10 Rock Albums That Haven't Aged Well At All

10. And Justice for All - Metallica

There's a good case to be made that some of the best Metallica songs turn up on And Justice For All. After years of refining the more epic side of their sound, hearing songs like the title track and Blackened makes it feel like the thrash legends have reached their final form, with the ballad One being one of the ultimate examples of their strengths. This album does have more than a few blemishes on it though, and it all comes back to the production.

When they were originally mixing the album, Metallica were also sorting out things with new bass player Jason Newsted, which included countless hazing rituals to make sure that he was good enough to be a part of the Metallica family. Such hazing wasn't limited to different pranks on tour, treating him like an annoying little brother on stage, and in the case of this album, turning the bass down so low that you can barely hear it in the mix.

Even though these lyrics might be some of the more potent that James Hetfield have ever written, it doesn't even matter when they don't have any bottom end to hold it down, which leads to a metal record that lacks a good chunk of its teeth. Metallica may have been reaching a peak in terms of their musicianship, but considering how much this sounds like a demo, it made sense that they would roll the dice with Bob Rock on the Black Album a few years later.