10 Rock Music Albums No One Understood At First

There tends to be a common debate among thrash fans as to when Metallica got bad. Although the clearest example of them doing wrong is something like St. Anger or Lulu, there were fans who were none too happy with them going all mainstream with the Black Album, even though songs like Sad But True still held their heaviness intact most of the time. If they thought that was bad, no one could have been prepared for what happened after the alternative scene took over.

Almost as a response to the new sounds in rock, both Load and ReLoad were hated upon release, with Metallica having the gall to cut their hair and make songs for the alternative market. If you listen to the actual tracks here though, they tend to be more on the hard rock side of the spectrum, while occasionally throwing in a song that sounds like Alice in Chains here and there. When these albums shine though, they do tap into a different kind of heavy than what we were used to.

Despite an overabundance of ballads that will ruffle some metalhead's feathers, songs like The House that Jack Built and Devil's Dance have a certain bluesy swagger to them, along with some of the more revealing lyrics that James Hetfield would write about his demons before checking himself into rehab. Thrash can only take you so far when trying to write from the heart, and you can't blame Metallica for wanting to follow their muse and make something that was a little left field by most metalheads' standards.