{"id":20893,"date":"2018-08-16T10:00:59","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T15:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/?p=20893"},"modified":"2018-07-23T13:59:41","modified_gmt":"2018-07-23T18:59:41","slug":"henrys-time-capsule-metallica-the-black-album","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/tartan-news\/2018\/08\/16\/henrys-time-capsule-metallica-the-black-album\/","title":{"rendered":"Henry’s Time Capsule: Metallica (The Black Album)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a027 years ago, heavy metal juggernaut Metallica released the follow-up to 1988\u2019s \u201c…And Justice For All,\u201d the self-titled \u201cBlack Album\u201d on August 12, 1991.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0At a time where Metallica was on top of the world, they decided to experiment with their sound and venture outside the thrash metal genre. Several standout tracks such as \u201cEnter Sandman,\u201d \u201cSad But True\u201d and \u201cWherever I May Roam\u201d were conceived and written during the Damaged Justice Tour. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The band had become bored with the 10-minute epic songs that had become common on previous records. Guitarist Kirk Hammett noticed that fans seemed bored at live shows during these rock odysseys. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Drummer Lars Ulrich said “we had pretty much done the longer song format to death\u2026 We felt inadequate as musicians and as songwriters, that made us go too far in\u2026 the direction of trying to prove ourselves.” <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0They wanted to create their best record yet and sought out Bob Rock to produce it. Rock was known for producing several Motley Crue albums, most notably \u201cDr. Feelgood,\u201d and releases of Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, The Cult and David Lee Roth. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0\u201cWith Bob, we wanted a good mix,\u201d Ulrich said in \u201cMetal: The Definitive Guide.\u201d \u201cWe wanted that big sound at the bottom end, and I don\u2019t care if that song is on a Bon Jovi record, a Cult record or a Metallica record. The sound is the sound and we needed that.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0However, Rock\u2019s perfectionist nature clashed with the band. He upset the status quo the band was used to in the studio by having them change the key of songs, making them record in a room together instead of individually and challenged frontman James Hetfield to write better lyrics. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0One such example is the lyrics for the lead single \u201cEnter Sandman.\u201d The original lyrics very explicitly talked about an infant dying in its crib; very dark, even for Metallica. Rock coaxed Hetfield into rewriting the lyrics and it turned into the metal anthem we know today about nightmares.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The themes of the album were more introspective than their previous releases for several reasons, one of which was the fact that Hammett, Ulrich and bassist Jason Newsted were all going through a divorce. All three cite this as factors that inspired them to put all their effort into the album.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The introspective lyrics were seen in songs like \u201cThe God That Failed,\u201d which dealt with Hetfield\u2019s mother\u2019s death due to cancer and her Christian science beliefs that kept her from seeking treatment. \u201cNothing Else Matters\u201d is a love song he wrote about missing his girlfriend while on the road. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Another change Rock made to the group was having the band play to the rhythm of Ulrich\u2019s drumming, instead of Hetfield\u2019s guitar. This was in an effort to make the album have more of a groove to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0They spent eight-months recording the album, and after that the band and Rock remained unsatisfied. Following this was three complete remixes that cost $1 million. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Finally seeing their vision realized, the album released to critical and commercial success. It was the first Metallica album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200. It sold 598,000 copies in its first week. At the end of its run, it sold 16 million copies in the U.S. In total, \u201cMetallica\u201d sold 31 million copies worldwide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0The album was lauded by several publications including Rolling Stone, The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly, among others. They praised the evolution of the band\u2019s sound, the catchy songs and the more mature lyrics from Hetfield. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0 \u00a0It is seen as one of the better albums of Metallica\u2019s discography and following it were lackluster albums such as \u201cLoad\u201d and \u201cSt. Anger.\u201d It’s also heralded as the moment when the band began “selling out,” by crafting shorter, more conventional songs and letting thier sound become somewhat mainstream.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0I\u2019m sort of in the minority in that I personally love this album and it is probably my 3rd favorite Metallica album, second only to \u201cMaster of Puppets\u201d and \u201cRide the Lightning.\u201d This was also the first Metallica album I ever heard. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Back when I was 11 or 12 I started going through a big box of CDs owned by my dad. He had everything from Billy Joel\u2019s \u201cThe Stranger,\u201d \u201cThe Traveling Wilburys,\u201d \u201cPure Funk\u201d and Nirvana\u2019s \u201cNevermind.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Then I picked up an album with a completely black cover and a faded out grey outlined snake. I couldn\u2019t even find the Metallica logo on the cover. Regardless I popped it in and \u201cEnter Sandman\u201d blew my mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0I listened to the whole album and loved it. I needed more. So I talked to my metalhead mom, who grew up in the 80s and she gave me \u201cMaster of Puppets.\u201d From then on, Metallica held a soft spot in my heart and it opened the gateway for me to listen to more heavy metal. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0So I do feel some nostalgia whenever I hear this album, but in my opinion it is a very good release on its own. While \u201cMetallica\u201d had shorter run times, booming choruses and a more conventional sound, it still had something unique and a solid groove.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0Plus, compare the dynamic, meaningful sound and lyrics of this album to the sequel \u201cLoad,\u201d and its night and day. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0This album continues the tradition of all black covers translating to massive success and a turning point in a band\u2019s direction (i.e. \u201cBack in Black\u201d). This is Metallica at their most mature and while it doesn\u2019t hit the highs of their 80s releases, it\u2019s just a notch below it, especially considering following this would be over a decade and a half of mediocrity. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Henry Wolski<\/strong>
\nExecutive Editor<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a027 years ago, heavy metal juggernaut Metallica released the follow-up to 1988\u2019s \u201c…And Justice For All,\u201d the self-titled \u201cBlack Album\u201d on August 12, 1991. \u00a0 \u00a0At a time where Metallica was on top of the world, they decided to experiment with their sound and venture outside the thrash metal genre. Several standout tracks such […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10416,"featured_media":20896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2104,2144,2109,3],"tags":[2677,2000,2653,2678,2679,73,2141,1384],"class_list":["post-20893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-music-entertainment","category-opinion","category-tartan-news","tag-albums","tag-henry-wolski","tag-henrys-time-capsule","tag-metal","tag-metallica","tag-music","tag-online-exclusive","tag-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Screen-Shot-2018-07-23-at-2.16.19-PM.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-5qZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10416"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20893"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20893\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20900,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20893\/revisions\/20900"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}