Metallica

Gary Anderson38 hit the nail on the head there. 🙏

I used to spin Metallica constantly back in the day, and honestly, they still hold up for me... my taste has definitely shifted over the years, but the core is still there somewhere, as long as it falls under the rock umbrella or something similar 🙂.

You guys gave me a solid idea, might actually dive back into their discography for a bit...

Gary Anderson38 said:Interesting point. So he basically had to face the music and leave behind his wife and three kids. Aside from how alcohol trashed his health, it wrecked his family life, which eventually led to his wife kicking him out.
which is exactly why he decided to get sober.

In my book, you need serious guts to step up and do that. If he’d just kept drinking, he would’ve been showing weakness.
A lot of these so-called "hardcore metal guys" are calling him soft right now, but honestly, he’s shown more strength than any of them ever will. He's acting like a real man.

Man, people just don't get it. If the last album you actually liked was And Justice for All, that was nearly two decades ago. It’s been plenty of time to grow up and stop whining. That version of Metallica hasn't existed for fifteen years, yet for some reason, fans still act like spoiled brats, demanding they play fast, stay aggressive, have long hair, and party hard—all just so they have a "real metal" band to brag about.

But these fans are over 40 now. They have families and kids. Maybe they've realized that if they want to raise their children and actually see them grow up, they have to change their lifestyle.
It’s only natural that those changes affect the music too.

Do people really expect them to stay rebels forever? Come on. James Hetfield takes his daughter to ballet classes every week. He plays with his kids and spends most of his time sober with his family. Yet, these angry metalheads think it's a bad thing. They think he needs to be a rebel, keep drinking, swear on stage, and ruin his life just to satisfy them.

I guess some people think it’s "cool" to come home high, bloated, or maybe even take it out on your spouse or kids. That’s what they’re looking for, I guess.🙄

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5skhP313R0

Totally agree. You can't throw away your soul and your family just to please a bunch of angry fans... he's not twenty anymore.

Creeping Death said:It’s an interesting perspective. So, he was supposed to just die and leave behind a wife and three children? Aside from the fact that his drinking was wrecking his health and destroying his family dynamics—which eventually led to his wife kicking him out of the house.
after which he decided to get sober.

In my view, you need a significant amount of backbone to act like that; you have to be a man to make such a choice. If he had just kept drinking, he would have proven himself to be nothing more than a coward.
Many of these so-called "hardcore metalheads" are calling him weak now, but in reality, he is a greater man than any of them will ever be. No, better yet, he is a real man.

God, people just don't get it. If the last album you actually enjoyed from this band was And Justice for All, then that was nearly two decades ago; there has been plenty of time to reconcile with change and stop whining. That version of Metallica hasn't existed for fifteen years, but for some reason, fans still behave like spoiled brats, demanding the band play fast, aggressive, with long hair and drug-fueled antics, just so they have something "hardcore" to brag about to feel cool.

And the fact is, these guys are over forty now. They have families and children. It might have finally clicked in their heads that as parents who want to raise their kids and actually see them reach adulthood, they need to change their lifestyle.
Naturally, those life changes are going to bleed into the music.

Are you honestly expecting them to be rebels? Please. James Hetfield takes his daughter to ballet classes every week. He plays with his kids and spends most of his time sober with his family. Yet, these angry metal fans think that's a bad thing—that they need to be rebellious, drink, swear on stage, and act like idiots in their mid-forties while ruining their lives.

I suppose some people think it’s "cool" to stumble home high, bloated, maybe even take it out on a spouse or slap a child. I guess that's what they're looking for.🙄

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5skhP313R0

Just a word of caution... what I said regarding the alcohol was specifically about how James Hetfield wrote his best material while being absolutely wasted; purely from a quality standpoint, one could argue he shouldn't have quit... obviously, I'm not suggesting being a chronic alcoholic for life is a good idea. But regarding the point about them no longer being expected to be rebels or shredding through their music—have you even listened to Anger? Every track has these tense, arguably brutal sections that suppress the melody that made their older stuff so legendary. And of course, I am not saying having a family and a stable life is bad; quite the opposite. But if we are talking about that, look at Steve Harris... that man is around fifty with a family and a settled life, yet Iron Maiden still puts out solid albums. They might not hit the heights of their prime, but they certainly don't disappoint fans the way Metallica has... and the reality remains that Anger was an album recorded with the explicit goal of commercialization and expanding the fanbase.

And don't even get me started on that absolute train wreck of an S&M show with the symphony orchestra...

S&M is a great record. That whole idea about playing with a symphony orchestra actually started floating around back in '92. A conductor—who helped write the orchestral parts for the studio version of "Nothing Else Matters"—suggested to Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield that they do a joint concert back then. They turned him down because their vision was still pretty limited at the time.

But ten years later, they finally took the plunge, and it worked out beautifully. Honestly, some tracks even sound better with a symphony than without, like "The Call of Ktulu."

As for the St. Anger album, there’s no debate here: it’s garbage. But if you look at the absolute mess the band members were going through during that era—they were basically on the verge of breaking up—it makes sense. Besides, it's just one album.

And that’s what bugs me. Load and Reload are excellent albums. In my opinion, Load is actually better than Kill 'Em All or ...And Justice for All.
Kill 'Em All is mostly just teenage rebellion with maybe two or three decent songs. As for ...And Justice for All, the production is a disaster; you can't hear the bass at all, and the songs feel over-engineered, too long, and unnecessarily complicated.
The band members hate that record most of all. For the last 15 years, they've only played two or three songs from it, and between 1990 and 2003, they barely touched anything besides "One / Harvester of Sorrow."

During the Load tour, they played almost nothing from Kill 'Em All, maybe the occasional "Seek & Destroy," which is pretty much the only song from that era they still play today.
Kirk Hammett has said he can't even stand to think about that album; he finds it repulsive.
James Hetfield can't stand ...And Justice for All either...

Yet, people label those as "hard metal" albums, while they trash great records like Load and Reload just because they aren't "metal" enough.

Can someone explain to me how those are bad albums? Tracks like "Bleeding Me," "The Outlaw Torn," and "Fixxxer" are great. I personally lose it every time a song from Kill 'Em All comes on.

Even though I love Kill 'Em All and ...And Justice for All—and might even prefer them to Load/Reload—from a purely musical standpoint, they are weaker albums, even if they're still very good.

Here are two examples for comparison.

In the first link, you can hear "The Four Horsemen" performed back in the 80s.

And in the second link, "Hero of the Day."

To me, both songs are excellent within the genres they represent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKqYClhkFXM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1DKkLKTdYg

Hey, what do you think about using CD instead? 😕

Jason Richardson5 said:Man, what do you think about 😕

Got a sudden urge to type. Just something different to do, besides spamming 😬

Open the blog 😬

Metallica has always been, and always will be, the absolute GOAT! Just because they had a few rough patches here and there doesn't mean you can question the greatness of their entire catalog. Personally, they’re easily one of my all-time favorite bands. 🙏

Yeah... honestly, all my absolute favorite tracks are by them... love Metallica 😍 👍

Since we don't have a dedicated Metallica thread yet, let's use this space to talk about our favorites—what you're spinning right now or which albums are on constant repeat.

My current top 10 Metallica tracks (not necessarily in order):
Since they basically have two distinct eras—the metal era and the hard rock era—I figured I'd split them up like that...

Top 10 from the metal era:

1. Master of Puppets
2. Creeping Death
3. Damage Inc.
4. One / Harvester of Sorrow
5. The Call of Ktulu
6. Blackened
7. Harvester of Sorrow
8. The Four Horsemen
9. Ride the Lightning
10. Fight Fire with Fire

Hard Rock / Heavy Rock picks (including stuff from the Black Album):

1. Sad But True
2. The Unforgiven
3. Until It Sleeps
4. King Nothing
5. Hero of the Day
6. Bleeding Me
7. The Outlaw Torn
8. Fixxxer
9. Fuel
10. The God That Failed

That's mostly what I've been listening to lately. Honestly, pretty much everything they've put out is great and I love it all equally—except for the last one, which is total garbage. I bought it, listened once, then played it again just to laugh at it, then a third time just to make sure it actually sucked that much. Never touched it again after that.

But regardless of that piece of junk, they're still the best.😍 🙏

Gary Anderson38 said:Since we have a thread dedicated to Metallica, let's use this space to share our all-time favorites, what we're currently vibing to, or which albums we keep on repeat.

Here is my current top 10 from Metallica (not necessarily in order):
Since their career basically splits into two eras—the pure metal era and the hard rock era—I figured I'd break them up that way...

Top 10 from the Metal Era:

1. Master of Puppets
2. Creeping Death
3. Damage Inc.
4. One / Harvester of Sorrow
5. The Call of Ktulu
6. Blackened
7. Harvester of Sorrow
8. The Four Horsemen
9. Ride the Lightning
10. Fight Fire with Fire

From the Hard Rock side (including some tracks from the Black Album):

1. Sad But True
2. The Unforgiven
3. Until It Sleeps
4. King Nothing
5. Hero of the Day
6. Bleeding Me
7. The Outlaw Torn
8. Fixxxer
9. Fuel
10. The God That Failed

Basically, these are the tracks I've been blasting lately, though honestly, pretty much their entire discography is killer and I love it all—except for that last album, which is straight-up garbage. I bought it, listened once, then played it again just to laugh at how bad it was, and then one more time just to make sure I wasn't crazy. After that, I never touched it again.

But hey, despite that total disaster, they’re still the absolute kings. 😍 🙏

I second that.🙏

Has anyone seen the documentary about the period when they were recording that last album? If not, I highly recommend it. It sheds light on a lot of things, including why St. Anger sounds the way it does. Also, I think S&M was a brilliant move; it sounds amazing to me. At the end of the day, metal is just distorted classics.🙂

catbaby said:...metal is just distorted classical music anyway🙂

Hmm... I find that assertion rather peculiar. While one might argue that logic holds some weight when discussing a group like Bach or even certain progressive outfits, applying such a sweeping generalization to bands like Kataklysm, Nile, or Morbid Angel seems quite a stretch. I would implore you not to generalize so broadly.

Ethan Richardson3 said:METALLICA HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY FAVORITE BAND, AND FOR ME, "NOTHING ELSE MATTERS" IS THEIR BEST TRACK. I think James is pretty awesome too, so I actually try to dress like him and even grow my hair and mustache out to look just like him!!!

uP THE IRONS!!!1ONE 🙂

🙏🙏🙏

Man... there was this one phase where I was obsessed with looking just like James. I even cut my hair and grew out the mustache and beard to match him, exactly like in this photo. My hair was freaking identical.😬

James rules!!11one🙏 😬

Gary Anderson38 said:Man... I totally get it. There was this one phase in my life where I was absolutely obsessed with looking like James Hetfield. I went all in—cut my hair exactly like his, grew out the mustache and the beard just like him. Seriously, if you look at this photo, I had the damn hairstyle down to a science. It was a total identity crisis, but hey, we've all been there.😬

Honestly, James is just on another level. Absolute legend.🙏 😬

You’re never going to be like Hetfield. Never in a million years!!!Never in a million years!!!!NEVER!!!

You just don't get the sheer scale of it. It’s that whole Redneck Growl mentality—that pure, unadulterated attitude. And that haircut? Please. You’re never going to reach a level where you actually grasp his persona or the legacy he’s built, so honestly, just crawl back into whatever hole you came from. You're nothing but a little plagiarist, trying to pass off that primitive, low-fi garbage as something real. All you've done is disrespect the sound of Metallica.
You guys just don't get it. Seriously, you’re all so incredibly basic. Just regular, everyday people living mundane lives. But Hetfield? He’s on a completely different level. He’s basically God. A king. An absolute legend. It’s just how it is. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Pure distortion and that Redneck Growl. 🙏 🙏

Just my two cents.

😢

Well, you've officially ruined my entire day 😢

And to top it all off, it's my birthday soon.🙄

I think I'll just crawl back into whatever dark hole I came from and wallow in self-pity.🙂

😬

Happy birthday.

Gary Anderson38 said:And for the record, it's my birthday soon too.🙄

🙂

Creep 🙂 James Hetfield