I Was Thinking About This...

[GL]

When I was away out with the family over the weekend, I spent some time with the older kids and found out one of them was a metal-head like I am and had a quite impressive collection (I still had more and knew of more, but his wasn't anything to sneeze at either) and one of the things in his collection was that he had the Black Album from Metallica. After explaining to him what I thought of the album, he immediately put it on and made me listen to it all the way through. When it was done, I came to a conclusion:

"Enter Sandman" was the worst choice possible to launch as the first single off the album.

I actually ended up liking the album a lot, mainly because I forgot some songs on there were actually good and were just as good as what I was listening to myself. Yes, it's flawed (the latter half is just aimless and on there merely to add up to a respectable running total and the pop-friendly production does it no favors) but I came away with it a positive experience.

Talking about it afterwards, which included a history of Metallica up until then as well as watching the VH1 Classic Albums episode about it, something became apparent. I thought most of the hardcore Metallica fans at the time might've liked it had the first single off the album been a different song.

The fact that Metallica was known up until then as being one of the fastest bands on the planet was what most of the non-metal fans knew of them, since that's what was mostly covered about them in magazines and from rumors that were going out, from the infamous one where they were blowing Ozzy off the stage during the Master of Puppets/Ultimate Sin tour to the "One" video, they were known as being an incredibly fast band to the media, and with all the chart success they had it became inevitable that people were going to find out about them.

Which is where The Black Album comes in. The pop-friendly production does have something to do with that, and the songs are incredibly simple compared to what has come before, but I still think it could've worked for them. They mentioned on the documentary about making "Through the Never" their first single, and I agree with them: it's a faster, more traditional-sounding song that could've won over those on the fence about them by being a non-threatening song but still having what they were about in the past. Had I been them, I would've used that as the first single, using it to show the older fans the new style change which still had the roots in the past while also showing the pop-world what was to await them on the album. Then, after that has gone away, use "Enter Sandman" and let it explode, which wouldn't have mattered much since the metalheads are already aware of the fact that the album is still close enough for the past to let them feel comfortable with the change while the converted masses have their pop-single.

What do you think?

[HNT]

The entire album is poppy by comparison to real Metallica records. They probably chose the right single to help them sell a lot of records (don't forget that Unforiven was a huge hit at the time as well) which seems to have been the goal. THe subsequent ridiculousness that has been Metallica's career since the Black album shows me that this was no accident, and that they were more than happy to sell out to the mainstream. MEtallica died with Cliff Burton. Justice had its moments, but was already clearly not the same as the genuine article MEtallica records. I think that they realized they just couldn't do it without Cliff, and they sold out and had Bob fucking Rock produce their record. In short, no I don't thnk that there is anyhting to recommend on the Black album or anythign that MEtallica has done since. They are a previously great band that has been dead since the late 80's in my opinion

[Jen]

I'm not really sure how to answer this question, I actually like the Black album. Do I think it was different? Yes. Do I think it was as good as what had come before? No. Do I also think that it was the very beginning of the end, so to speak? Yes, yes I do.

I'm probably in the minority, but I think And Justice for All....was their best album, or I guess I should say it is my FAVORITE album. I do think it was inevitable that they were going to sell out, because honestly, its what happens. I can't even blame them for it, all of sudden they were HUGE. And I think that often has both a negative impact and positive impact on art. In their case, definitely more negative. Hell, Load is a friggin masterpiece compared to St. Anger.... They have lost it, and even more than that, I do honestly believe they have forgotten some of those that helped them get there.

So even though I actually really liked the album, I have to agree with HNT, in that the song choice wouldn't have mattered a whole lot....the album and their increasing popularity still would have put off many of their early fans.

[GL]

I'm glad you liked Justice, Jen. I like it as well, as Dyer's Eve is right up there with Disposable Heroes and Fight Fire with Fire as the best song they've ever done. There's nothing good beyond this point, but I felt that, when they're still remotely considered a metal band it's not that bad at all. The production is a flaw, and some of the songs are nothing more than shit, but the album as a whole, though, I thought would've been fine had people not been expected into thinking that it was just a pop-metal album that was hammered into them through the way-off-base that Enter Sandman made the public think.

[abraxas]

No I wasn't thinking that but Metallica sucks greasy donkey dick, sell out fagots who should be tied to chairs and forced to listen to Master of Puppets for 6 weeks straight non stop, depraved of food and beaten constantly until the apologize.

Even if Metalllica went back to their original style I still wouldn't buy any of their albums.

[CT]

I'll agree GL, I think the first track can certainly set the tone of a whole album so it's a fair point. Through the Never would have been a better chance and maybe saved them some face with their original fans...for a while.

Perhaps they wouldn't have turned on them so fast but they overall cogent of the album would be the same so they would still have pissed off plenty and it still would have been the beginning of the end in so many peoples minds.

I will say even though I lose interest in them after selling out, it didn't offend me. What offended me is that after they sold out and all became mega rich, they took up the battle against illegal downloading which just made them seem three times as greedy. Now I agree with those who may say there's some validity to the anti illegal pirating argument. They were just such unsypmathetic prosecutors of it! I mean that argument works better coming from upstart and stuggling artists! Not multimillionaires who have been in the business for two decades.

Also, I would have lost interest in Metallica whether they changed their style or not. Who wants to watch old men playing music in the old style? Not me.

[GL]

Well, that's exactly the point I was trying to make, CT, in that, with a much better lead-off single to get the fans into the album, it's got a better chance, due to the extreme differences in style between this and they're previous works, of keeping those fans who were swayed over to hate instantly after hearing Enter Sandman. It may not have worked full-time, but it's still the point I was making.

[CT]

Which is why I voted yes.

[HNT]

See, I think that Enter Sandman was a brilliant choice for a group that wanted to go mainstream. Their goal was never to get those of us who grew up listening to them to give a fuck about the Black album. As I did, they knew we were gonna buy it anyway because it was a new Metallica record and we loved them. Their goal was to sell the top 40 crowd on this thing. They have notoriously short attention spans, so they were immediately served SAndman and they licked it right up. Then, cue Unforgiven, the ballad, and we have a complete sale to these kids, most of whom probably never got deep enough into the record to hear Through the Never more than once anyway. They got Bob Rock to produce the record. Case closed. They didn't do anything to appease their fans because they didn't care about us and were taking a giant shit on our expectations. Lots of bands do this. It is nothing all that unusual. Very few of them, however, either start with the credibility that Metallica once had or squander it so spectacularly as Metallica did. Frankly, these days the issue isn't that I don't like their pop format. THe issue is that they can't even make a listenable pop album

[abraxas]

Death to Sell-out-ika