ALBUM OF THE WEEK # 360 METALLICA - METALLICA (THE BLACK ALBUM) (1991)

[RJhog (Admin)]

Disclaimer: All info that does not reside in my brain is gathered from wikipedia.com (mostly because Jon can't stand it) unless otherwise noted.

We are all the way up to 1991 in music.  Doesn't seem like that was 26 years ago, but it was.  This week's pick for Album of the Week is Metallica's self-titled fifth album, also known as The Black Album.  It was a huge sellout...or was it?  Personally, I don't think so.  Personally, I think the word sellout is used by people who like bad music and don't like it when their band makes something that the masses enjoy.  But who cares what I think?  I don't even care what I think, why should you?

I could tell you a hundred things about this album, but I'll just remind you that it was number one in the U.S. Every Metallica album since has been number one in the U.S. (except for that collaboration with Lou Reed). It also sold a boat load of copies, as it's 16 X Platinum certification proves.  The highest charting single was Enter Sandman at number 16.  

I'll also tell you that this is the album that introduced me to the band.  For a long time, I could not get into their previous material, but I have done so since.  I remember riding around in my car with this cranked (I had a very good sounding Bose system at the time).  

1. Enter Sandman

2. Sad But True

3. Holier Than Thou

4. The Unforgiven

5. Wherever I May Roam

6. Don't Tread On Me

7. Through The Never

8. Nothing Else Matters

9. Of Wolf And Man

10. The God That Failed

11. My Friend Of Misery

12. The Struggle Within

 

[Jon]

I don't care what you think, but that's just me?

At first, this album was really cool since it had bass. Everyone had it because it has bass. I would wait for that first track to come on the radio or walkmanradiothing justg to turn it up because it had bass and it was a pretty darn cool song (with bass). 

Then something happened, and it didn't have to do with bass.

Something to do with quite a few songs being played over and over again, A LOT. Now, you might think this is baseless, but it's sad but true. 

So, even with the bass prevalent, I got tired of this album. So much so that I never upgraded from the cassette (which had rather strong bass). Never.

So, to cover all the bases, I must come forward and say that I have not listened to this album in its bassy entirety for at least 20 years. 

Might want to check on the title of track #10. I'm basing this on knowledge I have. 

Not a bad listen but I still remember it all yet it only brings back that one memory I listed above that's based in truth.

Peace out.

[Yngve J. Chapleen]

I'm not sure if this was a sellout or not. (Not sure I know what that really means either)

It is different from what Metallica did prior to this album, but it's still unmistakably Metallica. Nobody sounds like they do here. Not even Metallica themselves, after this release. They found a formula to appeal to greater masses and I don't see anything wrong with it. Most bands will give their nuts to achieve that. Not an easy task, but the critic in all of us is ready to make it sound like it's a bad thing. What's the word I'm looking for?... Jealousy. That's it.

I think there is a fine line between bending an alien genre to your own style, and when you compromise your legacy to fit into a different type of music. The example of the former practice is Judas Priest. I liked them during their Gull years, when they were more of a Hard Rock band with progressive elements as much as when they beefed up their sound and shortened the length of their songs, after that. But when they really blow me away, was the time when they went full on Heavy Metal with British Steel. With Point Of Entry the dabbled in pop. Screaming For Vengeance is Melodic Metal. Painkiller is Power Metal, but there is one thing common to all of these releases. GREAT songs. And that's all that matters. Same with Metallica's Black Album.

Oh yeah... You are probably waiting for me to give you an example of the latter equation.

I got nothing.

Why don't you go and ask Dokken?

[Scandal 2000]

I may be in the minority on this one but I never cared for the Black album. There are a few really good songs on this one but I never cared for "Wherever I May Roam" and "Nothing Else Matters" which are both played frequently on the classic rock radio station in my area.