10 GUTSIEST Moves Metallica Ever Made (And Whether They Paid Off)

Metallica have become one of the great examples of how to build up a musical empire. From one album to the next, the band pioneered the sound of thrash and eventually turned the entire metal genre into a household name in the '90s. However, you don't get to that spot by just playing it safe.

Over the span of their career, Metallica have made a lot of questionable decisions for a metal band, which has led to legions of fans getting pissed off at their work going forward. Whether it be through business practices or a distinct change in the entire operation, the band has certainly garnered as many enemies as they have fans over the years.

From a raw musical perspective, the band have remained intact, but the amount of wear and tear they have taken over the years has ended up both benefiting and backfiring on them far too many times to count.

Then again, what doesn't kill you will eventually make you stronger, and these thrash titans have come out on the other side every time they start to fade away. For worse or for better, these decisions have sparked outrage, joy and a lot of puzzled faces towards the world's greatest metal band.

By the time the '90s rolled around, change was definitely in the air for Metallica. After hooking up with superproducer Bob Rock for their self-titled Black Album, the band achieved massive success far beyond what any of them had anticipated. You only get those kind of records once in your career, but for the next few years, Metallica ended up making drastic changes to recreate that lightning in a bottle energy.

Across both Load and Reload, the Metallica that we knew from the '80s was long gone, with songs that reflected more of a hard rock style rather than the thrashy tunes we were used to.

Songs were a lot more sequenced, guitars were a lot prettier, and when there was something that fit the metal bill, it typically favored heaviness over an actual fast tempo. Probably the most blasphemous of all is the fact that the band (*gasp*) cut their hair during the promotional cycle for the album.

While the Load era is not something many Metallica fans look back on fondly, there are still a few decent cuts across these records that warrant a place among the band's finest moments.

This was certainly a change of pace, but if you cut down both of these records into one single album, if would have been a worthy follow up to their Multi-Platinum blockbuster.