Although they remain one of the biggest bands on the planet, endlessly filling any venue from clubs to stadiums (or even an Antarctic glass hut), Metallica are still supremely divisive, ever pushing the needle of metal fan's acceptance back and forth with each release. For every diehard who knows their Cliff Burnsteins from their Cliff Burtons and prides themselves on loving every album the band have put out regardless of tone or genre changes, you'll more likely find someone who thinks they haven't put out anything remarkable in almost 20 years, because of exactly the same reason. Metallica are nothing if not spontaneous, and ever since that incredible left-turn back in 1991 to release the Black Album, it's heralded a mindset of total artistic freedom that remains to this day. Fancy doing a half-metal half-symphony orchestra-backed DVD performance? Sure! How about putting out an entire album in a different tuning with barely a hint of production, because that's what's needed? Definitely. Perhaps a full-length feature film where the band members are larger-than-life caricatures of themselves, with a plot that relies on interpretation to make any sense of? Well...when can we expect the sequel!? It's an attitude that's turned many people away who were expecting more of a Slayer/Motörhead-mentality of repeatedly sticking to firing the same guns for decades to come. However that's not what Metallica are about, and today us Metallica fans are a strongly divided bunch, united under a few common thoughts.
19. "This One's For You Pal" - *Puts On Enter Sandman*
It's like the Sweet Child of Mine to a Guns n' Roses fan - yes they're both fantastic tracks that were suitably embraced by the industry and remain setlist stalwarts to this day, but in the grand scheme of things there are entire album's worth of material that would put a much bigger smile on our faces than whichever one comes to mainstream minds first. It's like Black Sabbath's Paranoid all over again, which regardless of it being a comparison that Metallica themselves would love to be made regardless, most of the time when a friend is in control of a house party playlist or the local club jukebox, all eyes are on you when the song starts. "Ehh eh?? Sandman eh?" "Yes, Sandman... I've heard it more times than I've studied Lars' haircuts. Now whack on a bit of All Nightmare Long and be on your way."
