History Music / METALLICA

* {{Mascot}}: An odd subversion. Metallica has never had an actual mascot, but graphic artist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushead Pushead]]'s work is so synonymous with the band's image that it essentially counts the same as Vic Rattlehead for Music/{{Megadeth}} or Eddie for Music/IronMaiden.

* ThePeteBest: Ron [=McGovney=] and Lloyd Grant.

* ArcWords: 17 years apart, but they're there. [[spoiler: "Fuck it all and fucking no regrets" from "Damage Inc." (1986) and "St. Anger" title track (2003).]]

*** They also have tribute albums of their songs covered by other artists; "Metallic Attack: The Ultimate Tribute" by other metal artists and one by punk artists, "A Punk Tribute to Metallica".

* DistinctDoubleAlbum: Two of them: The compilation of covers, ''Garage Inc.'', and their double live album, ''S & M''.

* SongStyleShift: "Fade to Black," "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "One".

* ContinuityPorn: Their 30th anniversary shows. The only thing they DIDN'T have was Cliff's ghost. It featured Jason Newsted, Glenn Danzig, Rob Halford, Ozzy, Lou Reed, Bob Rock, Dave Mustaine, Ron McGovney, Lloyd Grant, and Hugh Tanner (who wasn't even in Metallica) among others.

** Which his mom gave him soon before she ''died of cancer.'' His mother's death has been a key inspiration to much of his music, most prominently in "The God That Failed" from ''Metallica'', and "Mama Said" and "Until It Sleeps" from ''Load''.

* TheScrappy: ''St. Anger'' is considered this by most of the fandom.

* TheScrappy: St. Anger is considered this by most of the fandom.

* TheScrappy: St. Anger is considered this by most of the fandom.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The pre-Kill 'em All demos. James is wailing like Robert Plant (actually more like Sean Harris, but still), Dave is wailing away, Ron is plunking along and Lars is being Lars. The production quality is also often (no surprise) quite poor.

* EarlyInstallementWeirdness: The pre-Kill 'em All demos. James is wailing like Robert Plant (actually more like Sean Harris, but still), Dave is wailing away, Ron is plunking along and Lars is being Lars. The production quality is also often (no surprise) quite poor.

In TheNineties, the band moved away from thrash metal (according to Hammett, "Touring behind it, we realized that the general consensus was that songs were "[[EndingFatigue too fucking long]]", though the rise of Grunge and alt-rock probably also had something to do with it), first coming out with their massively successful self-titled album ''Metallica'' (aka "The Black Album"), then the rock-, country- and blues-tinged alt-rock pair ''Load'' and ''[=ReLoad=]''. The band were mostly quiet for a while, and when they finally set about making a new album, they had a full-on CreatorBreakdown, with a fed-up Jason leaving the group (from a combination of his continued hazing treatment, Hetfield's refusal to allow him to become a full songwriting partner, and a neck injury that needed rest), James going into rehab for alcoholism, and the entire future of the band in doubt. ''St. Anger'', the album forged in the midst of all this, is [[FanonDiscontinuity disdained by most fans]], though for others it's [[YourMileageMayVary an interesting experiment]] hamstrung by its intentionally unpolished production and [[ContemplateOurNavels overly introspective]] lyrics. Luckily for the band, new bassist Robert Trujillo both helped them mellow out and encouraged them to mix up their setlist on a nightly basis, pulling out songs they hadn't played for the better part of 20 years. Their latest album, ''Death Magnetic'', is the most in-character effort they've had in years, but is a casualty of the LoudnessWar, and whether it's any good depends entirely on [[BrokenBase who you ask.]] In 2011, they collaborated with Music/LouReed on ''Lulu'', which has been panned by just about everyone that has an opinion on it.

Metallica is perhaps best known for its somewhat turbulent relationship with its [[BrokenBase fans]]. Some of this is the result of their long career and their experimentation with other musical styles, with "hardcore" metalheads staying away from anything after ''Justice'' or after ''Master of Puppets'' if they're not into prog-metal, with Hetfield even mentioning in interviews that the band lost some especially vocal fans after the acoustic guitar intro on "Fade to Black"), fans who got into the band with the Black Album and like the the band's anthemic '90s style better, those who uncritically love everything the band releases, and some who seem to exist solely to antagonize the band and other fans. Metallica hasn't always helped this situation: Lars Ulrich's [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil crusade against Napster]] left a bad taste in the mouths of many, who wondered if he hadn't just shot his own band in the foot. Ulrich has never outright apologized for some of the things he said during this time, although the band has been much more internet-friendly since then, playing nice with iTunes, putting up old shows online for free, and allowing recent concertgoers to download a copy of the show they attended. They also cottoned on with atypical shrewdness to the popularity of ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' and the potential that their guitar-driven songs had in the format. After licensing a few of their more popular tunes for the series, they went the whole hog by releasing their most recent album as downloadable content, and followed it up by co-developing ''Guitar Hero: Metallica'', [[RuleOfCool an entire game allowing players to perform as the band themselves]]. (The Metallica tracks in any given ''Guitar Hero'' or ''RockBand'' game are generally amongst the hardest, because...well, it's ''Metallica''.)

* LoudnessWar: ''Death Magnetic'' is particularly infamous for this.

** During the Load tour, a mash-up of older songs called "Kill/Ride Medley" was frequently used.

* TheAlcoholic: Most of the band members have struggled with alcoholism at some point, to the point where the band was nicknamed "Alcoholica" by some fans, In particular, Dave Mustaine, whose alcoholism was a big factor in his being fired from the band, and James, who had to undergo rehab for his issues with it.

* CoolOldGuy: Ray Burton, Cliff Burton's father. He's over 80 and still sometimes appears and Metallica things, and appears remarkably cheery despite his often depressing life (he's outlived his two sons and his wife).

* GreatBallsOfFire: The very thing that resulted in James getting severe burns on the left side of his body and (indirectly) allowing Music/GunsNRoses to cause a riot by refusing to play for more than half an hour. They later mocked this very trope during the ''Load'' tour, where the stage setup "collapsed" during "Enter Sandman" and a member of the crew [[ManOnFire ran across the stage while on fire]]. Then the band came back out and played encores. Used to great effect during their performances of "One".

* IconicLogo: One of the most iconic in all of metal music. It's so widely recognized that if you see anyone's logo for ''any'' purpose, and the consonants at the ends have stretched out uprights with barbed ends, you know exactly who they're ripping off.
** This was averted from ''Load'' through ''St. Anger'', when they dropped the old logo for a more "regular letters" version of the name, although they still hearkened back to the old logo. For ''Load'' and ''[=ReLoad=]'', they used a throwing star-like symbol made from the old M, and the old M was used in the title for ''S & M''. The ''St. Anger'' version had a variant of the elongated M and A.

* CreatorBacklash:
** In [[http://www.eddietrunk.com/index.cfm/pk/view/cd/NAA/cdid/410456/pid/403499 a 2009 interview]], Hetfield was asked about the ''Load'' period. He revealed that Lars and Kirk were largely responsible for their image change starting with ''Load''. He accordingly hated the cover art (which he labeled a "piss-take" and said Lars and Kirk went with it to annoy him), Anton Corbijn's photos (he said he rejected at least half of them, and said the ones where Lars and Kirk were kissing were intended to annoy him), and agreed that they were musically "unsure" in that period.
** He also doesn't like "Don't Tread on Me".
** ''St. Anger'' got this too, though they said it was necessary due to... see below.

** Which his mom gave him soon before she ''died of cancer.'' His mother's death has been a key inspiration to much of his music, most prominently in "The God That Failed" from ''Metallica'', and "Mama Said" and "Until it Sleeps" from ''Load''.

* ImportantHaircut: Lampshaded, years before people knew what Lampshading was, by friend of the band and Music/AliceInChains bassist Mike Inez on that group's ''MTV Unplugged'' performance (which was filmed shortly after ''Load'' was released) when he scribbled "Friends don't let friends get ''{{Friends}}'' haircuts..." on his bass. And Metallica was in the audience for that performance. Made HilariousInHindsight during the 30th Anniversary shows, when Alice in Chains's Jerry Cantrell performed with Metallica, and he was the one with the "Friends haircut".

* MeanCharacterNiceActor: James' performance is scary, but outside the stage, he's a fun and nice guy.

* OneOfUs: Judging by [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IqWOPMHbs0E/SZl9NzrVXAI/AAAAAAAACFQ/CC7qjjNG6fE/s1600-h/metallica_thrasher_2.jpg this]] magazine article. (In case you can't tell, James and Kirk were watching episodes of Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar, an {{Anime}} classic.)

* TroubledProduction: ''Metallica'' to a certain extent. ''St. Anger'' to a greater extent.

* FanNickname: The Four Horsemen, which comes from their song of the same name.
* LicensedGame: ''VideoGame/GuitarHero: Metallica''

** Most recently Rick Rubin on ''Death Magnetic'' (whom [[Music/{{Slayer}} Kerry King]] claims to have been stolen)

* RideTheLightning: Not an example, but the {{Trope Namer|s}}.

* GreyAndGrayMorality: "[[WarIsHell For Whom the Bell Tolls]]"
-->On the fight, for they are right, yes, by who's to say?

--> ''Taste me. You will see/ More is all you need/. You're dedicated to/ How I'm killing you!''

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: "The Four Horsemen", "Fight Fire With Fire", and "Blackened"
* EnterEponymous: "Enter Sandman"

* FilkSong: "The Four Horsemen," "One" (''JohnnyGotHisGun''), "The Memory Remains" (''SunsetBoulevard''), "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (ErnestHemingway) and "The Thing That Should Not Be" (HPLovecraft, with even parts of his text).

** The use of "For Whom The Bell Tolls in ''{{Zombieland}}''. Again, not a bad offender, but the song is about war between humans and other humans, not between humans and zombies.

--> ''Fed through the tube that sticks in me / Just like a wartime novelty. / Tied to machines that make me be. / Cut this life off from me./ Hold my breath as I wish for death. / Oh, please, God, wake me!''

* RefugeInAudacity: The {{cover|Version}} of Music/TheMisfits' "Last Caress/Green Hell" from the "[[CoverAlbum The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited]]". Within the first four lines, the narrator, mentions {{rap|eAsDrama}}ing someone's [[YourMom mother]] and [[WouldHurtAChild killing their baby]]. Another example is their cover of the Anti-Nowhere League's "So What?" the song is based on an argument the band heard two idiots having in a bar, and the song's narrators claim to have had sex with a goat, a sheep, a schoolgirl, J.S. Bach, and the Queen of England, as well as having taken every drug imaginable and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking going to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne.]]

* ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight: "Enter Sandman"

* XtremeKoolLetterz: "Fixxxer", the last track on ''ReLoad''.

** Giving a recorded example, we have the appropriately named "MercyfulFate", which mashes up five songs from King Diamond's old band.

* ThrowItIn: "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" starts with Burton calmly announcing "Bass solo, take 1".

* LicensedGame: ''GuitarHero: Metallica''

* ArcWords: 17 years apart, but they're there. [[spoiler: "Fuck it all and fucking no regrets" from "Damage Inc." (1986) and "St. Anger" title track (2003)]].

* RefugeInAudacity: The {{cover|Version}} of Music/TheMisfits' "Last Caress/Green Hell" from the "[[CoverAlbum The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited]]". Within the first four lines, the narrator, mentions [[RapeAsDrama raping]] someone's [[YourMom mother]] and [[WouldHurtAChild killing their baby]]. Another example is their cover of the Anti-Nowhere League's "So What?" the song is based on an argument the band heard two idiots having in a bar, and the song's narrators claim to have had sex with a goat, a sheep, a schoolgirl, J.S. Bach, and the Queen of England, as well as having taken every drug imaginable and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking going to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne.]]

I'm inside open your eyes\\

I'm inside open your eyes\\

* YourMom / WouldHurtAChild: The [[CoverVersion cover]] of {{ "Last Caress/Green Hell" from the "[[CoverAlbum The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited]]"

* CoverVersion: ''Lots''. Most recently, they covered "Remember Tomorrow" by Music/IronMaiden and a cover of "Ecstasy of Gold", one of the songs Ennio Morricone did for ''TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly'', and usually open their concerts with the original piece. There's also a heavier version of "Stone Cold Crazy" by {{Queen}}, which they even played at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. It was one of the earliest metal songs, and numerous metal bands have played covers as a way of tribute.
** CoverAlbum: ''The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited'', including songs from Diamond Head, Killing Joke and The Misfits (this was also Newsted's debut). Later, an entire double album of them, ''Garage Inc.'', with one disc being reissues of their older covers and the other being new covers, including BobSeger's "Turn the Page" ThinLizzy's version of "Whiskey in the Jar", and LynyrdSkynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone".

* EpicRiff: The bread-and-butter of some of their most popular songs. "Enter Sandman" also loaned itself to [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QccIiHbcyA the greatest pro wrestling entrance ever caught on film.]]

* MagnumOpus: [[WordOfGod Lars]] says that he considers "....And Justice For All" to be this. [[MagnumOpusDissonance Fans generally claim]] that "Ride the Lightning" or "Master of Puppets" is more worhty of the title.

* NonAppearingTitle: "Fade to Black", "...And Justice for All", "Disposable Heroes", "Enter Sandman" and the "Unforgiven" trilogy.

* ThisIsSPARTA: Hetfield sometimes sings with great emphasis, on ''syllables'' at times. A good recorded example is "Through the Never."

* FanService: There is no other possible explanation for "Whiskey in the Jar".

* VideoFullOfFilmClips: Inverted with "One," as the band actually bought the rights to ''JohnnyGotHisGun'' so they could use it in the video. [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes Unfortunately, they failed to license the film to a different company for home video for a couple of decades afterwards]].

* WorldWarOne: "One", specifically the footage from ''Johnny Got His Gun''. The song itself is more evocative of post-[[WorldWarII WWII]] battle due to the helicopter in the intro. Also, it's easy to excuse people mistaking "For Whom The Bell Tolls" for another song on that theme, but it's actually about (a book about) the Spanish Civil War.

->''"You can always tell a Metallica fan; a fan of any other band, you ask them, 'What music do you like?' they say, 'I like {{U2}}, I like {{Music/Genesis}}', you ask a Metallica fan, they're like '''Metallica, man!'' Oh, scuse me, I gotta get to work...'"''

In TheNineties, the band moved away from thrash metal (according to Hammett, "Touring behind it, we realized that the general consensus was that songs were "[[EndingFatigue too fucking long]]", though the rise of Grunge and alt-rock probably also had something to do with it), first coming out with their massively successful self-titled album ''Metallica'' (aka "The Black Album"), then the rock-, country- and blues-tinged alt-rock pair ''Load'' and ''[=ReLoad=]''. The band were mostly quiet for a while, and when they finally set about making a new album, they had a full-on CreatorBreakdown, with a fed-up Jason leaving the group (from a combination of his continued hazing treatment, Hetfield's refusal to allow him to become a full songwriting partner, and a neck injury that needed rest), James going into rehab for alcoholism, and the entire future of the band in doubt. ''St. Anger'', the album forged in the midst of all this, is [[FanonDisContinuity disdained by most fans]], though for others it's [[YourMileageMayVary an interesting experiment]] hamstrung by its intentionally unpolished production and [[ContemplateOurNavels overly introspective]] lyrics. Luckily for the band, new bassist Robert Trujillo both helped them mellow out and encouraged them to mix up their setlist on a nightly basis, pulling out songs they hadn't played for the better part of 20 years. Their latest album, ''Death Magnetic'', is the most in-character effort they've had in years, but is a casualty of the LoudnessWar, and whether it's any good depends entirely on [[BrokenBase who you ask.]] In 2011, they collaborated with Music/LouReed on ''Lulu'', which has been panned by just about everyone that has an opinion on it.

Metallica is perhaps best known for its somewhat turbulent relationship with [[UnpleasableFanbase its]] [[BrokenBase fans]]. Some of this is the result of their long career and their experimentation with other musical styles, with "hardcore" metalheads staying away from anything after ''Justice'' or after ''Master of Puppets'' if they're not into prog-metal, with Hetfield even mentioning in interviews that the band lost some especially vocal fans after the acoustic guitar intro on "Fade to Black"), fans who got into the band with the Black Album and like the the band's anthemic '90s style better, those who uncritically love everything the band releases, and some who seem to exist [[{{Hatedom}} solely to antagonize the band and other fans]]. Metallica hasn't always helped this situation: Lars Ulrich's [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil crusade against Napster]] left a bad taste in the mouths of many, who wondered if he hadn't just shot his own band in the foot. Ulrich has never outright apologized for some of the things he said during this time, although the band has been much more internet-friendly since then, playing nice with iTunes, putting up old shows online for free, and allowing recent concertgoers to download a copy of the show they attended. They also cottoned on with atypical shrewdness to the popularity of ''GuitarHero'' and the potential that their guitar-driven songs had in the format. After licensing a few of their more popular tunes for the series, they went the whole hog by releasing their most recent album as downloadable content, and followed it up by co-developing ''GuitarHero: Metallica'', [[RuleOfCool an entire game allowing players to perform as the band themselves]]. (The Metallica tracks in any given ''GuitarHero'' or ''RockBand'' game are generally amongst the hardest, because...well, it's ''Metallica''.)

+ DeepPurple, Music/{{Motorhead}}, Music/BlueOysterCult, Music/BlackSabbath, ThinLizzy, Music/LedZeppelin, Diamond Head, Music/JudasPriest, Budgie, Music/{{Queen}}, Killing Joke, Music/{{Venom}}, {{Rush}}, Music/IronMaiden, Mercyful Fate, {{Misfits}}, Samhain, UFO, Angel Witch, Saxon, BobSeger, TheRamones, Music/{{Aerosmith}}, LynyrdSkynyrd, JoeSatriani

* AudienceParticipationSong: It's actually harder to name Metallica songs that ''haven't'' become this at one point or another. "Seek And Destroy", "Enter Sandman" (especially if you're an oldschool {{ECW}} fan or a fan of Virginia Tech football), "Creeping Death", "Master of Puppets", and "The Memory Remains" are some of the most prominent. "Suicide & Redemption", ''an instrumental'', became one during Metallica's first ever live performance of it without the band even calling for it, when the crowd started singing the melodic, slow solo in the middle of the song.

** Their 1984 ballad, "Fade to Black", was written after the band's equipment was stolen after a concert in Boston, includine James' prized and rare Marshall amplifier.

* GenkiBoy: Those who knew Lars Ulrich when he was a teenager describe him as being a hyperactive young man who was ''extremely'' enthusiastic about heavy metal. Brian Slagel of Metal Blade Records recalls that whenever they would go to the specialty record stores in the early 1980s to buy imported NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) albums, Lars would jump out of the car ''before it had even stopped moving'' because he was so anxious to get new metal albums to listen to. After Brian Slagel had founded Metal Blade records he planned on putting together a compilation album called ''Metal Massacre'' featuring local heavy metal bands. When Lars found out about this he got so excited that he begged Slagel to let him record a song for the album despite the fact that Lars ''wasn't even in a band at the time''. This motivated Lars to call up James Hetfield and Lloyd Grant (after the two realized they were short two members, and could get James to play bass) to help him record a song for the album, and that's the story of how Lars' genki-ness resulted in the birth of Metallica.

* LongRunnerLineUp: As much as Jason was the New Guy for 14 years, his tenure is the longest of the band without changing members so far (14 years). Right behind is the Trujillo line-up, since 2003. Cliff likely would have stayed longer were it not for his tragic death.

* OneOfUs: Judging by [[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_IqWOPMHbs0E/SZl9NzrVXAI/AAAAAAAACFQ/CC7qjjNG6fE/s1600-h/metallica_thrasher_2.jpg this]] magazine article. (In case you can't tell, James and Kirk were watching episodes of FistofTheNorthStar, an {{Anime}} classic.)

* TheRashomon: The exact details of how Dave Mustaine left the band tend to change depending on who's telling the story.

* {{Mascot}} - An odd subversion. Metallica has never had an actual mascot, but graphic artist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pushead Pushead]]'s work is so synonymous with the band's image that it essentially counts the same as Vic Rattlehead for Music/{{Megadeth}} or Eddie for Music/IronMaiden.

* RideTheLightning: Not an example, but the TropeNamer.
* TheRockumentary: ''Some Kind of Monster''

* TheEighties: Thrash metal, denim, and long hair.
* TheNineties: General metal, alt-rock, black clothes, and short haircuts.

* BawdySong / AutoErotica: Notably ''averted'' when the band repurposed Dave Mustaine's "The Mechanix", full of {{double entendre}}s about [[IntercourseWithYou sex]] in an [[AutoErotica auto repair shop]], into "The Four Horsemen", an ode to the Apocalypse. The song is arguably better for it, but don't let any {{Megadeth}} fans hear you say that...or Mustaine, for that matter. They then played it completely straight in their word-for-word CoverVersion of the most profane British punk song ever recorded, "So What?!", even though the song is a parody, with much of it taken from two drunken idiots attempting to outdo each other.

* GreyAndGreyMorality: "[[WarIsHell For Whom the Bell Tolls]]"

* GoodbyeCruelWorld: "Fade to Black"

* HiddenVillain: [[CthulhuMythos Cthulu]] from "The Thing That Should Not Be"

* IntercourseWithYou / HormoneAddledTeenager: Mostly averted, as the band doesn't really have any songs about sex, however, "The Four Horsemen" was originally called "The Mechanix", filled with {{double entendre}}s about sex in an [[AutoErotica auto mechanic shop]]. It was released in the original form on {{Megadeth}}'s debut album, "Killing Is My Business...and Business Is Good". Additionally, "Jump in the Fire", a song song sung from {{Satan}}'s perspective, was originally about teenage sexual frustration.

* RapeAsDrama / RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The [[CoverVersion cover]] of {{Misfits}}' "Last Caress/Green Hell" from the "[[CoverAlbum The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited]]"

* RefugeInAudacity: The [[CoverVersion cover]] of {{Misfits}}' "Last Caress/Green Hell" from the "[[CoverAlbum The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited]]". Within the first four lines, the narrator, mentions [[RapeAsDrama raping]] someone's [[YourMom mother]] and [[WouldHurtAChild killing their baby]]. Another example is their cover of the Anti-Nowhere League's "So What?" the song is based on an argument the band heard two idiots having in a bar, and the song's narrators claim to have had sex with a goat, a sheep, a schoolgirl, J.S. Bach, and the Queen of England, as well as having taken every drug imaginable and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking going to Hastings, Brighton, and Eastbourne.]]

* DeadHorseGenre: Part of the reason Metallica turned away from metal in TheNineties. Now that it's OK to be unrepentantly metal again, they're back at it.
* DetractorNickname: A few - Selloutica is possibly the most common. Also, "Lica" back in TheNineties, because "there was no metal".
** For the albums there's "Load" and "Re-Load" (of Crap) or (of Shit) and "Death Magnetic" is called "Death Pathetic".

* GreyAndGreyMorality: "[[WarIsHell For Whom the Bell Tolls"

* ImportantHaircut: Lampshaded, years before people knew what Lampshading was, by friend of the band and Music/AliceInChains bassist Mike Inez on that group's ''MTV Unplugged'' performance (which was filmed shortly after ''Load'' was released) when he scribbled "Friends don't let friends get ''{{Friends}}'' haircuts..." on his bass. And Metallica was in the audience for that performance.

* LongRunnerLineUp: As much as Jason was the New Guy for 14 years, his tenure is the longest of the band without changing members so far (14 years). Right behind is the Trujillo line-up, since 2003.

In TheNineties, the band moved away from thrash metal (according to Hammett, "Touring behind it, we realized that the general consensus was that songs were "[[EndingFatigue too fucking long]]", though the rise of Grunge and alt-rock probably also had something to do with it), first coming out with their massively successful self-titled album ''Metallica'' (aka "The Black Album"), then the rock-, country- and blues-tinged alt-rock pair ''Load'' and ''[=ReLoad=]''. The band were mostly quiet for a while, and when they finally set about making a new album, they had a full-on CreatorBreakdown, with a fed-up Jason leaving the group (from a combination of his continued hazing treatment, Hetfield's refusal to allow him to become a full songwriting partner, and a neck injury that needed rest), James going into rehab for alcoholism, and the entire future of the band in doubt. ''St. Anger'', the album forged in the midst of all this, is [[FanonDisContinuity disdained by most fans]], though for others it's [[YourMileageMayVary an interesting experiment]] hamstrung by its intentionally unpolished production and [[ContemplateOurNavels overly introspective]] lyrics. Luckily for the band, new bassist Robert Trujillo both helped them mellow out and encouraged them to mix up their setlist on a nightly basis, pulling out songs they hadn't played for the better part of 20 years. Their latest album, ''Death Magnetic'', is the most in-character effort they've had in years, but is a casualty of the [[RecordOfLoudnessWar Loudness War,]] and whether it's any good depends entirely on [[BrokenBase who you ask.]] In 2011, they collaborated with Music/LouReed on ''Lulu'', which has been panned by just about everyone that has an opinion on it.

* RecordOfLoudnessWar: ''Death Magnetic'' is particularly infamous for this.
** And yet the GuitarHero song pack has the unaltered master tracks that avoid this, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRyIACDCc1I no seriously]]. The general rule for ''Death Magnetic'' is to buy the album, throw it out, [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes and burn this version instead]].