Lately there has been a lot, and I mean A LOT of hate towards the Thrash Metal gods Metallica. I ask... Why? Everyone these days just writes Metallica off as shit, just because their newer releases are not as good as their early stuff.
It all started in 1991 with Metallicas release of "The Black Album" or simply... "Metallica". The songs on that record were seen as more radio friendly and had less Thrash Metal roots than their previous releases like "Kill em All" and "Master Of Puppets". Songs such as "Enter Sandman" and "The Unforgiven" were given airplay on MTV which upset and alienated Metallica fans from the 1980's. This is where the Metallica hate originated. After "The Black Album" things did not go too well with Metallica.
They released the semen stained "Load" in 1996, which even further upset Metallica fans. The music was a big shift, the band had received haircuts, and they headlined "Lollapalooza". The band in the 1996-1999 era had released two more albums, "Reload" and "The Garage Days". Both releases did not sit well with fans. From that point on, it is seen that Metallica has been going even more downhill. Eventually releasing, what is seen as the weakest link in their discography.
"St.Anger" was released in June of 2003, and it was not met well at all. The album featured less technical guitar work, drumming that was mixed horribly, low tuned guitars, and James Hetfield was no longer writing all the lyrics. The band was now helping write the lyrics of the album (Projector, Protector, Rejector, Infector, Injector, Defector, Rejector). This release gave Metallica the reputation as the biggest sellout, following the Nu-Metal trend. Music wise, they have had some big screw ups. Their biggest non-musical "screw up" is the Napster Controversy. The controversy started when a track they were recording for the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack (I Disappear) was leaked on the Internet. Metallica tracing the sources, showed Napster as the perpetrator. I will not get into even more detail with the Napster controversy because I am not 100% on it myself. There are more UG'ers that can tell you all about it. What I will say is that there were lawsuits, users banned, certain colleges shown using Napster, and certain Metallica drummers showing skits at certain MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.
All this is enough to alienate fans, and make people turn on Metallica. But why are we forgetting their early work? Their early work are timeless classics that will be remembered years after most of todays bands will be old and gone. I am not speaking for every band of today, but I am sure we can think of some. Their early releases are albums that everyone can agree on, even if we cant agree on Metallica's musical choices after "And Justice For All". Before ANYBODY comments on a Metallica article saying "Lolozorz Metallica iS FuCKen SHIT and is JuST ShIttTy N00-MeTul and Ulwayz whur, SatyrIDimmuOpeThBelphelgroh OWNZ dem", think about Metallica's old releases, and if you STILL think Metallica is shit and nu-metal. Then my friend I do not want to even know about your musical tastes.
My opinions of course do not reflect those that don't like Metallica because they aren't fans of the genre or HONESTLY don't like the band because of the music.
Also having written this blog, I do not want to give off the impression that I hate Metallica's later musical choices, I myself love some songs off of "St.Anger". Before the flaming starts, I just wanna say, that I like all kinds of music most people write off as shit, such as Nu-Metal, Metalcore, and even some Rap. I think "St.Anger" could have done better if it wasn't a Metallica Record.
I want to hear your thought out and well written comments about my opinion. No Metallica bashers that bash them just for the sake of bashing them.
I totally agree with you on St. Anger. If that was released by a band new to the music industry, I think it would've been a huge hit. I think the fans only say that album is shit because they're comparing it to the older releases from the Kill 'Em All - ...And Justice For All era.
I haven't heard any of the tracks from Load, ReLoad or Garage Days so I don't have an opinion on those. But my friend (who has been listening to Metallica since he was born) has told me that he would hunt down anyone who would steal his copy of Load.
As for St Anger, the main thing that I have against that album is the complete lack of guitar solos. Metallica should've fired Bob Rock's ass when he said Kirk's solos would out-date the band. They've just destroyed Kirk's role in the band and made him double James' parts and I think that was a big mistake.
Thats true, the lack of solos was pretty disappointing.
If it was released by a new band, and it was cleaned up a little with a solo here or there, yeah it could have been a much bigger hit.
What pisses me off is that people compare their newer albums to that Kill 'Em All - Justice era, and then as soon as something sucks compared to that era, all of a sudden Metallica SUCKS
So are you saying that St. Anger is better than we think because we compare it to the older Metallica records, or are you saying that we need to stop saying Metallica sucks just because of their newer records?
In the first case, I disagree. St. Anger was a major hit - it made a lot of people associate metal and Metallica that usually wouldn't. Everywhere I went and said I listened to metal around 2003-2005, I would be asked if I listened to Metallica. If it had been another band releasing St. Anger, it might've become just as big a hit, and people would have been asking me if I listened to <insert band name here> instead.
If the second case is it, then I disagree. Metallica IS what they are today, they WERE what they were before The Black Album. People change, bands change, music changes.
"People change, bands change, music changes."-you speak the truth my friend...
st anger was crap ...their earlier shit is better...but they tried to move away from that (try something new, that sorta stuff)...
but they seem to be wanting to go back to the feel they had for master of puppets etc for their new album...
they still stay the gods of thrash for me though....and the black album was pretty gud i think....songs like sad but true and the unforgiven are classics... peace all metallica fans!!
I dont think st anger is a hit. im saying we should stop saying metallica is shit because of a few bad choices. we all know that theyre a good band. We would see them live any time any day and we know it.
St anger is alright... i dont have serious problems with it, but its a shitty metallica record.
Then again im into nu-metal. Korn, slipknot, system of a down and such
I agree with you 100%. If St. Anger was from someone else it may have made it big. A few people hated it and it seems to many people umm... "Jumped the ship"?? I'll say that St.Anger was of low quality for metallica, but it was still a great album if we look past the label. (Someone recently posted an article about that.)
I agree with you 100%. If St. Anger was from someone else it may have made it big. A few people hated it and it seems to many people umm... "Jumped the ship"?? I'll say that St.Anger was of low quality for metallica, but it was still a great album if we look past the label. (Someone recently posted an article about that.)
thats pretty much my opinion. what pisses me off is that you get these retards who post on an article "lOl MeTahlicaz is ShIT and Gaee and ulwayz wuz" forgetting their earlier stuff
I dont think st anger is a hit. im saying we should stop saying metallica is shit because of a few bad choices. we all know that theyre a good band. We would see them live any time any day and we know it.
St. Anger was a hit, compared to other records in our time. It was played on the radio quite often, just like e.g. Nickelback. And yet again, Metallica WERE a great band. You don't say a band is great when they're still making new music, and that music is crappy.
Oh, and for the record, I remember their earlier stuff, and they still suck. I'm sure their stuff was exciting in the 80s, but it was decent at best. Master of Puppets only mildly entertained me for a week or two. And then there was Megadeth, which surpassed them in every way - and Dave Mustaine produces rather good records to this day.
Raziel2p wrote on Apr 9th, 2008 at 6:45am :
Oh, and for the record, I remember their earlier stuff, and they still suck. I'm sure their stuff was exciting in the 80s, but it was decent at best. Master of Puppets only mildly entertained me for a week or two. And then there was Megadeth, which surpassed them in every way - and Dave Mustaine produces rather good records to this day.
see i like how you say you dont like them because you actualy gave them a chance. Youre not the basher who just jumps on the wagon and says "oh i always hated them, they were always nu metal"
I really think it is almost impossible to not compare their new stuff to their old stuff because their old stuff is so much better and its not the same style as it was
I wish they would have stayed the course of "...AJFA". It's probably the only Metallica album that I enjoy. The previous stuff isn't bad, but it doesn't do it for me.
I don't have to tell you what I think of them from the Black album till now.
Megadeth seems to have gained strength from Metallica's loss. If I'm not mistaken, Rust In Peace and the Black album were released a year apart.
It's kinda fishy that Megadeth arose when Metallica fell from grace.
Idk if Metallica can rise again. With the constant fuck-ups they have released for a damn decade, my faith in them is meek.
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). This release gave Metallica the reputation as the biggest sellout, following the Nu-Metal trend. Music wise, they have had some big screw ups. Their biggest non-musical "screw up" is the Napster Controversy. The controversy started when a track they were recording for the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack (I Disappear) was leaked on the Internet. Metallica tracing the sources, showed Napster as the perpetrator. I will not get into even more detail with the Napster controversy because I am not 100% on it myself. There are more UG'ers that can tell you all about it. What I will say is that there were lawsuits, users banned, certain colleges shown using Napster, and certain Metallica drummers showing skits at certain MTV Video Music Awards in 2000.
Also having written this blog, I do not want to give off the impression that I hate Metallica's later musical choices, I myself love some songs off of "St.Anger". Before the flaming starts, I just wanna say, that I like all kinds of music most people write off as shit, such as Nu-Metal, Metalcore, and even some Rap. I think "St.Anger" could have done better if it wasn't a Metallica Record. 
peace all metallica fans!!