as a mixtape but Eminem found that the material was better than expected and released it as a full album. It was meant to help launch the new artists under the roster, like Stat Quo, Cashis and Bobby Creekwater.

Acting career

Although he had a brief cameo in the 2001 film The Wash, Eminem made his official Hollywood acting debut with the semi-autobiographical 8 Mile, released in November 2002. He has said the movie is not an account of his life, but a representation of growing up in Detroit. He recorded several new songs for the soundtrack, including “Lose Yourself”, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2003. However, the song was not performed at the ceremony, due to Eminem’s absence at the ceremony. His collaborator Luis Resto, who co-wrote the song, accepted the award.

Eminem has participated in various voice acting roles. Some of these include the video game 50 Cent: Bulletproof, where he voices an aging corrupt police officer that speaks in Ebonics and guest spots on the Comedy Central television show Crank Yankers, and a web cartoon called The Slim Shady Show, which has since been pulled off-line and is instead sold on DVD.

Eminem will star in the upcoming film Have Gun – Will Travel in which he will play the protagonist bounty hunter “Paladin”. He will be involved in either the soundtrack or scoring.^[70] He was also in the running for the part of David Rice in 2008’s film Jumper after Tom Sturridge was dropped just 2 weeks before filming. Concerns over not having a more prominent actor prompted the director, Doug Liman, to consider other actors for the role. Hayden Christensen was eventually chosen over Eminem.

Memoir

On October 21, 2008, Eminem released a tell-all autobiography titled The Way I Am, which details his struggles with poverty, drugs, fame, heartbreak and depression, along with stories about his rise to fame and commentary on past controversies.

Personal life

Family

Marshall Mathers has often been subject of much scrutiny as a rapper as well in his personal life. Kimberley Anne Scott is the doubly divorced ex-wife of Mathers. The couple met in high school, beginning their on-and-off relationship in 1989 and getting married by 1999; however they then divorced in 2001. In 2000, Scott attempted suicide and sued the rapper for defamation after he depicted her violent death in his song “Kim”. They remarried in 2006 but divorced again less than three months later, agreeing to share custody of their daughter, Hailie Jade Scott. Hailie Scott has often been referenced or featured on various songs of Eminem, such as “‘97 Bonnie & Clyde“, “Hailie’s Song”, “My Dad’s Gone Crazy“, “Mockingbird”, “Forgot About Dre”, “Cleaning Out My Closet” and “When I’m Gone”. She was born on December 25, 1995. As well, Alaina is Marshall Mathers’s adopted daughter from Kim Scott’s sister.

Legal troubles

In 1999 Mathers’ mother sued him for an around US$ 10 million over alleged slander about her in his lyrics regarding The Slim Shady LP; she won about US$1,600 in damages in 2001.

Mathers was arrested on June 3, 2000 during an altercation at a car audio store in Royal Oak, Michigan, with Douglas Dail, where he pulled out an unloaded gun and kept it pointed at the ground. The following day, in Warren, Michigan, he allegedly saw his then wife, Kim, kiss bouncer John Guerrera in the parking lot of the Hot Rock Café and assaulted him. He was given two years probation for both the episodes.

In the summer of 2001, Mathers’ legal troubles continued, as he was given probation on weapons charges that stemmed from an argument with an employee of Psychopathic Records, giving him a fine around $2,000 as well as several hours of community service.

Drug dependence

His group-mate Proof from D12 stated that Mathers “sobered up” in 2002 from drug and alcohol dependence. However, he did turn to Zolpidem sleeping pills for relief from sleeping troubles. This caused Mathers to cancel the European leg of the Anger Management Tour in August 2005 and eventually go into rehab for treatment for a “dependency on sleep medication”.

Discography

• 1996: Infinite
• 1999: The Slim Shady LP
• 2000: The Marshall Mathers LP
• 2002: The Eminem Show
• 2004: Encore
• 2009: Relapse
• 2009: Relapse 2^[82]

Filmography

• 2000: Da Hip Hop Witch, himself
• 2001: The Wash, Chris
• 2002: 8 Mile, Jimmy “B. Rabbit” Smith, Jr.
• 2010: Have Gun – Will Travel, Paladin

Awards

While Eminem has won many Grammy Awards, been praised for having “verbal energy”, high quality of lyricism and been ranked at #9 on MTV’s list of The Greatest MCs of All Time, #13 on the MTV’s “22 Greatest Voices in Music” and #82 on Rolling Stone’s “The Immortals”. He has often been infamous for the controversy surrounding many of these lyrics, including allegations of glorifying homophobia, misogyny, and violence. In 2008, the readers of Vibe Magazine voted him “The Best Rapper Alive”.

(source:wikipedia)

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Alucard is a fictional character in the Hellsing anime and manga series created by Kohta Hirano. He is the main protagonist of the Hellsing franchise.

It is implied Alucard is the most powerful vampire currently in existence. He usually dresses in a Victorian fashion, including a charcoal suit, leather riding boots, and a red bowtie, covered by a long red overcoat. He also wears a red fedora with a wide, floppy brim and a pair of circular, wire-framed sunglasses. He does wear other outfits. He has a vast range of supernatural techniques. His enhanced strength allows him to wield pistols too heavy for humans to handle. He fights with ferocity and often extreme cruelty, rarely shooting to kill until his target has been disabled and humiliated. He frequently gives enemies more than one chance to kill him before retaliating, if only to demonstrate his powers. He admits he is a “monster”. He is devoted to his master, Integra Hellsing, and seems to have a friendship with her butler, Walter C. Dornez. He harbors feelings of fatherly affection towards his fledgling, Seras Victoria.

In the anime (both TV series and OVA) Alucard is voiced by Nakata Jouji. In the English dub of both series, he is voiced by Crispin Freeman. (Source: Wikipedia GNU License)

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Metallica is an American heavy metal band that formed in 1981 in Los Angeles. Founded when drummer Lars Ulrich posted an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper, Metallica’s line-up has primarily consisted of Ulrich, rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, while going through a number of bassists. Currently, the spot is held by Robert Trujillo.

Metallica’s early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship that placed them as one of the “big four” of the thrash metal subgenre alongside Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. The band earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and critical acclaim, with the 1986 release Master of Puppets described as one of the most influential and “heavy” thrash metal albums. The band achieved substantial commercial success with its self-titled 1991 album, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. With this release the band expanded its musical direction resulting in an album that appealed to a more mainstream audience.

In 2000, Metallica was among several artists who filed a lawsuit against Napster for sharing the band’s copyright-protected material for free without the band members’ consent.^[1] A settlement was reached, and Napster became a pay-to-use service. Despite reaching number one on the Billboard 200, the release of St. Anger alienated many fans with the exclusion of guitar solos and the “steel-sounding” snare drum. A film titled Some Kind of Monster documented the recording process of St. Anger.

Metallica has released nine studio albums, two live albums, two EPs, twenty-two music videos, and forty-three singles. The band has won seven Grammy Awards, and has had five consecutive albums debut at number one on the Billboard 200, making Metallica the only band ever to do so.^[2] The band’s 1991 album, Metallica, has sold over 15 million copies in the United States, and 22 million copies worldwide, which makes it the 25th-highest-selling album in the country.^[3] The band has sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide as of the release of their latest album Death Magnetic. As of September 2008, Metallica is the fourth highest-selling music artist since the SoundScan era began tracking sales on May 25, 1991, selling a total of 51,136,000 albums in the United States alone.

History

Early days (1981–1983)

Metallica was formed in Los Angeles, California, in early 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich placed an advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper—The Recycler—which read “Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden.”^[5] Guitarists James Hetfield and Hugh Tanner of Leather Charm answered the advertisement. Although he had not formed a band, Ulrich asked Metal Blade Records founder Brian Slagel if he could record a song for the label’s upcoming compilation Metal Massacre. Slagel accepted, and Ulrich recruited Hetfield to sing and play rhythm guitar.

Ulrich talked to his friend Ron Quintana, who was brainstorming names for a fanzine. Quintana had proposed the names Metal Mania and Metallica. Ulrich used Metallica for the name of his band. A second advertisement was placed in The Recycler for a position as lead guitarist. Dave Mustaine answered, and, after seeing his expensive guitar equipment, Ulrich and Hetfield recruited him. In early 1982, Metallica recorded its first original song “Hit the Lights” for the Metal Massacre I compilation. Hetfield played bass on the song and Lloyd Grant was credited with a guitar solo.^[5] Released on June 14, 1982, early pressings of Metal Massacre I listed the band incorrectly as “Mettallica”. Although angered by the error, Metallica managed to create enough “buzz” with the song and the band played its first live show on March 14, 1982, at Radio City in Anaheim, California with newly recruited bassist Ron McGovney.^[6] Metallica recorded its first demo, Power Metal, a name inspired by Quintana’s early business cards in early 1982. In the fall of 1982, Ulrich and Hetfield attended a show at the nightclub Whisky a Go Go which featured bassist Cliff Burton in a band called Trauma. The two were “blown away” by Burton’s use of a wah-wah pedal and asked him to join Metallica. Hetfield and Mustaine wanted McGovney out as they thought that he “didn’t contribute anything, he just followed.” Although Burton initially declined the offer, by the end of the year he accepted on the condition the band move to San Francisco. Metallica’s first live performance with Burton was at the nightclub The Stone in March 1983, and the first recording to feature Burton was the 1983 Megaforce demo.

Metallica was ready to record its debut album, but when Metal Blade was unable to cover the additional cost, the band began looking for other options. Concert promoter Johnny “Z” Zazula, who had heard the 1982 No Life ’til Leather demo, offered to broker a record deal with Metallica and New York City-based record labels. After receiving no interest from various record labels, Zazula borrowed the money to cover the record’s recording budget and signed Metallica to his own label, Megaforce Records. Band members decided to kick Mustaine out of the band due to drug and alcohol abuse, and violent behavior. Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett flew in to replace Mustaine the same afternoon. Metallica’s first show with Hammett was on April 16, 1983, at the nightclub The Showplace in Dover, New Jersey.

Mustaine has expressed his dislike for Hammett in interviews. He said Hammett “stole my job, but at least I got to bang his girlfriend before he took my job — how do I taste, Kirk?” Mustaine was “pissed off” because he believes Hammett became popular by playing the guitar leads that Mustaine wrote.^[11] In a 1985 interview with Metal Forces, Mustaine slammed Hammett saying, “it’s real funny how Kirk Hammett ripped off every lead break I’d played on that No Life ’til Leather tape and got voted No. 1 guitarist in your magazine.”^[12] On Megadeth’s 1985 debut album Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!, Mustaine included the song “Mechanix”, which Metallica renamed as “The Four Horsemen” on Kill ‘Em All. Mustaine said he did this to “straighten Metallica up”, as Metallica referred to Mustaine as a drunk and said he could not play guitar.

Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning (1983–1984)

In 1983, Metallica traveled to Rochester, New York to record its first album, Metal up Your Ass, with production duties handled by Paul Curcio. Due to conflicts with the band’s record label and the distributors’ refusal to release an album with that name, it was renamed Kill ‘Em All. Released on Megaforce Records in the United States and Music for Nations in Europe, the album peaked on the Billboard 200 at number 120,^[13] and although the album was not initially a financial success, it earned Metallica a growing fan base in the underground metal scene. The band embarked on the Kill ‘Em All For One tour with Raven to support the release.^[14] In February 1984, Metallica supported Venom on the Seven Dates of Hell tour, where they performed in front of 7,000 people at the Aardschok Festival in Zwolle, Netherlands.

Metallica recorded its second studio album, Ride the Lightning, at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark. Released in August 1984, the album peaked at number 100 on the Billboard 200.^[13] A French printing press mistakenly printed green covers for the album, which are now considered collectors’ items. Other songs on the album include “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Creeping Death” (which tells the biblical story of the Hebrews’ exodus from slavery in Egypt, focusing on the various plagues that were visited on the Egyptians), and the instrumental “The Call of Ktulu“. Mustaine received a writing credit for “Ride the Lightning” and “The Call of Ktulu”.

Master of Puppets (1984–1986)

Elektra Records A&R director Michael Alago, and co-founder of Q-Prime Management Cliff Burnstein, attended a September 1984 Metallica concert. Impressed with what they saw, they signed Metallica to Elektra Records and made the band a client of Q-Prime Management.^[16] Metallica’s burgeoning success was such that the band’s British label Music for Nations issued a limited edition Creeping Death EP, which sold 40,000 copies as an import in the U.S. Two of the three songs on the record (cover versions of Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?“, and Blitzkrieg’s “Blitzkrieg”) appeared on the 1989 Elektra reissue of Kill ‘Em All.^[17] Metallica embarked on its first major European tour with Tank to an average crowd of 1,300. Returning to the U.S. marked a tour co-headlining with W.A.S.P. and Armored Saint supporting. Metallica played its largest show at the Monsters of Rock festival on August 17, 1985, with Bon Jovi and Ratt at Donington Park in England, playing in front of 70,000 people. A show in Oakland, California, at the Day on the Green festival saw the band play in front of a crowd of 60,000.

Metallica’s third studio album, Master of Puppets was recorded at Sweet Silence Studios and was released in March 1986. The album peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200, and spent 72 weeks on the chart. The album was the band’s first to be certified gold on November 4, 1986, and was certified six times platinum in 2003. Steve Huey of Allmusic considered the album “the band’s greatest achievement”. Following the release of the album, Metallica supported Ozzy Osbourne for a United States tour. Hetfield broke his wrist skateboarding down a hill and continued the tour performing vocals, with guitar technician John Marshall playing rhythm guitar.

Burton’s death and Garage Days Re-Revisited (1986–1987)

On September 27, 1986, during the European leg of Metallica’s Damage Inc. tour, members drew cards to see which bunk of the tour bus they would sleep in. Burton won and chose to sleep in Hammett’s bunk. Around dawn near Dörarp, Sweden, the bus driver lost control and skidded, which caused the bus to flip several times. Ulrich, Hammett, and Hetfield sustained no serious injuries; however, bassist Burton was pinned under the bus and was killed. Hetfield recalls, “I saw the bus lying right on him. I saw his legs sticking out. I freaked. The bus driver, I recall, was trying to yank the blanket out from under him to use for other people. I just went, ‘Don’t fucking do that!’ I already wanted to kill the guy.” Burton’s death left Metallica’s future in doubt. The three remaining members decided that Burton would want them to carry on, and with the Burton family’s blessings, the band sought a replacement.

Roughly 40 people tried out for auditions including Hammett’s childhood friend Les Claypool of Primus, Troy Gregory of Prong, and Jason Newsted, formerly of Flotsam and Jetsam. Newsted learned Metallica’s entire setlist, and after the audition Metallica invited him to Tommy’s Joynt in San Francisco. Hetfield, Ulrich, and Hammett decided that Newsted was the one to replace Burton, and Newsted’s first live performance with Metallica was at the Country Club in Reseda, California. The members took it on themselves to “initiate” Newsted by tricking him into eating a ball of wasabi.

In March 1987, Hetfield broke his wrist a second time skateboarding. Guitar technician Marshall returned playing rhythm guitar, but the injury forced the band to cancel a Saturday Night Live appearance. Metallica finished its tour in the early months of 1987, and in August 1987 an all-covers EP titled The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited was released. The EP was recorded in an effort to utilize the band’s newly constructed recording studio, test out the talents of Newsted, and to relieve grief and stress following the death of Burton. A video titled Cliff ‘Em All was released in 1987 commemorating Burton’s three years in Metallica. Footage included bass solos, home videos, and pictures.

…And Justice for All (1988–1990)

…And Justice for All, the group’s first studio album since Burton’s death, was released in 1988. The album was a commercial success, peaking at number six on the Billboard 200, the band’s first album to enter the top 10. The album was certified platinum nine weeks after its release. Newsted’s bass was purposely turned down on the album as a part of the continuous “hazing” he received, and his musical ideas were ignored (However, he did receive a writing credit on track one, “Blackened”). There were complaints with the production; namely, Steve Huey of Allmusic noted Ulrich’s drums were clicking more than thudding, and the guitars “buzz thinly”. The Damaged Justice tour followed to promote the album.

In 1989, Metallica received its first Grammy Award nomination for …And Justice for All, in the new Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrument category. Metallica was the favorite to win; however, the award was given to Jethro Tull for the album Crest of a Knave. The result generated controversy among fans and the press, as Metallica was standing off-stage waiting to receive the award after performing the song “One”. Jethro Tull had been advised by its manager not to attend the ceremony as he was expecting Metallica to win.^[27] The award was named in Entertainment Weekly‘s “Grammy’s 10 Biggest Upsets”.^[28] Three years later, Ulrich referred to the award when accepting a Grammy for “Enter Sandman” stating “We gotta thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year.”

Following the release of …And Justice for All, Metallica released its debut music video for the song “One”. The band performed the song in an abandoned warehouse, and footage was remixed with the film, Johnny Got His Gun. Rather than organize an ongoing licensing deal, Metallica purchased the rights to the film. The remixed video was submitted to MTV, with the alternate performance-only version held back in the event that MTV banned the remix version. MTV accepted the remix version, and the video was viewers’ first exposure to Metallica. It was voted number 38 in 1999 when MTV aired its “Top 100 Videos of All Time” countdown,^[30] and was featured in the network’s 25th Anniversary edition of ADD Video, which showcased the most popular videos on MTV in the last 25 years.

Metallica (1990–1993)

In October 1990, Metallica entered One on One studio in North Hollywood to record its next album. Bob Rock, who had worked with the bands The Cult, Bon Jovi, and Mötley Crüe, was hired as producer. Metallica (also known as “The Black Album”) was remixed three times, cost $1 million, and ended three marriages.^[32] Although the release was stalled until 1991, Metallica debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with shipments exceeding 650,000 units in its first week.^[33] The album was responsible for bringing Metallica to the attention of the mainstream and has been certified 15 times platinum in the United States, which makes it the 25th highest-selling album in the country.^[34] The making of Metallica and the following tour was documented in A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica. Dubbed the Wherever We May Roam Tour, it lasted 14 months and included dates in the United States, Japan, and England.

On August 8, 1992, during the co-headlining GNR-Metallica Stadium Tour with Guns N’ Roses, Hetfield suffered second and third degree burns to his arms, face, hands, and legs. There was confusion with the new pyrotechnics setup, which resulted with Hetfield walking into a 12-foot (3.7 m) flame during “Fade to Black”. Newsted recalls Hetfield’s skin was “bubbling like on The Toxic Avenger“. Guitar technician John Marshall, who had previously filled in on rhythm guitar and was now playing in Metal Church, replaced Hetfield for the remainder of the tour as Hetfield was unable to play guitar, although he was able to sing. The band’s first box set was released in November 1993 called Live Shit: Binge & Purge. The collection contained three live CDs, three home videos, and a book filled with riders and letters.

Load, ReLoad, Garage Inc., and S&M (1994–1999)

After almost three years of touring to support Metallica, including a headlining performance at Woodstock ‘94, Metallica returned to the studio to write and record its sixth studio album. The band took a break in the summer of 1995 and played three outdoor shows which included headlining Donington Park in the United Kingdom, supported by Slayer, Skid Row, Slash’s Snakepit, Therapy?, and Corrosion of Conformity. The short tour was titled Escape From The Studio ‘95. The band spent roughly one year writing and recording new songs, resulting in the release of Load in 1996, which entered the Billboard 200 and ARIA Charts at number one, marking the band’s second number one. The cover of Load was created by Andres Serrano, and was called Blood and Semen III. Serrano pressed a mixture of his own semen and bovine blood between sheets of plexiglass. The release marked a change in musical direction for the band and a new look with band members receiving haircuts. Metallica headlined the alternative rock festival Lollapalooza in the summer of 1996.

During early production of the album, the band had produced enough material for a double album. It was decided that half of the songs were to be released, and the band would continue to work on the remaining songs and release them the following year. This resulted in the follow-up album, ReLoad. The cover was created by Serrano, this time using a mixture of blood and urine. ReLoad peaked at number one on the Billboard 200, and number two on the Top Canadian Album chart. Hetfield noted in the 2004 documentary film Some Kind of Monster that the songs on these albums were initially thought by the band to be of average quality, and were “polished and reworked” until judged to be releasable. To promote ReLoad, Metallica performed on NBC’s Saturday Night Live in December 1997, performing “Fuel” and “The Memory Remains” with Marianne Faithfull.

In 1998, Metallica compiled a double album of cover songs titled Garage Inc.. The first disc contained newly recorded covers by bands such as Diamond Head, Killing Joke, The Misfits, Thin Lizzy, Mercyful Fate, and Black Sabbath. The second disc featured the original The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited, which had become a scarce collectors’ item. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number two.

On April 21 and April 22, 1999, Metallica recorded two performances with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen. Kamen, who had previously worked with producer Rock on “Nothing Else Matters”, approached the band in 1991 with the idea of pairing Metallica’s music with a symphony orchestra. Kamen and his staff of over 100 composed additional orchestral material for Metallica songs. Metallica wrote two new Kamen-scored songs for the event, “No Leaf Clover” and “-Human”. The audio recording and concert footage were released in 1999 as the album and concert film S&M. It entered the Billboard 200 at number two, and the Australian ARIA charts and Top Internet Albums chart at number one.

Napster controversy (2000–2001)

In 2000, Metallica discovered that a demo of its song “I Disappear”, which was supposed to be released in combination with the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack, was receiving radio airplay. Tracing the source of the leak, the band found the file on the Napster peer-to-peer file-sharing network, and also found that the band’s entire catalogue was freely available.^[41] Legal action was initiated against Napster with Metallica filing a lawsuit at the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, alleging that Napster violated three areas of the law: copyright infringement, unlawful use of digital audio interface device, and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Though the lawsuit named three universities for copyright infringement, the University of Southern California, Yale University, and Indiana University, no individuals were named. Yale and Indiana complied and blocked the service from its campuses, and Metallica withdrew the universities’ inclusion in the lawsuit. Southern California, however, had a meeting with students to figure out what was going to happen with Napster. School administrators wanted it banned as it used 40% of the bandwidth, which was not for educational purposes.

Metallica hired online consulting firm NetPD to monitor the Napster service for a weekend. A list of 335,435 Napster users who were believed to be sharing Metallica’s music was compiled, and the 60,000 page document was delivered to Napster’s office as Metallica requested the users be banned from the service.^[45] The users were banned, and rap artist Dr. Dre joined the lawsuit against Napster, which resulted in an additional 230,142 Napster users banned.

Ulrich provided a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding copyright infringement on July 11, 2000.^[41] Federal Judge Marilyn Hall Patel ordered the site place a filter on the program in 72 hours or be shut down.^[47] A settlement was reached between Metallica and Napster when German media conglomerate Bertelsmann AG BMG showed interest to purchase the rights to Napster for $94 million. Under the terms of settlement, Napster agreed to block users who shared music by artists who do not want their music shared.^[48] However, on June 3, 2002 Napster filed for Chapter 11 protection under U.S. bankruptcy laws. On September 3, 2002, an American bankruptcy judge blocked the sale to Bertelsmann and forced Napster to liquidate its assets according to Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy laws.

At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, Ulrich appeared in a skit with host Marlon Wayans that blasted the idea of using Napster to share music. Marlon played a college student sitting in his dorm room listening to Metallica’s “I Disappear”. Ulrich walked in and asked for an explanation. On receiving Wayans’ excuse that using Napster was just “sharing”, Lars retorted that Marlon’s idea of sharing was “borrowing things that were not yours without asking.” He called in the Metallica road crew, who proceeded to confiscate all of Wayans’ belongings, leaving him almost nude in an empty room. Napster creator Shawn Fanning responded later in the ceremony by presenting an award wearing a Metallica shirt, saying, “I borrowed this shirt from a friend. Maybe, if I like it, I’ll buy one of my own.”^[50] In 2007, Metallica was named #17 on Blender magazine’s list of “biggest wusses in rock” for its “anti-Napster crusade”.

Newsted’s departure and St. Anger (2001–2005)

As plans were being made to enter the recording studio, Newsted left the band on January 17, 2001. His statement revealed his departure was based on “private and personal reasons, and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love.”^[52] During a Playboy interview with Metallica, Newsted revealed intentions he wanted to release an album with his side project, Echobrain. Hetfield was against the idea and said, “When someone does a side project, it takes away from the strength of Metallica” and a side project is “like cheating on your wife in a way”. Newsted countered his statement by saying Hetfield recorded vocals for a song in the South Park movie, and appears on two Corrosion of Conformity albums. Hetfield replied, “My name isn’t on those records. And I’m not out trying to sell them”, and pondered questions such as, “Where would it end? Does he start touring with it? Does he sell shirts? Is it his band?”

In April 2001, filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky began following Metallica to document the recording process of the next studio album. Over two years, more than 1,000 hours of footage was recorded. On July 19, 2001, before preparations to enter the recording studio, Hetfield entered rehab due to “alcoholism and other addictions”. All recording plans were put on hiatus and the band’s future was in doubt. However, when Hetfield returned on December 4, 2001, the band returned to the recording studio and Hetfield was required to work four hours a day, noon to 4 PM, and spend the rest of his time with his family. The footage recorded by Berlinger and Sinofsky was compiled into the documentary, Some Kind of Monster, which premiered at the Sundance film festival. In the documentary, Newsted described his former bandmates’ decision to hire a therapist to help solve their problems as “really fucking lame and weak”.^[38]

Metallica held auditions for Newsted’s permanent replacement in early 2003, after St Anger ’s completion, for which Bob Rock recorded bass. Bassists that auditioned included Pepper Keenan, Jeordie White, Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner, and Chris Wyse. Following three months of auditions, Robert Trujillo, formerly of Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne’s band, was chosen as the new bassist. As Metallica moved on, Newsted joined Canadian thrash metal band Voivod in 2002, and was Trujillo’s replacement in Osbourne’s band during the 2003 Ozzfest tour, which included Voivod as part of the touring bill.

In June 2003, Metallica’s eighth studio album, St. Anger, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, and drew mixed reaction from critics. Ulrich’s “steely” sounding snare drum, and the absence of guitar solos received particular criticism. Kevin Forest Moreau of Shakingthrough.net commented that “the guitars stumble in a monotone of mid-level, processed rattle; the drums don’t propel as much as struggle to disguise an all-too-turgid pace; and the rage is both unfocused and leavened with too much narcissistic navel-gazing”, and Brent DiCrescenzo of Pitchfork Media described it as “an utter mess”. However, Blender magazine called it the “grimiest and grimmest of the band’s Bob Rock productions”, and New York Magazine called it “utterly raw and rocking”. The title track, “St. Anger”, won the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2004, and was used as the official theme song for WWE’s SummerSlam 2003.

Before the band’s set at the 2004 Download Festival in England, Ulrich was rushed to hospital with a mysterious illness, and was unable to perform.^[59] Hetfield searched for volunteers at the last minute to replace Ulrich. Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo, and Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison volunteered. Lombardo performed the songs “Battery” and “The Four Horsemen“, Ulrich’s drum technician Flemming Larsen performed “Fade to Black”, with Jordison performing the remainder of the set.^[59] Having toured for two years in support of St. Anger on the Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003 and the Madly in Anger with the World tour, with multi-platinum rockers Godsmack in support, Metallica took a break from performing and spent most of 2005 with friends and family. However, for two shows on November 13, 2005, and November 15, 2005, Metallica opened for The Rolling Stones at the AT&T Park in San Francisco.

Death Magnetic (2006–present)

In December 2006, Metallica released a DVD containing all the music videos from 1989 to 2004. The DVD, titled The Videos 1989–2004, sold 28,000 copies in its first week, and entered the Billboard Top Videos chart at number three.^[61] Metallica recorded a cover of Ennio Morricone’s “The Ecstasy of Gold” for a tribute album titled We All Love Ennio Morricone, released in February 2007. The cover received a Grammy nomination at the 50th Grammy Awards for the category “Best Rock Instrumental Performance“.^[62] A recording of “The Ecstasy of Gold” has been played as the introduction for Metallica performances since the 1980s. However, this new version features the band itself performing the piece, giving a new guitar-based interpretation to the music.

In 2006, Metallica announced on its official website that after 15 years, long-time producer Bob Rock was stepping down and would not be producing Metallica’s next studio album. Metallica chose to work with producer Rick Rubin, who has produced albums for the bands Danzig, Slayer, Slipknot and System of a Down. Metallica set the release date for the album Death Magnetic as September 12, 2008, and they filmed a music video for the first single “The Day That Never Comes”.

In early 2008, Metallica collaborated in a tribute album to Iron Maiden, titled Maiden Heaven, sponsored by Kerrang! Magazine, with a cover version of the song “Remember Tomorrow”.

On September 2, 2008, a French record store began selling copies of Death Magnetic nearly two weeks ahead of its scheduled worldwide release date,^[66] which resulted in the album being made available on peer-to-peer clients. This prompted the band’s United Kingdom distributor, Vertigo Records, to officially release the album two days ahead of schedule, on September 10, 2008. It is currently unconfirmed whether Metallica or Warner Bros. will be taking any action against the retailer, though drummer Lars Ulrich has made such responses to the leak as, “…We’re ten days from release. I mean, from here, we’re golden. If this thing leaks all over the world today or tomorrow, happy days. Happy days. Trust me,” and, “By 2008 standards, that’s a victory. If you’d told me six months ago that our record wouldn’t leak until 10 days out, I would have signed up for that.”

Death Magnetic debuted at number one in several countries to make it top the Australian, Canadian, Mexican and European album chart. Selling 490,000 units in the United States to debut at number one, Metallica became the first band to have five consecutive studio albums debut at number one in the history of the Billboard 200. After a week of its release, Death Magnetic remained at number one on the Billboard 200, the European album chart, and became the fastest selling album in Australia for 2008.

Death Magnetic stayed at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart for three consecutive weeks. Metallica became the only artist, aside from Jack Johnson with the release of the album Sleep Through the Static, to remain on the Billboard 200 for three consecutive weeks at number one in 2008. Death Magnetic had also remained at number one on Billboard’s Hard Rock, Modern Rock/Alternative and Rock album charts for five consecutive weeks. Internationally, the album peaked at number one in 32 countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

Since this album’s success, MTV Europe nominated Metallica in two categories (Rock Out and Headliner) of their Music Awards edition and also MTV Latin America invited them to perform in their Music Awards edition. Metallica performed “The Day That Never Comes.” On October 21, 2008, Metallica started their World Magnetic Tour.

Metallica have most recently been linked to playing a concert at Knebworth House, England in July 2009^[73] as part of their World Magnetic Tour. In interview, Lars Ulrich announced that the band would be staying on tour until early 2010.

In November 2008, Metallica came to the end of their record deal with Warner Bros., and the band is now considering their options for the future and, according to Ulrich, one of their options is to release their next album through the internet. Recently, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett were added to “Chop Shop’s” list of “Top 100 Most Complete Guitar Players of All Time” at number fourteen and twenty-six, respectively.

Style and lyrical themes

Influenced by early heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin and New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands such as Venom, Motörhead, Diamond Head, and Iron Maiden, early Metallica releases contained fast tempos, harmonized leads, and nine-minute instrumentals. Steve Huey of Allmusic said that Ride the Lightning featured “extended, progressive epics; tight, concise groove-rockers”.^[77] Huey felt Metallica expanded its compositional technique and range of expression to take on a more aggressive approach in following releases, and lyrics dealt with more personal and socially conscious issues. Lyrical themes explored on Master of Puppets included religious and military leaders, rage, insanity, monsters, and drugs.

In 1991, with new producer Bob Rock, Huey felt Metallica simplified and streamlined its music for a more commercial approach to appeal to the mainstream audience. The band abandoned its aggressive, fast tempos to expand its music and expressive range, said Robert Palmer of Rolling Stone. The change in direction proved commercially successful as Metallica was the band’s first album to peak at number one on the Billboard 200. Metallica noticed changes to the rock scene created by the grunge movement of the early 1990s. In what has been described as “an almost alternative [rock]” approach, the band focused on non-metal influences and changed musical direction. Moving away from lyrical themes dealing with drugs and monsters, Metallica’s new lyrical approach focused on anger, loss, and retribution. Some fans and critics were not pleased with this change, which included haircuts, the cover of Load, and headlining the alternative rock concert Lollapalooza. David Fricke of Rolling Stone described the move as “goodbye to the moldy stricture and dead-end Puritanism of no-frills thrash” and called Load the heaviest record of 1996. With the release of ReLoad in 1997, the band displayed more blues and early hard rock influences, incorporating more rhythm and harmony in song structures.

St. Anger marked the biggest musical change of the band’s career. Bored with guitar solos, Ulrich chose to omit them from the album, leaving a “raw and unpolished sound”. The band used drop C tuning, and Ulrich’s snare drum received particular criticism. New York Magazine‘s Ethan Brown noted it “reverberates with a thwong”. Lyrics on the album dealt with Hetfield’s stint in rehab, including references to the devil, anti-drug themes, claustrophobia, impending doom, and religious hypocrisy. At the advice of producer Rick Rubin, for their ninth studio album, Death Magnetic, the band returned to E tuning and guitar solos, and adapted Middle Eastern influences.

Legacy and influence

Metallica has become one of the most influential heavy metal bands, and is credited as one of the “big four” of thrash metal, along with Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth. The band has sold more than 90 million records worldwide, including 57 million in the United States, which makes Metallica the most commercially successful thrash metal band. The writers of The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll felt Metallica gave heavy metal “a much-needed charge”.^[87] Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Greg Prato of Allmusic said Metallica, “expanded the limits of thrash, using speed and volume not for their own sake, but to enhance their intricately structured compositions”, calling the band “easily the best, most influential heavy metal band of the ’80s, responsible for bringing the music back to Earth.”

Jonathan Davis of Korn respects Metallica as his favorite band and comments, “I love that they’ve done things their own way and they’ve persevered over the years and they’re still relevant to this day. I think they’re one of the greatest bands ever.” Godsmack drummer Shannon Larkin said Metallica has been the biggest influence on the band stating, “they really changed my life when I was 16 years old - I’d never heard anything that heavy.” Vocalist and guitarist Robb Flynn of Machine Head said that when creating the band’s 2007 album, The Blackening, “What we mean is an album that has the power, influence and epic grandeur of that album [Master of Puppets] – and the staying power - a timeless record like that”. Trivium guitarists Corey Beaulieu and Matt Heafy said that when they heard Metallica they wanted to start playing guitar. M Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold stated touring with Metallica was the band’s career highlight, and said “Selling tons of records and playing huge shows will never compare to meeting your idols [Metallica].” God Forbid guitarists Doc and Dallas Coyle grew up with Metallica as an inspiration, and the band’s bassist John Outcalt admires Burton as a “rocker”. Ill Niño drummer Dave Chavarri finds early Metallica releases as “heavy, raw, rebellious. It said, ‘fuck you’”, and Adema drummer Kris Kohls says the band is influenced by Metallica.

Kerrang! released a tribute album with the April 8, 2006, edition of the magazine, titled Master of Puppets: Remastered, which celebrated the 20-year anniversary of Master of Puppets. The album featured cover versions of Metallica songs by the bands Machine Head, Bullet for My Valentine, Chimaira, Mastodon, Mendeed, and Trivium, all who are influenced by Metallica. Over 15 Metallica tribute albums have been released. On September 10, 2006, Metallica guest starred on The Simpsons‘ eighteenth season premiere “The Mook, the Chef, the Wife and Her Homer”, and Hammett’s and Hetfield’s voices were used in three episodes of the animated television series Metalocalypse.

Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica released a tribute album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, which featured eight Metallica songs recorded with cellos. A parody band named Beatallica plays music using a combination of The Beatles and Metallica songs. Beatallica faced legal troubles when the Sony Corporation, who own The Beatles’ catalogue, ordered a cease-and-desist claiming “substantial and irreparable injury”—ordering the group to pay damages. A fan of Beatallica, Ulrich asked Metallica lawyer Peter Paterno to help settle the legal case.

Metallica was ranked by MTV as the third “Greatest Heavy Metal Band in History”, was listed fifth on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock, and was number one on VH1’s 20 Greatest Metal Bands list. Master of Puppets was ranked number 167 on Rolling Stone‘s “500 Great Albums of all time”, and Metallica was number 252. Master of Puppets was named in Q Magazine’s “50 Heaviest Albums Of All Time”, ranked number one on IGN’s “Top 25 Metal Albums”, and number one on the Metal-rules.com “Top 100 Heavy Metal Albums” list. The song “Enter Sandman” was ranked number 399 on Rolling Stone‘s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

On April 7, 1999, Metallica was inducted into the San Francisco Walk of Fame. The mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, proclaimed the day “Official Metallica Day”. Metallica was awarded the mtvICON award in 2003, and a concert was held paying tribute to the band with artists performing Metallica songs. Performances included Sum 41 with a medley of “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Enter Sandman”, and “Master of Puppets”. Staind covered “Nothing Else Matters”, Avril Lavigne played “Fuel”, hip-hop artist Snoop Dogg performed “Sad but True”, Korn played “One”, and Limp Bizkit performed a rendition of “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”.

On January 14, 2009, it was announced that Metallica will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4, 2009.

Awards

Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Metallica

Grammy Awards:

• 1990: Best Metal Performance – “One”
• 1991: Best Metal Performance – “Stone Cold Crazy”
• 1992: Best Metal Performance – Metallica
• 1999: Best Metal Performance – “Better than You”
• 2000: Best Hard Rock Performance – “Whiskey in the Jar“
• 2001: Best Rock Instrumental Performance – “The Call of Ktulu” with Michael Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony
• 2004: Best Metal Performance – “St. Anger”

MTV Video Music Awards:

• 1992: Best Metal Video – “Enter Sandman”
• 1996: Best Metal Video – “Until It Sleeps”

American Music Awards:

• 1996: Favorite Artist: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock: Metallica – Load
• 1996: Favorite Metal/Hard Rock Song – “Until It Sleeps”

Billboard Music Awards:

• 1997: Billboard Rock and Roll Artist of the Year – Metallica (RIAA Diamond Award)
• 1999: Catalogue Artist of the Year – Metallica
• 1999: Catalogue Album of the Year – Metallica

Kerrang! Awards:

• 2003: Hall of Fame – Metallica

Band members

• James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1981–present)
• Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion (1981–present)
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar, backing vocals (1983–present)
• Robert Trujillo – bass guitar, backing vocals (2003–present)

Former members

• Ron McGovney – bass guitar, backing vocals (1981-1982)
• Dave Mustaine – lead guitar, backing vocals (1981–1983)
• Cliff Burton – bass guitar, backing vocals (1982–1986)
• Jason Newsted – bass guitar, backing vocals (1986–2001)

Session musicians

• Lloyd Grant - lead guitar (”Hit the Lights”, 1981)
  • Only on the first pressing of the original Metal Massacre compilation. On the subsequent pressings, a different version of the song with Dave Mustaine playing the lead part is used.
• Bob Rock - bass guitar (St. Anger, 2003)

All text and images taken from wikipedia. Only for reference.

Discography

Studio albums

Year	Title	Label
1983	Kill ‘Em All	Megaforce/Elektra
1984	Ride the Lightning
1986	Master of Puppets	Elektra
1988	…And Justice for All
1991	Metallica
1996	Load
1997	ReLoad
2003	St. Anger
2008	Death Magnetic	Warner Bros.

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With the Sex and the City hype, fans particularly downloaded this ringtone which is voice tone of the character Samantha Jones played by actress Kim Cattrall. Download and see which cell phone feature Samantha likes the best.

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http://ringtones.mobi/web_get.htm?id=8805

* In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy this Sex and the City Samantha Voice ringtone by sending a text message Get R8805 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $0.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.

7. Batman Theme (Adam West Version)

Dark Knight was probably the most awaited movie of 2008. With untimely demise of Heath Ledger, a posthumous Oscar might be imminent as his portrayal of the Joker could not be done better. Batman maybe a Dark character now but no one can forget the comic portrayal of Batman by Adam West in the 60’s. Get the original classic ringtone of the Batman TV theme on your cell phone.

To preview and get the ringtone, visit this link

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* In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy this Batman Theme ringtone by sending a text message Get R8393 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $0.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.
6. Superman Theme

Superman is timeless super hero which people will always love and cherish. The classic ringtone of Superman movie soundtrack is still a hot favorite among loyal fans.

To preview and get the Ringtone of Superman movie soundtrack, visit this link

http://ringtones.mobi/web_get.htm?id=8724

* In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy this content by sending a text message Get R8724 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $0.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.

To get the Ringtone of Superman starting credits, visit this link

http://ringtones.mobi/web_get.htm?id=8712

In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy this content by sending a text message Get R8712 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $0.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.

5. Funny Santa Voice Ringtone – Made in China

Another custom ringtone service – get your own custom ringtone in voice of Santa Claus by emailing the text to request@ringtones.mobi . The favorite ringtone was the Made in China ringtone in the voice of Santa Claus made by the voice artist Bryan Cox. Check out the custom ringtones in Santa’s voice at www.ringtones.mobi/funnysanta

To preview and get the Made in China ringtone, visit this link:

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* In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy Funny Santa Voice Ringtone- Made in China by sending a text message Get R30310 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $1.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.

4. James Bond Theme

With the new bond movie Quantum of Solace, with Daniel Craig as 007, hitting the screens this year, people bought the classic James Bond theme ringtone for their mobiles.

To preview and get the James Bond theme ringtone, visit this link:

http://ringtones.mobi/web_get.htm?id=1534825

* In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy James Bond Theme ringtone by sending a text message Get R8616 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $1.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.

3. Back to the Future – Your Name

Ringtones.mobi signed with the famous voice artist Bryan Cox to provide custom ringtones to customers who want a ringtone in the voice of DOC (Christopher Lloyd) in the Back to the future. To check out some of the custom ringtones ordered by customers visit www.ringtones.mobi/backtothefutureparody

To preview and request a ringtone, email the text to request@ringtones.mobi or support@ringtones.mobi for any queries.
2. Fart the Big One

People still love fart jokes and everything that has to do with farting. Our catalogue includes all kinds of fart ringtones, small to noisy but “Fart the big one” takes the top spot in sound effects category. To get all kind of fart and other sound effect ringtones, check out over 2000+ ringtones in this store

www.ringtones.mobi/soundeffects

To preview and get Fart the big one ringtone, visit this link:

http://ringtones.mobi/web_get.htm?id=1534825

* In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy this Fart the big one ringtone by sending a text message Get R1534825 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $1.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.

1. 24 CTU Ringtone

Yes, it’s the TV series which introduced us to the term “TV Binging”. With 24 still going strong with Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) saving the world in 24 hours, the CTU phone ringtone was a favorite among 24 fans.

To preview and get this ringtone, visit this link:

http://ringtones.mobi/web_get.htm?id=8712

* In USA, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cellular One and Virgin Mobile users can buy 24 CTU ringtone by sending a text message Get R13950 to 68267 and download directly to their mobile. $1.99 plus Standard Operator rates apply.

Christmas

Christmas, also referred to as Christmas Day or Christmastide, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that marks and honors the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. His birth, which is the basis for the Anno Domini system of dating, has been determined by modern historians as having occurred between 7 and 2 BC. The date of celebration is not thought to be Jesus’ actual date of birth, and may have been chosen to coincide with ancient Roman solar festivals that were held on December 25.

Modern customs of the holiday include gift-giving, church celebrations, and the display of various decorations—including the Christmas tree, lights, mistletoe, nativity scenes and holly. Santa Claus (also referred to as Father Christmas, although the two figures have different origins) is a popular mythological figure often associated with bringing gifts at Christmas. Santa is generally believed to be the result of a syncretization between St. Nicholas of Myra and elements from pagan Nordic and Christian mythology, and his modern appearance is believed to have originated in 19th century media.

Christmas is celebrated throughout the Christian population, but is also celebrated by many non-Christians as a secular, cultural festival. The holiday is widely celebrated around the world, including in the United States, where it is celebrated by 96% of the population.^[7] Because gift-giving and several other aspects of the holiday involve heightened economic activity among both Christians and non-Christians, Christmas has become a major event for many retailers.

Santa Claus

Originating from Western culture, where the holiday is characterized by the exchange of gifts among friends and family members, some of the gifts are attributed to a character called Santa Claus (also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas or St. Nikolaus, Sinterklaas, Kris Kringle, Père Noël, Joulupukki, Babbo Natale, Weihnachtsmann, Saint Basil and Father Frost).

The popular image of Santa Claus was created by the German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast (1840–1902), who drew a new image annually, beginning in 1863. By the 1880s, Nast’s Santa had evolved into the form we now recognize. The image was standardized by advertisers in the 1920s.^[44]

Father Christmas, who predates the Santa Claus character, was first recorded in the 15th century, but was associated with holiday merrymaking and drunkenness.^[45] In Victorian Britain, his image was remade to match that of Santa. The French Père Noël evolved along similar lines, eventually adopting the Santa image. In Italy, Babbo Natale acts as Santa Claus, while La Befana is the bringer of gifts and arrives on the eve of the Epiphany. It is said that La Befana set out to bring the baby Jesus gifts, but got lost along the way. Now, she brings gifts to all children. In some cultures Santa Claus is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht, or Black Peter. In other versions, elves make the toys. His wife is referred to as Mrs. Claus.

The current tradition in several Latin American countries (such as Venezuela) holds that while Santa makes the toys, he then gives them to the Baby Jesus, who is the one who actually delivers them to the children’s homes. This story is meant to be a reconciliation between traditional religious beliefs and modern day globalization, most notably the iconography of Santa Claus imported from the United States.

In Alto Adige/Südtirol (Italy), Austria, Czech Republic, Southern Germany, Hungary, Liechtenstein, Slovakia and Switzerland, the Christkind (Ježíšek in Czech, Jézuska in Hungarian and Ježiško in Slovak) brings the presents. The German St. Nikolaus is not identical with the Weihnachtsman (who is the German version of Santa Claus). St. Nikolaus wears a bishop’s dress and still brings small gifts (usually candies, nuts and fruits) on December 6 and is accompanied by Knecht Ruprecht. Although many parents around the world routinely teach their children about Santa Claus and other gift bringers, some have come to reject this practice, considering it deceptive.

CHRISTMAS TREE, CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS and CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

The Christmas tree is often explained as a Christianization of pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of evergreen boughs, and an adaptation of pagan tree worship.^[47] The English language phrase “Christmas tree” is first recorded in 1835^[45] and represents an importation from the German language. The modern Christmas tree tradition is believed to have begun in Germany in the 18th century^[47] though many argue that Martin Luther began the tradition in the 16th century.^[48][49] From Germany the custom was introduced to England, first via Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, and then more successfully by Prince Albert during the reign of Queen Victoria. Around the same time, German immigrants introduced the custom into the United States.^[50] Christmas trees may be decorated with lights and ornaments.

Since the 19th century, the poinsettia has been associated with Christmas. Other popular holiday plants include holly, mistletoe, red amaryllis, and Christmas cactus. Along with a Christmas tree, the interior of a home may be decorated with these plants, along with garlands and evergreen foliage.

In Australia, North and South America, and to a lesser extent Europe, it is traditional to decorate the outside of houses with lights and sometimes with illuminated sleighs, snowmen, and other Christmas figures. Municipalities often sponsor decorations as well. Christmas banners may be hung from street lights and Christmas trees placed in the town square.^[51]

In the Western world, rolls of brightly colored paper with secular or religious Christmas motifs are manufactured for the purpose of wrapping gifts. The display of Christmas villages has also become a tradition in many homes during this season. Other traditional decorations include bells, candles, candy canes, stockings, wreaths, and angels.

Christmas decorations are traditionally taken down on Twelfth Night, the evening of January 5.

Source: All text and images are taken from Wikipedia under GNU Free License Documentation. Picture is for reference only.

Christmas Music and Christmas Carol Ringtones

To get your own custom ringtone in Santa Claus voice, email the text to request@ringtones.mobi . Each custom ringtone

costs $1.99 . Check some sample custom ringtones here

Get Christmas Ringtones from ringtones.mobi/christmasringtones

Get Christmas Pictures, Christmas Photos, Christmas Pics and Christmas Wallpaper from ringtones.mobi/christmas

Back to the Future Ringtones

Back to the Future trilogy is one of the best movie trilogies ever made. Marty Mcfly and Doc have become unforgettable character and are still famous. Micheal J Fox and Christopher Lloyd kept the audience entertained through out the three movies name Back to the Future 1, Back to the Future 2 and Back to the Future 3. Time Travel has always been an interesting topic and the Back to the future Delorean is a car anyone would dream to have. All three movies were a success but the first Back to the Future movie was considered a breakthrough in movies. Other famous characters in the movie were Biff and the concept of hoverboard which now seems a realistic invention.

Get your custom Back to the Future Ring tone

Now you can get your own ringtone in the voice impersonation of Doc (Christoper Lloyd) for your mobile. To see sample ringtones in voice of Doc from Back to the Future. visit www.ringtones.mobi/backtothefuturepardody

Johnny be goode back to the future soundtrack

Email us the text (e.g. your name is John)

“Great Scott John, pick up the phone. its your mother calling” or and any text you want as a ringtone and email us at request@ringtones.mobi. $1.99 plus standard rates apply (this offer is for a limited time only)

Korn

Korn (occasionally typeset as KoRn or KoЯn) is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, along with other bands at the time, they have also inspired many nu metal and alternative metal bands throughout the mid 1990s and early 2000s.

The band’s catalogue consists of nine consecutive debuts in the top ten of the Billboard 200,^[2] including a compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol.1, and their untitled eighth album, released on July 31, 2007. To date, Korn has sold over 30 million albums worldwide, including 16.5 in the U.S., while earning six Grammy nominations—two of which they have won.

Although Korn has sometimes been considered to be a part of the alternative metal and nu metal genres, they do not consider themselves to be a part of these genres. Jonathan Davis is quoted as saying:

“We’ve spawned a lot of clones, but let me explain… Well, I hate the nu metal term. We have always just been a band that rocks. We didn’t like when people called us a metal band, we are just Korn. People just use these terms when they cannot describe something, but nu metal… when so many bands started making music that sounded like us, that is when nu metal was born. We don’t have anything to do with it for real, I feel. I wouldn’t wanna call Red Hot Chili Peppers a funk band, and we are not metal or nu metal, we are Korn. Nu metal is just a term that doesn’t mean anything.”

Korn Band Members

Current

• Jonathan Davis – vocals, lyricist, guitar, bagpipes, drums (1993–present)
• James “Munky” Shaffer – guitar (1993–present)
• Reginald “Fieldy” Arvizu – bass (1993–present)

Former

• David Silveria – drums (1993–2006)
• Brian “Head” Welch – guitar, backing vocals (1993–2005)

Korn Discography

Year	Album
1994	Korn
1996	Life Is Peachy
1998	Follow the Leader
1999	Issues
2002	Untouchables
2003	Take a Look in the Mirror
2005	See You on the Other Side
2007	Untitled

source: Wikipedia: Wikipedia content is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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