Stereogum — Metallica officially formed in October 1981, a little while after James Hetfield answered an ad that Lars Ulrich placed in a classifieds-only newspaper in L.A. That means the band turns 30 this month. For at least half of that time, the band has been... more info

411 Mania — From Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal," Metallica's "One" and Billy Idol's "Rebel Yell" to A-Ha's "Take On Me," Madonna's "Like a Prayer," The Cure's "Lovesong" and more, the 411 staff ranks their top 5 songs from the 1980s! Check out the full art... more info

Totally Fuzzy — No, not for the Copacabana! Or Barry Manilow! Duh! We got a whole line-up of full shows from last month's Rock In Rio for you on our video site... most of them in HD... grabbed from TV and in far better quality than the pretty lame and substandard ... more info

ContactMusic — Former Ramones star Christopher Ward has revealed he twice turned down the chance to replace bassist Jason Newsted in Metallica The rocker aka C J Ramone admits he was honoured to be asked but family issues forced him to turn the gig down He tell... more info

411 Mania — He was asked twice... more info

Metalsucks — I don’t know why anyone would trust anything Metallica has to say these days. Every time they have a new album coming out, they start smack their last album, which is doubly offensive. “St. Anger is gonna blow Load out of the water!” “O... more info

NME — Bassist says metal titans asked him not once, but twice to join the band more info

Guardian Music — As three forthcoming films attest, music biographies are at their most compelling when warring egos are intrinsic to the taleWho actually watches rock documentaries? It's a persistent question, invited yet again by three prestigious new studies of Ge... more info

411 Mania — For all the critics of their new album... more info

NME — The band discuss their collaboration with Lou Reed more info