10 Hard Rock Songs That Were Supposed To Be Classics (But Tanked)
3. Holier Than Thou - Metallica
The start of the '90s marked a dramatic turning point for Metallica. Whereas the rest of the thrash metal community was still hammering out their signature brand of heaviness, these titans' decision to hook up with Bob Rock for the Black Album resulted in metal music finally being embraced by the mainstream on a grand scale. If Rock had had his way though, we may not have gotten Enter Sandman at all.
When going through the early pressings of the album, everyone in the group was pulling for Holier Than Thou to be the first single right out of the gate, going so far as to suggest that it be the opening to the whole record. While certainly not a bad song, this is still pretty by the numbers thrash metal compared to what Metallica would be doing on songs like The Unforgiven and Sad But True.
At the 11th hour, it ended up being Lars Ulrich that spoke up to make sure that Enter Sandman was the lead off single, which quickly exploded once it reached the airwaves in late 1991. To this day, even James Hetfield looks back on Holier Than Thou as a little too basic for its own good. Granted, if Metallica did decide to lead off their pop crossover album with something like this, the entire thrash community were in for the biggest fake out once they actually picked up the proper record.