10 Most Important Hard Rock Bands Of The 90s

For the metalheads in the audience, Metallica deserves to be burned at the stake for the crimes that they committed in the '90s. After becoming the staples of the thrash underground for the last decade, how the hell did they turn into the band that could strut their stuff on MTV alongside the hair metal bands of the world? This isn't a case of selling out though...if anything it was selling in.

When Metallica turned out the Black Album, this became the gateway for millions of suburban kids to get turned onto metal music, with fans going back and finding the old school stuff that Metallica had been inspired by. The thrash hadn't entirely gone away either, with songs like Of Wolf and Man and Holier Than Thou showing their teeth pretty prominently.

And for those of you who were looking to drag albums like Load and Reload through the mud, they still hold up as perfectly decent hard rock at the time. Although you did have some plagiarism from the alternative scene at the time, these are still perfectly enjoyable rock jams, along with songs like Fuel that's practically become a meme in the metal community. Capping things off with their showstopping performance with an orchestra on S&M, Metallica put a big exclamation point on their career just before the dark times of St. Anger.