10 Rock Albums That Were A Nightmare To Make

There was absolutely nothing that was going to stop the Metallica train in the '90s. Even if some of their thrash fanbase were annoyed by them 'going pop' on the Black Album, every single record saw them doing whatever the hell they wanted and coming back stronger for it, capping the decade off with a massive performance with an orchestra for the S&M live record. They may have looked bulletproof on the surface, but there was an emotional bomb waiting to go off once they went into record their next record.

While the era of St. Anger stems mainly from Lars Ulrich's public feud with Napster, the entire record came from the band at their wit's end, as James Hetfield left to go to rehab and Jason Newsted quitting the band altogether after being treated like trash for the better part of 15 years. When they did reassemble though, the songs were a bit more emotional than most of us wanted to hear, sounding more on the ugly side and Lars' constant snare bashing grating on you if you listen to the track for more than five minutes.

Whereas other Metallica records may have had long episodic songs, these are far more grueling to get through, almost like you're right there in the middle of their group therapy sessions as they desperately try to make music the way they used to in the old days. While this might have been the record that the band needed to make to stay together, here's hoping that they'll never get to a place where they have to subject us to this ever again.