Best Members of Metallica

The Top Ten
1 James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield was born on August 3, 1963. He is an American musician, singer and songwriter known for being the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and main songwriter for the American heavy metal band Metallica.

Greatest Vocalist ever, I have been a fan of metallica since I was ten, I loved listening to enter sandman, then got into thier less known stuff. James will always be rhe best vocalist ever, just listen to Nothing else matters, mama said and low mans lyric and you will see just how amazing his vocals are, METALLICA 4 EVA!

He has been making and keeps making the greatest contribution to his band: being lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist at the same time, writing awesome lyrics that deal with social and political issues, writing music along with Lars. He's extremely great musician.

2 Cliff Burton Clifford Lee "Cliff" Burton (February 10th 1962 - September 27th 1986) was an American musician, best known as the second bass guitarist for the American thrash metal band Metallica, recording three studio albums... read more

Should be No. 1.

Why was Trapped Under Ice and Escape the worst songs on Ride The Lightning? Probably because they were the only ones where Cliff Burton wasn't one of the writers.

Why was Master of Puppets so good? Well, It probably wouldn't of been so good if Cliff Burton didn't write some of the song. Damage Inc. would of been my least favorite song in the album if Burton didn't write it, and I would of hated Orion if it weren't for him.

Thinking about others (Wikipedia), Check.
Christian, Check.
Made Metallica a good band, Check.

Pretty much the best Metallica member of all time.

3 Kirk Hammett Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and songwriter for the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus.

Ok, so Dave Mustaine was just a talented songwriter and guitar player, who was famous for being good at it.

Kirk Hammett is a terrible guitarist, who uses a wah pedal to make things easy, and was only famous because of the band he's in. His riffs were also not as good (except for Enter Sandman) and the solos were just ok.

4 Jason Newsted Jason Curtis Newsted is an American metal musician, known for being the third bass guitarist with the band Metallica from November 1986 until his departure in January 2001, he was also a part of Voivod and Flotsam and Jetsam.

He was underrated because Cliff was there in Metallica. He was a better vocal than James in Reload age.

He was the best live performer that Metallica never had. I wish he never left the band...

A great musician with a great mind-set. The band was lucky to have him while they did.

5 Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica.

Lars Ulrich is a legend. And I know you guys think I'm crazy but in actual fact you are the one that is crazy. METALLICA would not be METALLICA without Lars. People don't really give him the credit that he deserves. For example in Enter Sandman his drumming is spot on and so badass.which is why it is one of my favourite songs of all time. And I'm sure that TRUE METALLICA FANS would agree with me. STOP HATING ON LARS!

6 Robert Trujillo Roberto Agustin Trujillo, better known as Robert Trujillo, is an American musician known for his role as the current bassist of heavy metal band Metallica.
7 Dave Mustaine David Scott "Dave" Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, actor and author. Mustaine is best known as a pioneer in Thrash Metal, being the former lead guitarist of Metallica before his dismissal in 1983, leading to finding and becoming the front man of his own... read more

Dave Mustaine is the BEST. No questions asked. Without Dave, thrash metal and I dare say Metallica would not be what it is today. My favorite members are:
1. The Father of Thrash Metal (Dave)
2. Cliff Burton
3. James Hetfield
My top three are the greats of Metallica. The rest are either pretty dang good (Rob and Jason), highly overrated (KIRK! ), or just suck (Lars, Bob, and Ron). That is all.

Dave is an an incredible musician, there is no doubt about that. However, he was just not the best fit for Metallica, and if he were still with Metallica to this day, then there would be no Megadeth.

8 Ron McGovney

Shouldn't be on the list because he was only a member for less than a year and didn't even contribute to the band. All he got was a garage demo, and played during the 30th anniversary. I might of put him in the top 3 if he never left Metallica, and they probably would've always been good.

But he decided to quit and let Metallica get terrible. Cliff Burton wasn't too bad, but if he were still alive, I bet Metallica would be worse than they are today. Jason Newsted was actually pretty good, had a nice bassline in "My Friend of Misery", but none of the albums were as good. Robert Trujillo is just the metal bassist you shouldn't care about because when he joined, they were making St. Anger, and Death Magnetic and Lulu came out, and James became a table.

So basically, thanks to him quitting the band, Metallica became terrible, but not until after Burton's death, and this is why nobody cares about him. Also, he was not a placeholder, he was a real member.

9 Bob Rock Robert Jens "Bob" Rock is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as The Tragically Hip, Aerosmith, The Cult, Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, 311, Metallica, Our Lady Peace, Bryan Adams, The Offspring, Michael Bublé, Black Veil Brides... read more

Did the bass on St. Anger after Newstead left and before they hired Trujillo

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