|
|
|
|
 MainPage
|
Metallica History Part 3
With Jason established, the band went back to record their fourth full-length album, äAnd Justice For All, released in August 1988. It reached #6 on the US charts, and received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal/Hard Rock album.
The band took the show back out on the road and toured extensively to all parts of the world. ...And Justice For All produced two US singles and the band's very first venture into music video for the song One. They finally won a Grammy for the One single.
In 1991 Metallica released the self titled "black album." With new producer Bob Rock, this album was a departure from the previous album. The songs were shorter and the sound was fuller, deeper and less monotone. The "black album" went straight to number one all over the world.. and stayed there for several weeks.
The album spawned several singles and videos and remains the most successful Metallica album to date. The band won several awards including a Grammy for the album and several MTV and American Music Awards.
The band toured and toured and toured (get the picture?) playing all alone in "An Evening With Metallica" or with Guns N' Roses, or as headliner at many festivals. Metallica took the Black Album (and the other songs as well) to the people.
Five years would pass before the next Metallica album saw the light. The album was called Load and was the longest Metallica album to date. With 14 songs it took all available room on a compact disc. The album was again produced by Bob Rock, as was ReLoad, which followed in 1997. Both albums were written and mostly recorded together, and continued what the self-titled album started. Soundwise, the album was thick and and punchy, the songs were loose, powerful and eclectic.
It would be unfair to say Metallica changed a great deal, as the band is the same band that recorded Kill 'Em All, ...And Justice For All and the rest, but the Load twins show a Metallica that has grown towards expanding past the "all attitude and speed" days and back to the "be yourself" attitude.
With the completion and subsequent touring for Load and ReLoad and quite possibly the end of this phase of Metallica, it's natural only to become somewhat introspective. While lyrically the Load albums reflected a great deal of what lies inside each of us emotionally and subconsciously, it came a time to look into what made this band.
No greater reflection of what makes Metallica "Metallica" are their influences. And as they did in 1981 when they started, 1984 with Garage Days Revisited and 1987 with Garage Days Re-Revisited, the band did what comes naturally.. they went back to the garage.
Metallica was and is very much a garage band. Whether it's in Kirk's basement, Jason's Chophouse, Lars' Dungeon or on stage in front of 50,000, Metallica always plays that song or that riff that helped them out somewhere along the road. They had already released 2 garage projects and put out a smattering of cover songs as B-sides. In fact, the Garage Days projects had become so collectable and rare, that poorly-recorded bootleg copies have been circulating for outrageous prices.
The band chose 11 new songs to record its third "in the garage" project, again with Bob Rock. The project was aptly-titled Garage Inc. as it incorporates ALL the previously-recorded garage cover songs along with the 11 new tracks.
So what's next? Look for the band on tour in some new, as well as the old familiar places. A new project unlike anything you'd expect, and a welcome to the year 2000 that most certainly be one to remember!
Back to Metallica History
|
|
|
|
|
