Activision Publishing Inc.’s “Guitar Hero Metallica” will be the primary sponsor on the No. 8 Chevrolet driven by Aric Almirola for this weekend’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia.
This marks the third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season that the video game has sponsored the team.
Comented Aric Almirola: “I cannot say enough about what the partnership with Activision has meant to me and the guys. They make the coolest video games out there, especially ‘Guitar Hero’. It really has been an awesome experience. I’ve been giving my ‘Guitar Hero World Tour’ set a workout over the last few months and I can’t wait to play as METALLICA. I know all the guys on the team are huge METALLICA fans, so you can bet that we’ll be rocking out this weekend!”
Tune in this Sunday, March 29 at 1:30 p.m. EST to the FOX network and watch Almirola at the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500. Source
Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted is excited about his trip to Cleveland, Ohio, in two weeks. And why shouldn’t he be? The band he spent 15 years slapping his bass for, the mighty Metallica, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4th, and for the first time in nine years, “the Black Album band will be back together and mow the shit down,” as he puts it.
That’s right. Newsted has confirmed for Rolling Stone that he’s going to be onstage with the band he left back in 2001, along with guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett, and the man who replaced him, bassist Robert Trujillo. Newsted says former bassist Ron McGovney will also be on hand for the honors, as will Ray Burton, the father of the man Newsted replaced, the late Cliff Burton.
“There’s three bass players getting inducted, and James, Lars and Kirk,” he says. Former guitarist Dave Mustaine, who now fronts Megadeth, will not be inducted, however. “Its not my decision. I have nothing to do with that. It was decided by the band, and I think it was just a hard-and-fast rule… anyone who has recorded on any Metallica recordings that have been released to the public as an official release were invited to the induction. So, that’s kind of that.” (more…)
GameStop announced today it will host events on Saturday, March 28, 2009, at approximately 400 of its U.S. stores in celebration of the midnight launch for Guitar Hero: Metallica. Likewise, more than 2,600 stores on Sunday, March 29, will open early at 9 a.m. to begin their celebration of the video game release.
GameStop, the world’s largest video game and entertainment software retailer, has created several fun activities to commemorate the launch of this next edition in the successful Guitar Hero family. These activities include:
– Guitar Hero in-store tournaments – test your fretting skills on songs from the Guitar Hero series.
– “Air Guitar” challenges – show off your best pull-offs and hammer-ons to popular Metallica and Metallica-inspired songs. Since true air guitar is an art form, not an actual skill, GameStop customers will vote on the winners in each participating store. (more…)
Are you pretty good with photoshop? Do you like creating desktop wallpapers?
Well, if you answered “yes” to both of those questions then HERE is your chance to have your creation judged by Metallica themselves and then prominently posted on both the Band’s website and in the Wallpapers download section of guitarhero.com. That’s it. Nothing tangible but hey, who cares about “stuff” right?
Official contest info:
It’s time to take that fancy finger work from Guitar Hero, and use it to create a desktop wallpaper in celebration of the upcoming launch of Guitar Hero: Metallica! The Metallica Wallpaper Contest challenges Community Members to creat a unique, creative, and attractive Guitar Hero: Metallica related Desktop Wallpaper! We’ll be providing you a handful of art assests to work with, and the rest is up to you. 15 of the best wallpapers will be chosen by the Guitar Hero Team (made up of members of the Neversoft Team, and the Guitar Hero Community Management Team), and those top 15 wallpapers will be sent off to Metallica, who will judge your art and pick the overall best desktop wallpaper! (more…)
Metallica will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, according to Billboard.com. The announcement was one of several about inductions at the upcoming ceremony, which will be held on April 4th at the Hall’s Public Auditorium in Cleveland. Guitar legend Jeff Beck will be inducted by Led Zeppelin guitarist and Yardbirds bandmate Jimmy Page, while Run-DMC will be inducted by Eminem and Bobby Womack will be honored by Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones.
The members of Metallica have been friends with Flea for some time. The band performed at a benefit for his Los Angeles music conservatory last May.
Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett told Billboard.com about Flea, “It’s cool that he’s not in a heavy metal band but is a well-respected musician you might not expect.” (more…)
Metallicawas in Austin last week for a not-so-secret show at the South by Southwest music festival designed to promote a new edition of the video game Guitar Hero, due out this month. But the band’s outspoken drummer, Lars Ulrich, took the opportunity to set the record straight on key issues facing the group, including its relationship with its longtime label Warner Music Group and the proposed Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger.
Metallica’s 2008 release “Death Magnetic” was the last the group contractually owed to Warner, and Ulrich said he’s ready to consult with another famously anti-corporate artist, Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor, about surviving outside the major-label system.
When asked if the band needed a major label, Ulrich, despite being surrounded by Warner reps, didn’t mince words. “Without offending any of the good people from the record company in the room, no,” Ulrich said. “Let’s cut to the chase. . . . The primary — not the only, but the primary — function of a record label is to act as a bank. When you’re fortunate enough to be successful and so on, you don’t need to rely on record companies as the banks. . . . (more…)
Earlier this month,Metallica were forced to cancel a show in Stockholm, Sweden, when frontmanJames Hetfield was hospitalizedwith a stomach bug and dehydration.
A few days after the cancellation, Hetfield posted an apologetic message onMetallica’s Web site, explaining that he was taken down by — of all things — “a bad oyster.”
It all seemed rather humorous (especially since he’s fully recovered), so when MTV News sat down with Hetfield last week at South by Southwest — hours beforeMetallica stomped through Stubb’sfor a not-so-secret “secret” show — we had to ask about that oyster. Because, wow, that must’ve been one monstrous mollusk.
“The oyster that took down Metallica,” Hetfield laughed. “Well, yeah, it was at the very last show of the very last leg [of Metallica's European tour], and there’s a few places where we’re able to do doubles, which is awesome, and this last one was in Sweden, in Stockholm. (more…)
European Summer Vacation, part 2,347 will end on August 2, so that can only mean one thing … more dates in the U.S. and Canada! We just rocked Austin at SXSW and are super psyched that we’ll be back in North America visiting our friends in the Fall as the World Magnetic Tour keeps rolling on. We had an amazing time on the last run in ‘08 and early ‘09 and we are so ready to do it again!
Tickets go on sale either April 4 or April 11 – please see dates below and keep watching here for more information about on sale times and support acts.
This unique 2 DVD and book set draws on rare documentary footage of Metallica in performance and on tour, including their legendary performance at Woodstock, alongside the candid reflections of Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield and Jason Newstead. Other themes explored in the film include the changing line-ups and personnel upheavals with Metallica, and we also hear directly from Newstead himself on why he finally quit the band. This compelling film review is drawn from Metallica’s own promotional interviews, television and radio archives. Tracks featured include: “One,” “Seek & Destroy,” “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” “Fade To Black,” “Enter Sandman,” and more.
Flea of the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS will induct METALLICA at the sold-out Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony Saturday, April 4, at Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio.
“It’s cool that he’s not in a heavy metal band but is a well-respected musician you might not expect,” METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett told Billboard.com. Former bassist Jason Newsted will join the band that night and will “most likely” perform with the group,” Hammett told About.com. “He put in 14 years with METALLICA, so I think there’s no reason for him not to be there,” he said.
To hear him tell it,Metallica’s James Hetfieldwasn’t even aware that his band was eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It took Black Sabbath for him to realize it.
“I never thought much about the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame until we were approached toinduct Black Sabbathin 2006, and then they asked us to play, which was like, ‘OK … we will!’ ” Hetfield laughed, talking to MTV News shortly before taking the stage for a“secret” SXSW Metallica set. “So we were there, and then they were saying, ‘You know,youguys are up for this in a few years.’ And I went, ‘Wow,really?’ And I started doing the math … ‘OK, 25 years after our first record … yeah, it’s now.’ And my first thought was ‘Man, it’s gone by very quickly.’ “
And so, when theHall came callingearlier this year to tell Metallica that they’d made the cut, Hetfield wasn’t exactly surprised. But hewashumbled.
“It’s very cool. I think we’ve paid our dues, and we’ve got a few fans who probably think the same thing,” he said. “There’s a lot of gratitude around it, the fact that we were acknowledged, and that, hopefully, we can help get some heavy music in. [Ideally] we’d kick the door open even further for some friends of ours — we’ve got a lot of friends that want to come in and be noted and represent a big part of rock and roll history.”
A week before James Hetfield and Co. are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the metal icons’Guitar Hero: Metallicavideo game hits stores, on March 29th. The new addition to theGHfranchise boasts 28 controller-shredding songs taken fromMetallica’s voluminous catalog as well as band-approved acts including Motorhead, Slayer and Mastodon (check out our sneak preview here!).Rolling Stonesat down with frontman James Hetfield at SXSW a few hours beforeMetallica’s epic “surprise” showto find out how he likes his pixellated persona, whether he thinksDeath Magneticsounds better on video game or record and if he believes encouraging kids to pick up plastic instruments is hurting their chances of learning real ones.
Which member of Metallica is the best at playing Guitar Hero?
Oh, I don’t know. I think we’re all equally bad.
As a guitarist, how are you at using the guitar controller?
The initial thought was, “This is gonna be so easy.” And then I picked it up and tried doing it. And it was like [makes plunking sound]. “Are you kidding me? You guys suck! You’re supposed to follow me!” I gotta be on with the lines. And Metallica’s not as on with the lines as some other bands. Especially having Lars as a drummer [Laughs]. (more…)
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Are you pretty good with photoshop? Do you like creating desktop wallpapers?
Metallica will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, according to Billboard.com. The announcement was one of several about inductions at the upcoming ceremony, which will be held on April 4th at the Hall’s Public Auditorium in Cleveland. Guitar legend Jeff Beck will be inducted by Led Zeppelin guitarist and Yardbirds bandmate Jimmy Page, while Run-DMC will be inducted by Eminem and Bobby Womack will be honored by Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones.
To hear him tell it,
