5 Times Metallica Were The Best Band In The World (& 5 Times They Were The Worst)
Burn your bridges, build them back with wealth; Judge not lest ye be judged yourself.
Metallica have had a career unlike anyone else. From their origins in garages and dive bars, the band found their footing and worked past pitfalls with early members including future Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, slugging their way to the top, where they churned out instant classic after instant classic: no other band has an opening decade of albums like Metallica's.
The core trio of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett have held together since 1983, and each bassist - Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted and Robert Trujillo - have brought something new to the mix, each helping to define their own era of albums and off-stage antics.
One of the Big Four of thrash metal, alongside Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax, Metallica parted ways with the genre in the early '90s in order to cultivate a new sound that, over the years, has taken in influences and elements from, amongst other genres, blues, classical, nu-metal and the Golden Age of Hollywood.
With many ups and downs across their near 40-year tenure, they have scaled the heights, plumbed the depths and, for the most part, come out on top. Metallica are undeniably one of the best bands in the world, but, at many stages of their career, they have also been the worst...
10. WORST: Lulu
The announcement that Metallica would be collaborating with Lou Reed was met with confusion and hopeful optimism from fans. But if they thought St. Anger was bad, Metallica were ready to say '"hold my beer" and double down for a whole new album.
A concept album based on two plays by nineteenth-century German playwright Frank Wedekind - because, why not, right? - Lulu hit shelves and pummelled ears in 2011.
"Bad karaoke" doesn't even begin to do the vocals justice, as Lou Reed adopts a spoken and shouted approach to his singing throughout. Metallica's musicianship is competent, churning out riffs that would not have sounded out of place on 2008's Death Magnetic; but mired in abstract, ambient and off-tempo orchestral sounds and buried under Reed's 'singing', this is not enough to save the record.
Ultimately, it feels like everyone was too polite to tell Mr. Perfect Day that he wasn't pulling his weight and, by the time Metallica realised just how bad things were, they had gone too far to turn back.