Metallica Logo — Metallica is a band of heavy metal originating in the United States . It was founded in 1981 in Los Angeles by the Danish Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield , who would join them Lloyd Grant and Ron McGovney . These two musicians were later replaced by guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist Cliff Burton , respectively. Mustaine was fired a year after joining the band due to his excessive addiction to alcohol and violent behavior, and founded the band Megadeth and was replaced by Kirk Hammett . Moreover, in 1986, the death of Cliff Burton in a bus accident in Sweden caused the entry to the group of Jason Newsted , fifteen years later, after his defection would be replaced by current bassist, Robert Trujillo .
To date, the band has released nine studio albums. Metallica’s total sales exceeding 100 million, and are considered one of the big four of thrash metal along with Anthrax , Slayer and Megadeth . In addition, the group has won numerous music awards, among them nine Grammys , two awards granted by the music channel MTV , two Academy Awards and American Music award from the magazine Billboard , and has a star on the Walk of Fame magazine Kerrang! .