So why is Metallica on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
There have been periods of my life where I didn’t care for Metallica all that much (I discuss related feelings in my recent piece on Green Day’s Dookie, #138 of the best 1,000 albums ever), and overall I’m not someone who has a notion to throw on metal music in general all that much these days.
Specific to the self-titled Metallica album, often referred to as the Black Album, I also had specific and honestly semi-complicated feelings about it for many years. And yes, I realize that a lengthy explanation of my feelings related to metal may come across as slightly odd, but stay with me here!
One aspect was that if you were of my general age and disposition, you couldn’t get away from the song “Enter Sandman” in the early ‘90s. Perhaps only a tiny bit less overplayed than “You Could Be Mine” from Guns N’ Roses, both songs were coming out of every speaker that year, and that included music videos on heavy rotation on MTV and radio.
And on top of that, the band I was in at the time – which included zero live gigs during my tenure with them, playing bass, and I’m not sure if we had an actual band name (and if so, I forget what it was) – insisted on playing “Enter Sandman” ad nauseam. A friend and I were eventually kicked out of that unnamed zero gig band, thus adding to my Metallica-adjacent ennui.*
* And also “Silent Lucidity,” by Queensrÿche. Please never ever talk to me about “Silent Lucidity” by Queensrÿche. Thanks in advance.
But then time passed, as it tends to do. In college, I got exposed to early era Metallica – and not just songs like “One” that I was already familiar with, but dazzling, blazing speed metal from albums like Ride the Lightning. A reassessment was in order, and reassess Metallica I did, and gladly.
Shake the hourglass harder, fast forward more years, and I eventually reassessed Metallica the album.
I was simply blown away. The production and songwriting are meticulous yet ferocious, and the entire album is packed with polished metal gems.
I’ll get to the five monster hits that you might be most familiar with in a moment, but I have to start with “Don’t Tread On Me” (a saying that has sadly been co-opted by the MAGA-ish folk in recent years from its American revolutionary origins), which is a blistering, soaring, and absolutely glorious deep cut that I implore you to check out if any of this or Metallica is of any interest to you.
Also: the chorus is simply an all-timer.
So be it
Threaten no more
To secure peace is to prepare for war
So be it
Settle the score
Touch me again for the words that you’ll hear evermore
Hey
Don’t tread on me
Of the multiple monster hits on Metallica, I’m most drawn to the quiet, dark, and powerful “Nothing Else Matters.” Metallica has always been a band that is exceptionally talented from a technical perspective, but they’ve also always been good at showing off different hues and tones while never changing up their core musical DNA, if you will. And “Nothing Else Matters” is their very best work on the relatively quieter and softer side of the musical spectrum.
“The Unforgiven” plays in similar territory and is very nearly as successful.
“Wherever I May Roam” has an eastern flavor to it that, when meshed with some pretty crushing and driving metal riffs, is a heady concoction. When this one gets up to cruising speed, it’s hard to imagine a better crank up the volume road trip song.
Songs like “Sad But True” and the aforementioned “Enter Sandman” were designed in a lab to rock massive stadium-sized crowds, bridging the band’s O.G. metal fan maniacs and a broader generation of rock fans who were just getting on board with the party.
Pop culture stuff that has something to do with Metallica
There was something about Metallica’s guest appearance on an early season of the Showtime show Billions, that helped endear them to me. James Hetfield was quite good playing himself, and it’s memorable to me when he tells Bobby Axelrod (Damian Lewis) something to the effect of how he gets through down periods in his life is to “just play, man.”
Some stats & info about Metallica
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Metal, Heavy Metal, Rock Music, SoCal Bands
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – #235
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 out of 5 stars
- When was Metallica released? 1991
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #134 out of 1,000
Metallica on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Metallica that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Exit light, enter night. Take my hand – we’re off to never never land.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.