1. St. Anger
2. Metallica Reloaded
3. The Early Early Early Days
4. Under The Influence
5. Monsters Of Rock
6. Nabbing Napster
7. Master Of Puppets
8. Ride The Lightning
9. Worn Justice
10. Headbangers' Ball
1. St. Anger
The band that put the Metal in Heavy Metal returns with one of their
heaviest albums yet. It is a return to the early days of Metallica,
resembling their first album, Kill 'Em All. Unlike their albums of the
past decade, there isn't a single mellow song on this new release. It
is simple flat out full throttle metal guitar with the hardest drumming
Lars Ulrich has turned out in years. This album is all about, hard and
fast, straight down-to-business heavy metal.
2. Metallica Reloaded
A great addition to the album is the bonus DVD with over an hour of
video footage of the band and their recording sessions. Every band
should do this, then again not every band is as much fun to watch as
Metallica. This album is one of the must-haves of this summer of rock.
3. The Early Early Early Days
In a recent Rolling Stones interview, Metallica lead singer James
Hetfield recounted some of his early days as a hard rock fan, "Probably
the most memorable was the California World Music Festival. It was one
of those two-day things. The first night was Ted Nugent and Van Halen
-- no, Aerosmith. I must have been fifteen or sixteen. I remember
following around my buddy, who was selling drugs. He tore up a part of
his ticket -- it had a kind of rainbow edge -- and he cut it into bits
and sold it as acid. I was like, "What are you doing, man?" He used the
money to buy beer."
4. Under The Influence
In the same interview, Hetfield cited one of his early influences, "I
was a huge Aerosmith fan. I could not believe I was seeing them so
close. I worked my way up there as far as I could. There was something
magical about seeing them as actual live people, not just pictures on
an album. The real coolness of Joe Perry, especially. It's impossible
for him to be uncool. And I remember I was blown away by the fact that
Steven was calling the crowd "*************." I was like, "Whoa -- are
you supposed to do that?".
5. Monsters Of Rock
The Jagermeister days. James Hetfield admits that the days during the
Monsters of Rock tour were a big fog. Complete with a Jagermeister
shellacking. He says it was okay to feel drunk and messed-up back in
those days, but ultimately it just wasn't a great thing. Too many
negative ramifications. There were a lot of dads and moms and husbands
and boyfriends looking for him when the band came back to those towns.
Not good.
6. Nabbing Napster
Set your CD burners on stun. Metallica rocked the music world when they
sued Napster, the company that provided the free-swapping file-sharing
app that altered the course of music history. Fans were outraged and
felt Metallica was bullying the free system. But, ultimately the
industry sided with the band; after all it was the band that was being
hurt by their enthused fans. In time it would have been the parasite
that bled the tuneful turnip dry.
7. Master Of Puppets
Oddly enough however, many fans were quick to site that Metallica
gained their foothold on heavy metal when the band provided a few
tape-trading friends with a demo tape called, "No Life 'Til Leather."
The seven-song album was dubbed and redubbed and dubbed some more until
the tape had hop scotched across the globe from California to Germany.
Within a few short months the band had risen from obscurity with a
legion of worldwide fans, all due to the free trade of their music.
8. Ride The Lightning
Here's a fan listing of Metallica's albums in the must-have order:
1. …And Justice For All
2. Master of Puppets
3. Ride the Lightning
4. Metallica (The Black Album)
5. Reload
6. Kill 'Em All
7. Load
Over time, no doubt their latest outing, St. Anger, will join these favorites.
9. Worn Justice
For a recent Ramones tribute album, Metallica has joined the ranks of
U2, Tom Waits, Garbage, Eddie Vedder, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Billy
Corgan, Offspring, Static-X, Rancid, Motorhead, Green Day and Marilyn
Manson. The whole project was helmed by shock-rocker, Rob Zombie.
According to Zombie in an interview with Rolling Stone, "The whole
thing started with Johnny Ramone. He really wanted people to do the
tracks in their own way, not like they're trying to imitate the
Ramones. Everyone who ever heard the Ramones started a band, and this
record demonstrates that."
10. Headbangers' Ball
Hetfield concludes, "We're looking forward to spreading this new lust
for life we have. There's a new strength in Metallica that's never been
there before. There are still fearful parts, too. But I'm pretty well
set up. And I'm really proud of the new music. I think we did something
where the pedal does not let up."
