Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. The band's fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship placed them as one of the founding "big four" of thrash metal alongside Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. 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'' (2003) 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'' and the tensions within the band during that time. In 2009, Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Metallica has released nine studio albums, four live albums, five extended plays, 25 music videos, and 37 singles. The band has won nine Grammy Awards, and has had five consecutive albums debut at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, making Metallica the first band to do so; this record was later matched, and then surpassed, by the Dave Matthews Band. The band's 1991 album, ''Metallica'', has sold over 15 million copies in the United States, and 28 million copies worldwide, which makes it the 25th-best-selling album in the country. The band has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide as of 2010. As of December 2009, Metallica is the fourth best-selling music artist since the SoundScan era began tracking sales on May 25, 1991, selling a total of 52,672,000 albums in the United States alone. In 2012, Metallica formed the independent record label Blackened Recordings, and have acquired the rights to all of their studio albums.