When The Music Hits: Metallica (1983-1988)
In August of 1991 Metallica would release their self-titled, or “Black”, album and launch themselves to a level of rock stardom very few have ever, and will ever see. Some would say they’ve never looked back, especially musically, and I would have to say I agree. Thankfully they gave us 4 of the greatest metal albums in history. So let’s go back…
No Life ‘Til Leather
Are the opening lyrics to an album that melts your face off from beginning to end. It’s also the name of the demo that laid the ground work for their debut album Kill ’em All. With album titles like that you know your parents are gonna love ’em. Starting off, the band included members James Hetfield (Vocals/Rhythm Guitar), Lars Ulrich (Drums), Dave Mustaine (Lead Guitar), Ron McGovney (Bass). Mustaine was eventually replaced by Kirk Hammett. Hammett has since been their lead guitarist. For those not in the know Mustaine would go on to form a small band you probably never heard of called Megadeth. The other change was the replacement of Ron McGovney with Cliff Burton at bass. These four kids (oldest was 21) put together an album so timeless and representative of the sub-genre every music fan needs to hear it at least once. Starting with the opening track your senses are assaulted. The speed of the guitars, the crushing beats of the drums and the deep rumble of the bass all come together to create a sound that will make you want to, well, basically break shit. A lot of shit. What more could an angsty teenager want in life am I right? I could go on and on from track to track but why ruin your experience. My favorites from the album are The Four Horsemen, (Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth, and Whiplash.
Ride The Lightning (originally titled Live Metal Up Your Ass) is Metallica’s second album, and it’s pretty good too. Everything that was on their debut is here and then some. Not only did they mature musically they also matured lyrically. The one thing I have always really appreciated about Metallica is their ability of song writing, especially early on. For this album they wrote songs about sitting on death row awaiting the electric chair (Ride The Lightning), suicide (Fade to Black) and the story of Moses and Egypt’s Pharaoh (Creeping Death). All of them in an intelligent and vivid manner. They have always seemed to match lyric to note and this album is a perfect example of that. In addition to the above you MUST listen to For Whom The Bell Tolls. Yes, it’s based on the book.
Master of Puppets is arguably Metallica’s finest album. Definitely their most epic. If you’re not familiar with ‘metal’ especially of the thrash variety you’re dealing with some serious bpm (beats per minute) that a normal person can only handle for about a minute. Try doing it for 5. Not enough? How about 8:30 minutes? That is not a typo, there are 8 tracks on this album, 3 of which are over 8 minutes long, and they need to be. The first of these is the title track, and tale of cocaine addiction, Master of Puppets. The second, Disposable Heroes, is a viewpoint that the military often treats it’s soldiers as just that. The final is a track that will always sit in my rotating Top 3 Favorite Metallica Songs of All-Time list, the Bass driven instrumental Orion. Unfortunately this is the last album Bassist Cliff Burton would appear on. While on tour supporting their record a bus accident would take the life of Cliff. Many believe the band never fully recovered.
The final album of this era would be …And Justice For All. Remember that 8:30 min mark? How about 2 over 9:45? Another 2 over 7. No band has EVER been able to replicate the style that Metallica seemed to have perfected. They wanted to remind everyone of this and they did it with new bassist Jason Newsted. In my opinion their most honest album and most raw sounding since Kill ‘Em All, and with newcomer Newsted it looked like the Metallica train would keep on rolling. Favorite tracks are Blackened,One, and …And Justice For All.
Since …And Justice For All Metallica has put out 5 fairly successful studio albums. Newsted would be their bassist over three of those albums but was replaced by current bassist Robert Trujillo for the last two. So you may be asking why only these four then? Simple, these are the four that matter. Now I don’t have a problem with some of what they have released since, hell I’d probably say I enjoy most of it. But it was never the same. Most artists will never put out 4 amazing albums, it’s hard enough to do once. Metallica did, and these are them.
MovieFreak4702
April 16, 2014 @ 4:54 pm
This was my favorite band in High School, but strictly up to and including the self-titled album. Fuck the rest.
Kupka
April 17, 2014 @ 1:11 am
I can handle Load and Reload but St. Anger and Death Magnetic are terrible. Don’t get me started on that collaboration they did with Lou Reed.
Jason Howington
April 22, 2014 @ 9:41 pm
Wow. There aren’t a lot of ppl that DONT like death magnetic! I thought it was a good album! This album comes after the black album for me. Slight return to form for them, and I think rick Ruben killed it on the production of that album! Can’t wait to see what they do on the next studio release.
Jason Howington
April 22, 2014 @ 9:38 pm
Actually Trujillo just recorded death magnetic. Bob Rock Metallica’s old producer laid the bass tracks fore st anger. And IMO …and justice for all is the crown jewel in the Metallica catalogue.
Binge Music Cast: Metallica - Post Justice. | BingeMedia.Net
May 2, 2014 @ 8:00 am
[…] those not in the know. For many the last great Metallica record. But you can read more about that here. What you’re gonna be listening to this week is Kupka and Jack “Moviefreak” […]