It may seem silly today, but the back cover photo of 1996's Load raised nearly as big a stink as the music itself. Here was the band, kicking-it around a table while sucking cigars and cocktails, dressed in Cuban suits, sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts. Most shockingly at the time, all four members had shed the long hair they used to whip around in sweaty, headbanging fury. This wasn't the scruffy Metallica we knew and loved. These guys (Lars and Kirk especially) looked like a bunch of swingers celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Even worse were the photos filling the CD booklet, which included suspenders, mascara, body art and band members tonguing each other. Metallica also had the audacity to modernize their classic 'lightning bolt' logo, which had graced every album, T-shirt and denim vest for the past ten years. Not only that, unlike previous original CD artwork related to themes of the albums, Load's cover featured Blood And Semen III, an abstract piece by avant-garde artist Andres Serrano, not created specifically for the band. Outside of the aesthetics, Metallica chose to promote the album by headlining Lollapalooza, an annual festival which showcased alternative rock acts, hip-hop, comedy and arts & crafts booths. It was as though the band, now full-blown rock stars, were suddenly ashamed of the humble roots which endeared them to the public in the first place. This sudden change would prompt fans and non-fans alike to unite to ask, What the hell are you guys thinking? But all those concerns would be moot if Load contained even a hint of Metallica's former metal masterpieces. Released five years after the Black Album (which was already receiving some receiving some public backlash), Load strayed even further from the band's roots in a blatant attempt to make everybody a Metallica fan (such as the full-blown country ballad, Mama Said). This was all simply too much change for one band at one time, and arguably should have killed their career (especially after the even-worse follow-up album of leftovers, Reload). Yet despite the fact you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who liked any of the band's output during the 90s, Metallica remained a corporate juggernaut.
D.M. Anderson works and lives in Portland Oregon. He is the author of two young adult novels (Killer Cows & Shaken) and a collection of dark tales (With the Wicked). He has also published several short stories which have appeared (or will appear) in various anthologies and magazines such as 69 Flavors of Paranoia, Night Terrors, Trembles, Encounters, Implosion, Strange Fucking Stories, Perpetual Motion Machine. He documents his adventures in the dark on on his movie site, Free Kittens Movie Guide
