Metallica 2016 Album

[Alexandrie Gallup]

Metallicacommonly known as The Black Album) is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on August 12, 1991, by Elektra Records. Recording sessions took place at One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles over an eight-month span that frequently found Metallica at odds with their new producer Bob Rock. The album marked a change in the band's music from the thrash metal style of their previous four albums to a slower, heavier, and more refined sound.

Metallica promoted Metallica with a series of tours. They also released five singles to promote the album: "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters", "Wherever I May Roam", and "Sad but True", all of which have been considered to be among the band's best-known songs. The song "Don't Tread on Me" was also issued to rock radio shortly after the album's release but did not receive a commercial single release.

Metallica received widespread critical acclaim and became the band's best-selling album. It debuted at number one in ten countries and spent four consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200, making it Metallica's first album to top the album charts. With over 30 million copies sold worldwide,[6] Metallica is one of the best-selling albums worldwide, and also one of the best-selling albums in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan tracking began. The album was certified 16 platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2012, and has sold over sixteen million copies in the United States, being the first album in the SoundScan era to do so.

The band played Metallica in reverse order during the 2012 European Black Album Tour. In 2020, the album was ranked number 235 on Rolling Stone's "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.[7] In December 2019, Metallica became the fourth release in American history to enter the 550-week milestone on the Billboard 200. It also became the second-longest charting traditional title in history only behind The Dark Side of the Moon (1973) by Pink Floyd, and the second to spend 550 weeks on the album charts.[8]

At the time of Metallica's recording, the band's songs were written mainly by frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, with Hetfield being the lyricist.[9] The duo frequently composed together at Ulrich's house in Berkeley, California. Several song ideas and concepts were conceived by other members of the band, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Jason Newsted.[10] For instance, Newsted wrote the main riff of "My Friend of Misery", which was originally intended to be an instrumental, one of which had been included on every previous Metallica album.[11] The songs were written in two months in mid-1990; the ideas for some of them were originated during the Damaged Justice Tour.[12] Metallica was impressed with Bob Rock's production work on Mtley Cre's Dr. Feelgood (1989) and decided to hire him to work on their album.[13][14] Initially, the band members were not interested in having Rock producing the album as well, but changed their minds. Ulrich said, "We felt that we still had our best record in us and Bob Rock could help us make it".[14]

Four demos for the album were recorded on August 13, 1990; "Enter Sandman", "The Unforgiven", "Nothing Else Matters" and "Wherever I May Roam". The lead single "Enter Sandman" was the first song to be written and the last to receive lyrics.[10] On October 4, 1990, a demo of "Sad but True" was recorded. In October 1990, Metallica began recording at One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California, to record the album, and also at Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, for about a week.[13] On June 2, 1991, a demo of "Holier than Thou" was recorded. Hetfield stated about the recording: "What we really wanted was a live feel. In the past, Lars and I constructed the rhythm parts without Kirk and Jason. This time I wanted to try playing as a band unit in the studio. It lightens things up and you get more of a vibe."[15]

Because it was Rock's first time producing a Metallica album, he had the band make the album in different ways; he asked them to record songs collaboratively rather than individually in separate locations.[13] He also suggested recording tracks live and using harmonic vocals for Hetfield.[16] Rock was expecting the production to be "easy" but had trouble working with the band, leading to frequent, engaged arguments with the band members over aspects of the album.[13] Rock wanted Hetfield to write better lyrics and found his experience recording with Metallica disappointing.[13][17][18] Since the band was perfectionist,[11][17] Rock insisted they record as many takes as needed to get the sound they wanted.[9] The album was remixed three times and cost US$1 million.[19] The troubled production coincided with Ulrich, Hammett, and Newsted divorcing their wives; Hammett said this influenced their playing because they were "trying to take those feeling of guilt and failure and channel them into the music, to get something positive out of it".[20]

According to Robert Palmer of Rolling Stone, "tempos were often slowed down in exchange for slower BPMs, while they expand its music and expressive range".[23][failed verification] The album was a change in Metallica's direction from the thrash metal style of the band's previous four studio albums towards a more commercial, heavy metal sound, but still had characteristics of thrash metal.[24][9][18] Many fans[who?] consider the album to be a transition from the often ostentatious compositions of Metallica's previous releases to the slower, divested style of the band's later albums, where "old" and "new" Metallica are distinguished from one another.[23][failed verification] Instruments not usually used by heavy metal bands, such as the cellos in "The Unforgiven" and the orchestra in "Nothing Else Matters", were added at Rock's insistence.[12] Rock also raised the volume of the bass guitar, which had been nearly inaudible on the previous album ...And Justice for All.[16] Newsted said he tried to "create a real rhythm section rather than a one-dimensional sound" with his bass.[15] Newsted credited Rock with helping him find a sound that would work without killing the bass drum or messing with the lower end of the guitar, which Newsted claimed had always been a real big problem with him.[25] Ulrich said he tried to avoid the "progressive Peartian paradiddles which became boring to play live" in his drumming and used a basic sound similar to those of the Rolling Stones' Charlie Watts and AC/DC's Phil Rudd.[16]

Metallica had many discussions about the album title; the members considered calling it Five or using the title of one of the songs, but eventually chose an eponym because they "wanted to keep it simple."[15] The album's cover depicts the band's logo angled against the upper left corner and a coiled snake derived from the Gadsden flag in the bottom right corner. For the initial release, both emblems were embossed so they could barely be seen against the black background, giving Metallica the nickname "The Black Album". These emblems also appear on the back cover of the album.[9] For later and current releases, both emblems are dark gray so they stand out more prominently. The motto of the Gadsden flag, "Don't Tread on Me", is also the title of a song on the album. A folded, pageless booklet depicts the faces of the band's members against a black background. The lyrics and liner notes are also printed on a grey background. The cover is reminiscent of Spinal Tap's album Smell the Glove, which the band jokingly acknowledged in its documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica. Members of Spinal Tap appeared on the film and asked Metallica about it, with Lars Ulrich commenting that British rock group Status Quo was the original inspiration as that band's Hello! album cover was also black.[9]

You think one day some fucker's gonna tell you, 'You have a number one record in America,' and the whole world will ejaculate. I stood there in my hotel room, and there was this fax that said, 'You're number one.' And it was, like, 'Well, okay.' It was just another fucking fax from the office.

"Enter Sandman" was released as Metallica's lead single on July 29, 1991; it reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[28][29] The follow-up single, "Don't Tread on Me", was released promotionally but did not chart.[29] The subsequent single, "The Unforgiven", was a Top 40 hit; it peaked in the Top 10 in Australia.[30]

Metallica was released on August 12, 1991,[31] and was the band's first album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200, selling 598,000 copies in its first week. It was certified platinum in two weeks and spent four consecutive weeks atop the Billboard 200.[32][33] Meanwhile, more singles were released to further success. "Nothing Else Matters" reached number six in the United Kingdom and Ireland,[34][35] and "Wherever I May Roam" peaked at number two on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks singles chart,[29] although the 1993 single "Sad but True" charted only for one week on the Billboard Hot 100 at 98.[29] Almost all singles were accompanied by music videos; the Wayne Isham-directed "Enter Sandman" promotional film won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards.[36]

Internationally, Metallica was also a success. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart[37] and was certified 2 platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling 600,000 copies in the UK.[38] Metallica topped the charts in Australia,[39] Canada,[40] Germany,[41] New Zealand,[42] Norway,[43] the Netherlands,[44] Sweden,[45] and Switzerland.[46] It also reached the top five in Austria,[47] Finland,[48] and Japan,[49] as well as the top 10 in Spain.[50] The album failed to reach the top 20 in Ireland, having peaked at number 27.[51] The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) certified the album 12 platinum.[52] It received diamond plaques from the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA)[53] and the Recorded Music NZ (RMNZ)[54] for shipping a million and 150,000 copies, respectively.

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