411 Metallica Roundtable: From Haircuts To Monsters

Posted by Mitch Michaels on 09.17.2008

The 411 staff wraps up its Metallica retrospective by looking at Load, Reload and the highly controversial St. Anger…

On September 12th, Metallica released Death Magnetic, their first studio album in over five years. Anticipation for this album among the Metallica faithful, haters and just plain curious has reached a fever pitch over the last couple of months thanks to comments from the band, new live leaks, cover art, track listings and, finally, a pair of official downloads - all leading up to Friday's big drop date.

But why all the hype for a band who, in most folks' opinion, completely dropped the ball on their last release? Well, 411 has decided to find out and tell you all about it. How? By taking a look back at Metallica's other eight studio sets, from the thrash juggernaut of 1983's Kill ‘Em All to the questionable ProTools mess of 2003's St. Anger. Because to understand the future, you need look no further than the past. Or some shit like that. Here's some metal up your ass!

(If you missed it, be sure to check out Parts 1 (Kill 'Em All), 2 (Ride The Lightning), 3 (Master Of Puppets), 4 (…And Justice For All), and 5 (Metallica)!)



PART SIX: FROM HAIRCUTS TO MONSTERS

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The Black Album launched Metallica into the stratosphere. Aside from currently standing at 14x platinum, Metallica sent the band on a near endless three year world tour (which resulted in the massive 3-disc, 3-VHS box set Live Shit: Binge & Purge). In 1994, they finally returned to the studio to record a follow-up. While Metallica was expensive, its follow-up was completely laborious, taking the four over a year to write and record. The result, Load, hit stores in the early summer of 1996. It debuted at #1. Metallica launched another long tour, which featured a stop on that summer's Lollapalooza.

While the album went multi-platinum and spawned the band's highest charting single in "Until It Sleeps" (#10, #1 Mainstream Rock), longtime fans were growing more disconcerted. Not only was Metallica continuing toward a more basic heavy metal, almost hard rock, sound, the band had the audacity to cut their trademark long hair.

The 411 staff has decided to revisit what many consider a low point, the groove-oriented Load.



Do You Have This Album?

Mitch Michaels: Yes, I do, and I believe I've bought it twice. My first listen to Load was actually on my senior trip to King's Island. I was forced to not hang out with my normal friends as they were a bunch of giant pussies who wouldn't ride rides, so I instead hooked up with a guy who had once been arrested off of the school bus. Something about jerking off in a fat girl's panties, or so the rumor says. Anyway, we had a great time on the coasters and he decided to pick up a cassette of Load (which had been out for a year at that point) at one of those over-priced stores all theme parks have. Being only familiar with "Enter Sandman" and skanky kids in Metallica T-shirts, I was really surprised at how much I dug the sound of that album coming out of the walkman. "Ain't My Bitch" – can they say that? Anyway, I dubbed a copy of the tape and spent the entire summer before college cranking it in my new truck. I would eventually pick up a copy of the CD used, sell that to make money to pay off a speeding ticket and then buy it used again.

Jesse Coy: Yes, I do. And I just got it two days ago, Delilah sending a copy of the release up to the Starship for me. Realizing that some of my great fans out there, the Blueprinties, let's call them, would be particularly disappointed if my input ended with the Black Album, I knew I had to get into the spirit of this, and give the next one in line a first try. Thankfully, being neither a diehard fan nor a hater of the band, plus having absolutely no expectations, and armed only with the knowledge that some Metallica fans hate this one, along with anything else they did after their magical first four releases... this was a rather fun listen all around.

Michael Melchor: Nope. And I probably never will. Metallica I took as a streamlining of their sound; wasn't ecstatic about it, but I overlooked it. Load confirmed what I'd feared - that the band was full-on abandoning their old sound as well as every promise they'd made their fans about staying "true" and never "selling out".


What Tracks Do You Love?

Mitch Michaels: The whole first half of the album, actually. "Ain't My Bitch" is a great opening track and, if you can get into the decidedly slower tempo early on, you're ready for the album. Plus, it says "bitch" – I like that. "2x4" is a good sampler for the entire set. Very groovy, very riff-oriented, but with some simmering guitar solos. This is Metallica going backwoods – despite the fact that Load was recorded in L.A. with super producer Bob Rock. Then you have the pummeling back-to-back-to-back-to-back singles. "Until It Sleeps" is once again Metallica doing Danzig better than Danzig has in years. One of my favorite singles from the band to this day. It's just creepy as fuck. "King Nothing" is the "Enter Sandman" of Load, as far as riffs go. They even have the callback to Never Neverland at the end. And the first half wraps with the low-end power-house ballad that is "Bleeding Me". If you want to hear Metallica nail the sound of their 90's output, this is it, with James delivering some of his finest lyrics to match.

Jesse Coy: First, there are two ending tracks I quickly became fond of. I can't be the only one out there to recognize that "Thorn Within" pays total homage to the early Danzig sound, especially the really dark, rocking riff. The end effect is quite cool. I also like the next track, "Ronnie," which is very unusual for Metallica. Flip side... I think the album starts off quite well with "Ain't My Bitch," and I like the second track, "2 X 4." I even like their nearly country ballad, "Mama Said."

Michael Melchor: There are some good songs on the album, don't get me wrong. I really enjoy "Hero of The Day" as the anthem of a scared man regressing back to find his courage and salvation. "King Nothing" has some good hooks as well, and "Ain't My Bitch" is as close to Metallica (and anything resembling their catalog before this) as the band gets.


What Tracks Do You Skip?

Mitch Michaels: When the second half starts, Load's biggest problem comes to light – it's just too damn long without enough variation. All the ground covered later has been covered earlier, save for the bright spot of ‘Tallica finally going acoustic on "Mama Said". I don't really hate any of the songs, but "Cure" and "Poor Twisted Me" are pretty redundant.

Jesse Coy: Not listening to this more than three or four times, I'd have to say N/A at the moment.

Michael Melchor: "Until It Sleeps" is boring as all hell. As the first single, this gave me a big clue as to what the rest of Load would be about. Damned if I wasn't right - I've heard this entire album a few times and I'm hard pressed to think of anything else on here that was even remotely memorable.



Final Thoughts

Mitch Michaels: Load was my first taste, album-wise, of Metallica, and you always remember your first time. I'll give it to fans of the thrash years that this album doesn't hold a candle to, say, Ride The Lightning, I don't see what the major fuss is about. Yes – Metallica decided to boogie. But they didn't forsake power, only speed. The lyrics on this album are just as dense as previous sets, and if anything, are more out front thanks to all the space in the songs given by the slower tempo. Sure, it's got the band trying some new things that everyone's not going to like. How do you go from "Battery" to "Hero Of The Day", for instance. But for Metallica to survive, they needed to change things up. Commercially, it was the right move. But time would tell that it might not have been as good for their soul.

Jesse Coy: So this was a surprise for me. I actually liked the album. Do I like it better than any of the first four albums? No... but then again, I think it's useless to compare. The band is working in a new genre here. This isn't thrash or even heavy metal, no matter how much the diehards wanted it to be. If you say the album sucked, more likely you're saying that the genre sucked, or even more accurately, that you wanted another intense thrash album, which maybe followed an older bluepri... uh, PATTERN (no, blueprint). HA! So out comes Load. In retrospect, here are two main observations.

First, this isn't and wasn't meant to be a thrash album. It's really a hard rock, sometimes metal album in much the same vein as Danzig's Danzig, Trouble's Trouble, the Cult's Sonic Temple, or Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger. And there's nothing wrong with that. It's pretty good for what it is. Second, I think Metallica taking themselves WAY too seriously is compounded by their diehards taking Metallica WAY too seriously. I can remember the big hullaballoo about Metallica cutting their hair, and (oooo!) some of them are wearing black eye liner! Who gives a crap, really? It's only music, and if one band disappoints you, be it their image or a shift in their style, there're probably about a hundred other bands out there that you'll love, just waiting for you to discover. Move on and get over it.

I don't know what thought is sillier... the fans who were so upset about that, or imagining that band meeting where James maybe said, "uh, guys... I think we need to do something really 'metal up your ass' and all cut our hair now." What if Jason or Kirk didn't want to? Would they have been out of the band? Both thoughts are pretty funny to me.

Michael Melchor: Sorry if I kept my thoughts on this album short but, other than being the shining moment that Metallica took a dump on their fans and their musical accomplishments, there's not a whole lot about this album to be said that hasn't been already. Unfortunately, things would get worse before they got better...

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Despite cries of sell-out from 80's metal fans, Load was a giant success and Metallica was ready for a quick turnaround. Recording for Load had left the band with enough material for two albums. The crew decided to release the stronger songs as Load and go back and work on the other tracks for a future release.

The result was Reload, which hit streets just over a year later and debuted at #1 on the charts. The sound furthered the band's mid-tempo groove found on Load. Reload spawned another Top 40 hit in "The Memory Remains" and went on to go 3x platinum. The release was trumpeted by Metallica's first appearance on "Saturday Night Live".

Of course, the fact that Reload was merely a continuation of an album much maligned by Metallica's core audience didn't do much for their fanbase. 411 has decided to take a look back Reload, 10 years later, and see what all the bitching was about.



Do You Have This Album?

Mitch Michaels: Yes, and this is OFFICIALLY the first Metallica album I ever owned. One of my college friends had a copy of the tape that drew me in and I actually bought this driving home from my first year of college at Disc Jockey in the Bridgeport Mall in Clarksburg, WV. I rocked the FUCK out of this CD over the summer of '98, which also happened to be the year I started dating Mrs. Michaels. And yet somehow this isn't "our" album. How could that not happen?

Everyone Else: No one else commented on Reload. Here is what they would have said: Metallica sold out blah blah blah.

Specifically:

Jesse Coy would have teased saying "blueprint" and talked about how good some other thrash band is. He would have also have just bought the album.

Michael Melchor would have been mad and said he didn't have it.

Dan Haggerty would have been kind of sad and made you want to give him a hug.

Ben Piper would have been like, why the fuck didn't I get an email about this?

Dan Marsicano would have talked about loving at least parts of the album, because he actually got into Metallica through Garage Inc.

Scott Rutherford would've talked about how the album was no good and then cited specific examples using music theory. He would've also said it lives on his iPod.

Blake Lauderback would have said…nothing, stupid, because Blake Lauderback is dead.

Dan Halen would've said he didn't have enough time to listen to it. It's been out ten years! (I say that with all love, Dan!)


What Tracks Do You Love?

Mitch Michaels: Like Load, Reload kicks off with a kick-ass highlight, the supercharged "Fuel". My brother and I were talking this weekend and wondering if NASCAR had ever used this track. It was fucking MADE for them! You then have the big single, "The Memory Remains", a twisted memoir of a "faded prima donna". The added effect of Marianne Faithful's vocals really helps this hit home, and we get a brief callback to "Fade to Black".

I may also be one of the few who likes "The Unforgiven II". The callbacks to the original is really fun, plus it's nice to hear a more rocking take on the sequel. "The Unforgiven" is a great ballad, but "II" has a much more apocalyptic vibe.

There are some other great tracks here that simply rule thanks to their groove. "Slither" has an awesome opening and "Carpe Diem Baby" is as fun with doom and gloom as "Unforgiven II".


What Tracks Do You Skip?

Mitch Michaels: I've never cared for "Better Than You". It's probably the most puzzling single, to me anyway, the band has ever released. I get the whole hypocrisy theme, but the sound is so generic and it tries to be tough while just falling flat. Anything after "Carpe Diem Baby" I find pretty forgettable, actually, aside from the hurdy gurdy on "Low Man's Lyric", a song about drug addiction that just falls short of nailing it.

I'm not one of the people who say that, if Load and Reload had been one album it would have been awesome. But I do think the band threw in a lot of filler simply because a CD could contain that much. It's no coincidence that these records were Metallica's first in the real "CDs are mainstream" era.



Final Thoughts

Mitch Michaels: I'm not a Metallica "diehard" simply because I happen to love the 90's output. I just happen to be a fan born of the 90's output. Reload is certainly a continuation of Load, but I wouldn't call it Load's leftovers. If anything, the big songs on Reload are even better than Load's highlights. It just seems like Reload is the victim of more filler than its predecessor. Perhaps Metallica should have given a little more time to record new songs for it, but I never argue with releasing albums fast like in the old days.

With the release of Death Magnetic and its return to speed, Metallica fans will be pissing on the 90's albums more than ever. I just don't think they deserve it. Do they sound like the thrash years? No. But you don't have to love one OR the other. If you were into a more rhythm based metal, you'll be ready to go on the ride.

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Following the release of Reload, Metallica released a double disc covers album called Garage Inc. that collected new and old recordings of other people's work. The set included the regulars (Motorhead, Misfits), but also some interesting choices like Bob Seger, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. Following that record, the band took a long time off, pretty much burned out from non-stop touring and recording for their entire career.

Unfortunately, the time away would only add to stresses within the band. Lars Ulrich notoriously took on illegal filesharing, leading to the end of the original Napster and a big division in Metallica's fanbase. Also, in 2001, just as Metallica was reconvening to record a new set of songs, Jason Newsted left the band amidst bad feelings, the major issue being his desire to work on a side project, which gave James Hetfield misgivings.

Newsted was replaced in studio by producer Bob Rock, as Metallica labored to create their eighth studio album. The highs and lows are documented in the film Some Kind Of Monster, which finds the band going to therapy and hating each other.

This unrest did not lead to an amazing album either. The result, 2003's St. Anger, was universally panned. While Metallica promised a return to the 80's speed, what fans got instead was a piecewise mess of poorly produced demo work and – the kicker – NO GUITAR SOLOS.

St. Anger went #1, but failed to chart any big singles, with the title track scoring the only Top 10 Rock position. Sales were also soft, stalling out quickly at double platinum.

The 411 staff has decided to revisit wrap our Metallica retrospective by trying to pinpoint what exactly went wrong with St. Anger.



Do You Have This Album?

Mitch Michaels: Bought it on the day of release at Target. I actually went in late to work just so I could pick it up. And yuck. I really liked the two singles that appeared beforehand – "Frantic" and "St. Anger", but I had no idea that they'd prove to be nearly the only bright spots. The DVD that came with it, which features the group jamming on the songs live in studio with new bassist Rob Trujillo, is better than the CD.

Jesse Coy: No, I don't own it. But just out of curiosity, because there was such a stink over it, I downloaded three random songs from the album ("St. Anger," "Dirty Window," and "Purify") to hear exactly what all the stink was about, and then an additional two more tracks ("Frantic" and "Some Kind of Monster"). Was it as terrible as many people were saying it was?

Michael Melchor: I picked this one up right around the time it came out. Hearing some of it kinda sound like their pre-Metallica output, I gave them another chance. What awaited me was...different. Some years later, after varying far and wide on the record, it's something now that, while I may not necessarily love, I can at least greatly respect for the simple reason that this is the album that Metallica, for the sake of each member involved, needed to make this particular album at this particular time.


What Tracks Do You Love?

Mitch Michaels: "Frantic" is pretty great, with it's "tick tick tick tick tick tock", and the title track isn't too shabby either, even if it goes on a little too long. Both tracks are just very raw, as is the whole of the album. "Some Kind Of Monster" grew on me, as well, even though the verses are pretty forgettable, musically. "This is the blah that blah blah blah, this is the bleh that bleh bleh bleh". James sounds damn near crazy on the chorus though.

Michael Melchor: The one-two opener of "Frantic" and "St. Anger" still grabs me. Especially in a foul mood. I well and fully realize that not many people can stand these two tracks, but so be it. I can see why, as they - like a LOT of songs on this album - get rather repetitive. "All Within My Hands" suffers from the same despite being a desperate lashing out at demons - and one of the best album closers I can think of in recent memory.


What Tracks Do You Skip?

Mitch Michaels: After "Some Kind Of Monster", the third cut, I don't listen to any of this. I've tried, on several occasions, to go back and try to listen with fresh ears. I'm even doing it now. But, God, it just sucks. It seriously is a bucket full of what the fuck.

Michael Melchor: There are several songs here I normally don't give the time of day to, such as "Invisible Kid" and "Some Kind Of Monster". Again, repetition hurts; in the above cases, the riffs and sheer power are strong enough to forgive that. I can even overlook the fact that Hetfield is straining his vocals like he's squeezing out a heavy one on the commode and Lars' drums sound like tin cans. Whoever produced - or didn't produce this album, in all likelihood - should be banned from ever entering a recording studio again. What could have been a strong - if not a great - album is barely listenable due to the fact that Metallica sounds like the world's most famous indie garage band. Not necessarily a bad stigma, but that's not what Metallica is at all.



Final Thoughts

Mitch Michaels: Old fans say so, new fans say so, critics say so and hell, even Metallica says so: St. Anger wasn't good. The band's internal and personal problems caught up with them and no amount of therapy, production or sobriety was going to fix it. Dan Haggerty has called this album a detox, and it was that very thing. It's hard to listen to and impossible to love.

Jesse Coy: It took me about four or five listens for my ear to assimilate those damn loud drums. It's that one particular drum... very distracting how it's miked. Now, some people didn't like the style or sound of ...And Justice For All, which I called dry, but which apparently was lack of bass. So the point is, while I'm not too fond of that drum sound or overloud style, maybe there are others who liked it. I think it would've sounded cool on maybe two tracks, not all of them. Looking beyond them, there's some surprisingly intense and pretty cool music here. But they're SO distracting. If Sharon Osbourne can do something as heinous as to record a bass and drum track from classic Ozzy albums to get out of paying the original musicians, can't we get a St. Anger with re-recorded drum tracks, or just lowering that one really loud drum Lars is so fond of? And speaking of the process that led up to the recording of this one...

Some Kind of Monster - hey, this is a really funny mockumentary! It's about this fictional band, not Spinal Tap, but this one's called Metallica. Get this... they call in a psychoanalyist to help them deal with their feelings. HA! It's really funny. There are some great scenes showing how the band comes up with some really moronic lyrics. They even have a fictional ex-member come into therapy, crying about how he was kicked out more than twenty years ago! So funny! How about, "we can only listen to the recordings between 12 and 4." That was just as funny as the first Spinal Tap, the "turn it up to 11" bit. Or there's the funny bit where they talk about how hard their lives are now, and then they show the balding one on his ranch or the whiny one selling his art collection. I even heard they put out a fake soundtrack, St. Anger, to go along with this very funny fake movie! You'll laugh until you piss yourself!

Michael Melchor: St. Anger has definitely gotten a bad rap in the last 5 years. Much of it - the production, Hetfield's strained-to-the-point-of-ridiculous vocals, the repetition - is certainly warranted. However, the band had a statement to make and issues to work through. In other words, they had something to say and get off their chests. At the end of the day, that is the purpose of art - to make a personal statement about how you feel, damn the consequences. The fact they put what they had to say out there despite what the label, the industry, the critics, and yes - even the fans - would think because they needed to let it out is definitely worthy of respect. If nothing else, St. Anger has that respect from me.

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And that about wraps things up. Thanks for taking this journey with us through the highs and lows of one of the biggest bands of all time. And don't forget to check out our reviews of Death Magnetic here and here!