10 Best Hard Rock Bands Of The 90s
2. Metallica
Metallica's gradual build during their 80's run was a whirlwind of innovation from the epic songs of Master of Puppets to the absolute prog metal smack And Justice for All. It all seemed to be building to something, and fans around the globe figured out exactly what that was as the 90's arrived.
While it's right there in their name that Metallica is a metal outfit, the band quickly became one of the biggest names in hard rock with the release of their almighty Black Album in 1991. The songs across this record were a bit softer by the band's standards, but were no less emotionally potent. Even if the band caught a lot of flack for their releases later in the decade with the sister albums Load and Reload, tracks like "Fuel" and "King Nothing" showed they hadn't completely lost their edge.
Their willingness to experiment with their music also produced some of the greatest left-field experiments of the decade from releasing an album full of cover songs to performing their songs live with a full orchestra. Though Metallica had already cultivated a metal army by the time they reached the 90's, they took their sound from straight thrash metal to hard rock brilliance.