What's wrong with the Black Album (Metallica)?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by JosephRose, Mar 2, 2016.

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  1. Wounded Land

    Wounded Land Forum Resident

    Great album. It doesn't have the aggression or formal complexity of ...And Justice for All but the songs are good and it sounds really great. I prefer the earlier stuff but the Black Album is nothing to sniff at. Everything afterwards is not for me.
     
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  2. nicotinecaffeine

    nicotinecaffeine Forum Resident

    Location:
    Walton, KY
    Oh, for christ sakes.
     
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  3. uncle

    uncle Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass
    I was a fan since I first heard a bootleg cassette of Metal Up Your Ass in 83 and bought every album they ever released as they came out. I think the Black album is their best overall album. It is their "Led Zepplin IV" as my friends and I refer to a band's album that all things come together with the production, commercial success, and enjoyablilty of said album. I am not one of those music fans who feels that any artist is "mine" and once they get success they are no longer relatable. I also refuse to stick an artist in one category and if they stray from their previous style they must therefore suck. As Bob Dylan famously said to the jerkoff who yelled "Judas" because he dared to use electric instruments and play rock songs "Play it ****ing Loud!" Can you imagine if Neil Young only stuck to writing the same style of songs his whole career?

    Any artist who refuses to change as they grow and their life experiences change is simply a poser in my opinion. If you are in your 30's & 40's still writing the same type of songs especially lyrically you wrote as a teenage or in your early 20's then I have to question their intentions. Maybe they are the sellouts as they are still trying to play to the type of fans that initially liked them? I don't know but what I do know is that I find all those metal bands that I loved in the 80's who are STILL doing only speed style songs in their 50's just to be kinda immature and I dropped listening to all those bands accordingly. Come up with something new.
     
  4. Bananas&blow

    Bananas&blow It's just that demon life has got me in its sway

    Location:
    Pacific Beach, CA
    This is the best argument I have seen for the Black Album.
     
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  5. Slick Willie

    Slick Willie Decisively Indecisive

    Location:
    sweet VA.
    Nothing is wrong with it, nothing at all. Their crowning achievement, IMO. Just that some fans have always hated 'their' artists evolving/changing. After all, they were fans from the beginning...and now everybody's jumping on the wagon - that mentality has existed in the past and will so in the future. I recall the same mentality with Floyd's DSOTM, with Zep's HOTH, and more recently with artists like The Black Keys.
    There will always be haters.
     
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  6. The Lizard King

    The Lizard King Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney, Australia
    Superb Album. I listened to it yesterday and it still sounds fresh and I love it. Totally agree with you.
     
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  7. sidewinder572

    sidewinder572 Senior Member

    Location:
    Saint Paul, MN
    Heard 'Sad But True' on the radio and it made me a fan. Although I no longer own the album and haven't heard it in years, it's because of that album that I'm a fan.
     
    Stormrider77 likes this.
  8. 32XD Japan1

    32XD Japan1 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pennsylvania USA
    You can't fault the band for relentless touring to support the album and then reaping the rewards. The approach is different than the previous albums, but it's by no means as bad as diehard fans make it out to be. People forget they actually had a video on MTV for One, off of Justice, which many feel is their last good album.

    It's the stuff that came long after The Black Album that I have a real issue with, that in my opinion damaged their credibility beyond repair. I think these are in the order of occurrence:

    1. Lar's stance on Napster. Whatever side of the argument you come down on, he didn't come across well publicly making his case IMO, and angered a lot of people.

    2. Jason quits. Sure, technically the new guy's a better player, but the chemistry isn't there IMO.

    2. St. Anger - A really bad album, when a really good one was needed, after the 2 mediocre Load albums.

    3. Death Magnetic - A pretty good comeback album destroyed by the earbleeding mastering to the point of distortion. I remember reading they took their time recording it. After a number of career missteps, where in the world was the quality control? It should have never hit the shelves until it was fixed.

    4. Lulu - Making an album with Lou Reed? Really? Who's dumb idea was this? Even worse than St. Anger, which is hard to believe.

    And so, a band that started out publicly taking a hard stance on their "principals" in the end, betrayed them all.
    Having said that, their influence is huge. What a huge impact they had on metal. It can't be underestimated just how huge the brand name was and still is.
    I'm still a fan, but I really don't like the way things turned out, although they sure ain't hurtin' for cash. :tiphat:
     
  9. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    Metallica - Black Album, playing right now actually. If some people dislike it, that's ok. It #%$^#% rocks, regardless.
     
    keyXVII, Matthew Tate, tim185 and 2 others like this.
  10. ArpMoog

    ArpMoog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Detroit
    Death= Death (2) »
    This is the way a metal band evolves and stays true.
    the Black album is a sellout as far as I'm concerned and utter Crap.
     
  11. Sternodox

    Sternodox SubGenius Pope of Arkansas

    I DJ'ed in a stripper club back in the day. I never became so sick of one album in my entire life as I did this one!
     
  12. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    Many people couldnt have cared less about Metallica before the S/T album. I was one of them. It made go back and listen to the former albums. Something I wouldnt have done if I hadnt heard the black album. And, yes, I agree now that the other albums are better as far as thrash metal. Way better.

    But the black album songs were all over the bar scene at that time. It was one of the backdrop albums of my misspent youth. Played a lot of darts, pool and ping pong in a rowdy bar for 20 somethings called Rockys listening to cuts from that album and singing along with friends as we partied. I dont think "And Justice For All" would have appealed to us as a group as much. Guys and girls related to that album. Its a good album.

    Like Nirvana made punk acceptable in the popular arena, so did Metallicas S/T album make metal very popular with people.

    Of course when Alice and Chains came on...all bets were off. Another level.

    If I think about it, I guess I really did live through the last ages of hard rock/metal as a popular genre with the party crowd. Glad I was that lucky. Good memories. And some hard memories.
     
    Last edited: Apr 30, 2016
  13. toddrhodes

    toddrhodes Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Bend, IN
    I find I enjoy the stuff that never made it on the radio to be the best tracks on the album. I don't hear much, if any "filler" tracks. But, to each their own. I've also never bought the "sellout" angle. Trade one fan for a million. Yea, that's such a terrible thing to do...
     
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  14. eric777

    eric777 Astral Projectionist

    I'm so glad I was not a Metallica fan until this album. I knew who they were, but I refused to listen. Metallica fans back then in my town could be rather over-baring. They only talked about Metallica as if no other band existed. It was a case where the reaction of the fans was my reason not to listen. All they ever went on about was how awesome Master Of Puppets was. I preferred listening to all kinds of metal and hard rock rather then just one band. I was a kid then and that was my state of mind I guess.

    When the Black album was released, I loved it. I loved every song. I did not care about all the whining I heard. I did not care if they sold out. I loved it. It is my favorite release by Metallica.

    Metalheads can be rather elitist sometimes. I was pretty bad about it in the 90s but that changed. I think now it's a simple matter of letting your ears decide. Did it sound good? Do you want to hear it again? That is what matters.

    That is my opinion anyway.
     
  15. husafreak

    husafreak Great F'n music that's difficult to listen to!

    Location:
    NorCal, Bay Area
    Nothing.
     
  16. BCJaysfan

    BCJaysfan Forum Resident

    I can see how it might have been a shock 25 years ago, but if you haven't let it go by now...

    The band needed to grow, just like I'm sure you needed to too.
     
  17. jimmydean

    jimmydean Senior Member

    Location:
    Vienna, Austria
    yes would have been better as a shorter album... but it has two of their best songs imho ("sandman" and "wherever i may roam") and i think the ballads are also okay
     
  18. Mr_TagoMago

    Mr_TagoMago Well-Known Member

    Location:
    America
    I was never a big Metallica fan in the first place but for me personally the issue with The Black Album is that I just don't like that generic bland 90s rock.
     
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  19. analogmusic

    analogmusic New Member

    Location:
    Singapore
    I like all Metallica albums. A friend who can't stand rock heard Sandman on a great system and loved it.
     
  20. Mr_TagoMago

    Mr_TagoMago Well-Known Member

    Location:
    America
    You like St anger and Lulu?
     
  21. rnranimal

    rnranimal Senior Member

    Location:
    Ohio
    Bought on release when I was 13. Was soooo disappointed. It wasn't too long before then that I discovered MoP when I traded a watch for a few cassettes (South of Heaven was also among them and I loved that as well). I immediately had to get the other albums and loved them all. I ran out to get the new album and was very let down as I listened. On the first day of school, I asked the resident headbanger what he thought of the album. I was relieved he agreed with me as it seemed everyone else was going crazy for the album. I was mostly into fast, heavy stuff then. But even as my musical tastes expanded and would re-discover past artists and albums I had once discounted, I could never find love for the black album. Same with GnR Illusions. Those 3 albums sound as bland to me now as they did then.

    Btw, I like some of Lulu, but I'm a big Lou fan. I had new found respect for Metallica for doing that album even if I mostly don't care for it.
     
  22. Harvest Your Thoughts

    Harvest Your Thoughts Forum Resident

    Location:
    On your screen
    If it had somehow just been a bit 'underground' it would have been more artistically successful.

    For some albums, it's not possible to be both artistically and economically success, one cancels out the other, despite its independant artistic merits...
     
  23. tim185

    tim185 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    It's the bloody black album. Shut up and enjoy it!
     
  24. PaulKTF

    PaulKTF Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
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  25. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    "Sandman" has the sickest groove ever. All of the rest of the singles are good to great. Not much is worthwhile with the rest. They should have made an EP from the sessions.
     
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