10 Legendary Rock Albums That Were Produced Terribly

Ever since Metallica has been active, fans have not really deserved this kind of uneven production style. While it's understandable that something like their debut Kill Em All would be rough around the edges, it gets a bit difficult to comprehend why Death Magnetic sounded the way it did, being way too blown out of proportion from the same band that made songs like Sad But True. And for all of the fans who hoped that St. Anger would top this list, it's much worse when you have an album that sounds bad by design.

There's no disputing that St. Anger has some really harsh moments on it, but you can kind of excuse it for how dysfunctional the band was, looking to use the music as catharsis rather than making it sound pretty. Coming from the band right off of Master of Puppets though, And Justice For All is still an anomaly, with fans arguing for years on end about why there is so little bottom end on this record. The answer's actually pretty simple though: band hazing.

The rest of the guys were obviously still grieving over Cliff Burton's death, and Jason Newsted's bass was deliberately turned down low in the mix as a bit of a practical joke. It may have been funny at the time, but the rest of this album feels incredibly dated now, almost as if we can see Lars in the studio laughing his ass off as he turns the four string down so low to where you can barely hear it. St. Anger may have broken a lot of hearts, but this was the first time we found out that Metallica could do wrong.