Metallica in Black and White

Description: 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. 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... ( +expand to view full text )

Description: 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. 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. 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. 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 fifth-highest-selling music artist since the SoundScan era began tracking sales on May 25, 1991, selling a total of 50,111,000 albums in the United States alone.