NC, for the first 3 or 4 albums; Justice is great, if a bit overloaded with progisms, and having ZERO bass guitar. I was 15 when their first album came out, the perfect age. I can't express how heavy and revolutionary they were.

CRAP.

The first 4 albums are great. But that just makes them even CRAPer. How could they make an album like Mater of Puppets or Justice then go on to make all that pooh after?! It’s appalling & unforgivable... they are quite possibly the worst band on the planet.

It’s not even that they sold out so badly – I don’t care that much... they probably deserved some cash. But cowboy hats & right wing politics????!!

I remember when that Black Album bollocks came out. I was with a group of people, all massive Metallica fans, we planned a party, bought the album on the release day, bought in a load of beers in preparation.... put the album on.... and within minutes the sense of disappointment was overwhelming. But how could they write Disposable Heros then go on to write that “don’t tread on me” nonsense? How did they turn so quickly into gun toting red necks? How could they make an album with a guy called Bob Rock?

And I haven’t even mentioned Kirk having the gayest hair cut in music.

Metallica in the '80s: not crap.

Metallica in the '90s and beyond: crap.

Any fan who has an album from both periods knows what I am talking about. Unless you actually believe that St. Anger is better than Kill 'Em All, for example.....

Kill'em All through And Justice for All...not a single skip track on any of those records.

Metallica's Black LP is the beginning of the end. Anything after that is drivel.

Not crap.

Kill 'Em All.

Ride the Lightning.

Master of Puppets.

Parts of the Black Album.

Live show in Spokane, WA (...And Justice for All tour)

James Hetfield's guitar playing in general.

Add in the tremendous comedic contributions of:

A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica

and

Some Kind of Monster

AND

St. Anger

And it's a very easy 'not crap' from me.

Metallica's instrumentals are down-right moving.

i'll admit it.

not crap with big waffles.

First 4 albums are outstanding and played a huge role in my metal development (and I mean huge; look at my crotch).


But since then...holy shit. I can't think of another band that has had this kind of total collapse (while selling more records than ever) in artistic and aesthetic sensibilities. Lars is a douche. Hetfield...Hetfield's just pathetic. And Kirk is a cipher.

But Master of Puppets...damn, dude. What a metal album. Ferocious, singular, and unabashed.

A reluctant NOT CRAP with waffles the size of my head

tmidgett wrote:Not crap.

Kill 'Em All.

Ride the Lightning.

Master of Puppets.

Parts of the Black Album.

Live show in Spokane, WA (...And Justice for All tour)

James Hetfield's guitar playing in general.

Add in the tremendous comedic contributions of:

A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica

and

Some Kind of Monster

AND

St. Anger

And it's a very easy 'not crap' from me.

Exactly what tmidgett says except i wasn't at that gig. I'll throw in ORION for good measure. How good is that!?
Oh and ALL of the ...And Justice For All album. Flawlessly played, badly recorded, but still great.

Surfrider wrote:Exactly what tmidgett says except i wasn't at that gig. I'll throw in ORION for good measure. How good is that!?
Oh and ALL of the ...And Justice For All album. Flawlessly played, badly recorded, but still great.

The best shit on AJFA is pretty great. I guess the sound doesn't get in the way any more than it does on the Black Album. And a lot less than on St. Anger.

I used to love Metallica. They were the only true metal band besides Motorhead and maybe Voivod that I really liked. Those old records hold up real well, I think.

MrFood wrote:Weirdly, I had just been looking at this before coming upon this thread.

What a tool.

It's funny seeing that video having (as a teenager) spent many happy(?) bedroom hours trying to play those songs. He actually can't play their songs any better than a standard, spotty 16 year-old. When you listen to the guitar parts played on their own, you really start to appreciate how important the production on those records must have been...unless maybe Hetfield really was a far better player.

Anyway, NOT CRAP for the first 3 records, after that CRAP.