1. The Black Album: Hard Rock Arrives...And Redefines Mainstream FM Radio
Released on August 12th, 1991, Metallica's self-titled and seminal fifth album - simply and affectionately called The Black Album - would forever change music as we all know it to be. Costing well over $1 million dollars and several years to produce, the 12 tracks that complete this disc still to this day transcend the genre of rock music. It is an album that saw Metallica change producers for the first time in their career, bringing in renowned rock music collaborator and ex-Bon Jovi man Bob Rock to craft the collection that would yield six singles and sell over 50 million copies to date. http://youtu.be/dzhn4YXu0x4?t=6m The Black Album would explode, both on MTV with the video for the first single Enter Sandman and also in a huge way on FM radio across the entire United States. It was during this time that FM radio had very few stations that aired rock music primarily, especially newer tunes that weren't just classic rock genre, and even then those radio stations were confined to metropolitan areas in most states. The monster success of this fifth album changed all that, as mainstream radio opened up to newer and heavier rock, with Metallica proving that that songs specifically crafted for bigger audiences would drive listeners to tune in...in droves. FM Radio would go through a renaissance immediately following The Black Album's release, and new stations would pop up outside of the big cities, in smaller, more rural communities which were miles from the urban areas that corporate America clung to. With the expansion of FM radio into new rock, and a time long before the Internet, the genre was changed forever and bands now had an outlet for their craft that they had not previously had access to. Metallica opened those doors and carved a path for everyone to follow, leading to rock and roll music and performers as we know them today owing a huge amount to Metallica and the release of their iconic Black Album. Music and Metallica fans, what say you? Did Metallica change the world of rock music with these ideas? Are there things we missed? Sound off below in our comments section, and with me on Twitter! @davyshrader
