I love a good Metallica song just as much as the next person, but I would not classify them as alternative by any stretch of the imagination. Not even in the 80s when this song came out. Just seems… odd.
Out of interest, I didn’t grow up in the US, so never saw Alternative Nation or 120 Minutes. I have heard of them but only know what I can read about them on Wikipedia. Would this song have been aired on those shows?
absolutely not. This is headbangers ball material.
Agree with the other response, Metallica was featured on Headbanger’s Ball, not Alternative Nation or 120 Minutes.
That’s fair if you grew up in the US and I understand that it is likely that a good number in the community did as well but that wasn’t my experience. Maybe stretch your imagination further than your own borders and things will seem less odd.
Weren’t they very much thrash metal during this period, even in their European tours? They did go pretty alternativepop in the late 90s with load/reload and their overall image. It was a sad time for heavy metal, driving many of us into the underground before we found reprieve in bands like Electric Wizard and Sleep. Still a banger of a track though, I wore this tape out so bad it broke.
Maybe a sad time for thrash but Industrial metal was going off during that time!
I know that I’m going to get hate for this. I always do. I was a huge fan of Metallica. Whether it was “and justice for all, master of puppets, ride the lightning, kill em all, or their self titled album aka the black album. I even got garage days.
Then Load came out, and I knew something was wrong. It was ok but wasn’t up to their usual standards. It was the same feeling I got when I heard Korn’s fallow the leader. Also, an ok album but not up to their previous quality.
Anyway, I don’t remember which came first Napster or Reload. But, living in that time and experiencing it first had. It was like watching your hero become the villain.
You can argue that artists deserve to get paid for their work, and they do. But at the time Metallica was signed to Warner bros. record company. Warner Bros. is who was really getting paid for their CD sales. Of course now they have bought back all their tracks and have their own record company. It’s a different story.
Anyway, I literally haven’t bought a Metallica album since Load, and have refused to listen to them since. Most of the time the bad guys win.
Fuck Metallica.
As a quick addition. I would like to say, that if you have to listen to metallica. OP picked a good one to listen to.
No hate here, everyone is entitled to their opinion. You brought up good points and I felt the same way you did for a while but I figure there’s some things we can move past