10 Bands That Saved Their Career With One Album
2. Metallica - Metallica
Most hardcore Metallica fans are probably skeptical as to why The Black Album saved the band's career. If anything, the glossy sound of the album and experimentation with new styles were seen by many as a nail in the band's coffin. However, Metallica may have been on a darker path than most people are willing to admit.
Yes, almost every song the band released in the '80s could be considered a classic, but things looked to be a bit fractured by the time of And Justice For All. Though the playing was great on the record, Metallica were getting dangerously close to sounding monotonous after doing four albums of pure thrash metal. Even though the band had survived the death of bassist extraordinaire Cliff Burton, a remake of Justice would have been a step backwards and may have even caused the demise of the band.
Instead of continuing down that road, the band were itching to write simpler songs compared to their earlier material, which came to life once Bob Rock came into the picture as producer. Assembling their biggest hits yet, the sound of songs like "Sad But True" and "Enter Sandman" brought the band from thrash metal titans to one of the modern musical gods. A song like "Nothing Else Matters" may seem a bit saccharine to metalheads, but it's better to have one slow song amid the bunch than not having Metallica at all.