History YMMV / Metallica

** It is often debated on whether ''Ride the Lightning" or "Master of Puppets" is their best album. Most fans will agree that both albums are their career high point, but the question is, which album between the two is the better one?

** "I AM THE TABLE!" [[explanation: An infamous lyric by James on the ''Lulu'' song "The View"[[/explanation]], courtesy of a running gag from Website/{{Botchamania}} involving [[MadeOfIndestructium unbreakable tables]].

** "I AM THE TABLE!", courtesy of a running gag from Website/{{Botchamania}} involving [[MadeOfIndestructium unbreakable tables]].

* NeverLiveItDown: ''St. Anger'' is still to this day treated as the worst album ever made by the band by a lot of the fans, with the internet refusing to let Lars forget about about the infamous drum sound he used on that one album. No-one is going to let James forget "I am the table" either.

** ''Lulu'' may be going this way as well, if the last.fm shoutbox is any indication. Now that people have had more time to digest it, what Reed and Metallica were aiming for may be more apparent. No less a source than Music/DavidBowie named it as Reed's best album and cited it as an influence on his own acclaimed final album, ''Music/BlackstarAlbum''.
** Slightly inverted with ''Death Magnetic'', which was praised by many as a return to form upon release but, over time, has come to be seen by a number of people as just a middle-of-the-road thrash album which fails to stack up to Metallica's first four records.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: While fans will argue about the exact dates, it's widely agreed that the late '90s to mid-2000s were a really rough time for Metallica. After the smash mainstream breakthrough of [[Music/MetallicaAlbum the Black Album]] set up [[ToughActToFollow a very high bar]], ''Music/LoadAndReLoad'' were heavily divisive due in part to [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks straying away from the band's traditional thrash sound to experiment with other genres]], while ''Music/StAnger'' was widely panned for its even worse mix and unfocused songwriting. On top of that, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks the band had become steadily dismissed by purists as being mainstream sellouts]], with the mainstream fanbase they had built up also beginning to turn on them for other reasons, including [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Lars' controversial legal crusade against Napster]]. It wasn't until 2008's ''Death Magnetic'' that the band [[WinBackTheCrowd re-established some of their credibility]] (until ''Lulu'' shattered it), and while it's widely agreed that the band will likely never return to the heights seen in the early '90s, the more positive reaction to ''Death Magnetic'' and ''Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'' stake a firm end to their nadir period.

* FaceOfTheBand: James and Lars.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: While fans will argue about the exact dates, it's widely agreed that the late '90s to mid-2000s were a really rough time for Metallica. After the smash mainstream breakthrough of [[Music/MetallicaAlbum the Black Album]] set up [[ToughActToFollow a very high bar]], ''Music/LoadAndReLoad'' were heavily divisive due in part to [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks straying away from the band's traditional thrash sound to experiment with other genres]], while ''Music/StAnger'' was widely panned for its even worse mix and unfocused songwriting. On top of that, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks the band had become steadily dismissed by purists as being mainstream sellouts]], with the mainstream fanbase they had built up also beginning to turn on them for other reasons, including [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Lars' controversial legal crusade against Napster]]. It wasn't until 2008's ''Death Magnetic'' that the band [[WinBackTheCrowd re-established some of their credibility]], and while it's widely agreed that the band will likely never return to the heights seen in the early '90s, the more positive reaction to ''Death Magnetic'' and ''Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'' stake a firm end to their nadir period.

** Jason Newsted is now seen as a fantastic bassist in his own right.

* FandomRivalry: With Music/{{Megadeth}}, which was formed by Metallica's first lead guitarist [[StartMyOwn going his way]] after being sent away. While there is no shortage of fans who like both bands, and the musicians themselves buried the hatchet to the point of touring together, people who prefer one side are common.

* SeasonalRot: Most of the post-''Black Album'' period (''Load'', ''[=ReLoad=]'', ''St. Anger''...) doesn't exist for many hardcore fans of the band's work before that. While ''Death Magnetic'' and ''Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'' did have a better reception, the latter showed for them that the band was still struggling to gain the respect they used to. They often cite the death of Cliff Burton and subsequent introduction of Music/JasonNewsted as the cause of all the period's problems. Whilst unfair on Newsted (his first album with the band, ''...And Justice for All'', is considered by these fans to be really good after all), they say the band improved after replacing him with Rob Trujillo, though that might simply be coincidence.

** Both ''Music/MasterOfPuppets'' and ''Music/RideTheLightning'' have become this within the metal community. ''Kill 'Em All'' and ''...And Justice for All'' aren't too far behind either.
** Cliff Burton, in spades.

** Both ''Music/MasterOfPuppets'' and ''Music/RideTheLightning'' have become this within the metal community. ''Kill 'Em All'' and ''...And Justice for All'' aren't too far behind.

* SeasonalRot: The post-''Black Album'' period (''Load'', ''[=ReLoad=]'', ''St. Anger'') doesn't exist for many fans. While ''Death Magnetic'' afterwards did have a better reception (if you pirate the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' rip instead of getting the atrociously-mastered CD), ''Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'' showed that the band was still struggling to gain the respect they used to. The death of Cliff Burton/introduction of Music/JasonNewsted is often cited as the cause of these problems. Whilst unfair on Newsted (his first album with the bad, ''...And Justice for All'', is really good after all), since replacing him with Rob Trujillo, they have improved, though that may simply be coincidence.

** Several. Some fans only like their first three albums claiming the band died with Cliff and disliking the more progressive metal sound for ''...And Justice for All''. Some only listen to their first 4 albums, calling [[ItsPopularNowItSucks sellout]] on anything post-Black Album. Some fans include The Black Album as canon but dislike their [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks their change in style]] for the albums after that. Some like ''Load'' and ''[=ReLoad=]'' but dislike ''St. Anger'' (and some like ''Load'' but not ''[=ReLoad=]'', although these days the inverse is more true). Some listen to anything they put out. Some of any of the aforementioned consider ''Death Magnetic'' to be [[WinBACKTheCrowd a nice recovery]] and more like their pre-Black Album work, and some have blacklisted it [[LoudnessWar due to poor audio quality]]. ''Hardwired... to Self Destruct'', while getting an overall good reception from fans, had a fair amount of dissers, [[http://teamrock.com/feature/2016-08-19/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-the-best-reactions-to-the-new-metallica-song particularly about its advance singles]]. Even ''Lulu'', which seemingly everyone hated, has its defenders, and there are those who have predicted that, like Music/LouReed's ''Music/{{Berlin}}'' (and, for that matter, the Music/VelvetUnderground's works), it will end up being VindicatedByHistory twenty years down the line.

** Music/JasonNewsted is frequently blamed for the LighterAndSofter nineties albums, with cries of " Cliff would have never allowed this to happen," being frequent among old-school fans. This is despite all evidence pointing to Jason being the most hardcore metalhead in the band and the fact that James, Lars, and Kirk all credit Cliff as the one who expanded their musical tastes beyond simplistic thrash metal. Not to mention the fact that Jason had one writing credit between the ''Load'' and ''Reload'' albums, and only one on the self-titled album.

* SeasonalRot: The post-''Black Album'' period (''Load, Reload, St. Anger'') doesn't exist for many fans. While ''Death Magnetic'' afterwards did have a better reception (if you pirate the ''VideoGame/GuitarHero'' rip instead of getting the atrociously-mastered CD), ''Hardwired...To Self-Destruct'' showed that the band was still struggling to gain the respect they used to. The death of Cliff Burton/introduction of Music/JasonNewsted is often cited as the cause of these problems. Whilst unfair on Newsted (his first album with the bad, ''...And Justice for All'', is really good after all), since replacing him with Rob Trujillo, they have improved, though that may simply be coincidence.

** Criticism towards the Black Album has softened over the years. Although it's not as loved as the previous 4 albums, it's now considered one of their best albums and is definitely more loved than ''Load'', ''Reload'', ''St. Anger'', or ''Lulu''.

** [=ReLoad=] has been getting a much better reaction between fans and the band recently, mostly because the two signature songs of the album, "Fuel" and "The Memory Remains", are amazing when played live; and the third one, "The Unforgiven II", has been requested a lot due to the band barely ever playing it even during the [=ReLoad=] days. Most recently, Kirk has gone on record to say he would love to release new videos for the songs of this album, mentioning "Carpe Diem Baby" as an example.

** Which album(s) depends on who you ask, but ''St. Anger'' is perhaps the most universally ignored. Even the band themselves acknowledge this, as they rarely play any of the ''St. Anger'' songs during their live sets, and Ulrich mocked the album in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyM3_u8SDNQ this clip.]]
** ''Lulu'' seems to be going this way, and a lot faster too.
*** Though it's debatable how much ''Lulu'' is part of their continuity anyway, since Lou Reed was responsible for most of the input.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: While fans will argue about the exact dates, it's widely agreed that the late-90's to mid-2000's were a really rough time for Metallica. After the smash mainstream breakthrough of [[Music/MetallicaAlbum the Black Album]] set up [[ToughActToFollow a very high bar]], ''Music/LoadAndReload'' were heavily divisive due in part to [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks straying away from the band's traditional thrash sound to experiment with other genres]], while ''Music/StAnger'' was widely panned for its even worse mix and unfocused songwriting. On top of that, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks the band had become steadily dismissed by purists as being mainstream sellouts]], with the mainstream fanbase they had built up also beginning to turn on them for other reasons, including [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Lars' controversial legal crusade against Napster]]. It wasn't until 2008's ''Death Magnetic'' that the band [[WinBackTheCrowd re-established some of their credibility]], and while it's widely agreed that the band will likely never return to the heights seen in the early-90's, the more positive reaction to ''Death Magnetic'' and ''Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'' stake a firm end to their nadir period.

* GatewaySeries: For both fans and haters alike, Metallica is usually ''the'' band which has introduced most people, especially those who grew up in the 90s and beyond, to the heavy metal genre, or thrash metal in particular. As for the fans who choose to go on to become more full-fledged metalheads and explore thrash, classical, death, or any other metal sub-genre, they usually have Metallica to thank for being their gateway metal band.

*** Kirk's penchant for using pentatonic scales in his solos has also become a recent meme to see when analyzing his playing. Especially after his infamous solo from ''Lux [=Æ=]terna''.

* AudienceAlienatingEra: While fans will argue about the exact dates, it's widely agreed that the late-90's to mid-2000's were a really rough time for Metallica. After the smash mainstream breakthrough of [[Music/MetallicaAlbum the Black Album]] set up [[ToughActToFall a very high bar]], ''Music/LoadAndReload'' were heavily divisive due in part to [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks straying away from the band's traditional thrash sound to experiment with other genres]], while ''Music/StAnger'' was widely panned for its even worse mix and unfocused songwriting. On top of that, [[ItsPopularNowItSucks the band had become steadily dismissed by purists as being mainstream sellouts]], with the mainstream fanbase they had built up also beginning to turn on them for other reasons, including [[DigitalPiracyIsEvil Lars' controversial legal crusade against Napster]]. It wasn't until 2008's ''Death Magnetic'' that the band [[WinBackTheCrowd re-established some of their credibility]], and while it's widely agreed that the band will likely never return to the heights seen in the early-90's, the more positive reaction to ''Death Magnetic'' and ''Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'' stake a firm end to their nadir period.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: In addition to each new album leading to them being accused of [[ItsPopularNowItSucks selling out]], they also get accused of this after each one. Though ''Metallica'' is the most prominent example, even their pre-''Metallica'' works get this; ''Ride the Lightning'' for having a ballad, ''Master of Puppets'' for being slightly less thrash-sounding than the previous two albums, and ''...And Justice for All'' for having a more progressive metal sound. In addition to making them commercially successful, ''Metallica'' also marked a big change in their musical style to a more general heavy metal sound. ''Load'' and ''ReLoad'' continued that change to an alternative rock sound, and ''St. Anger'' to nu metal. Going even FURTHER back in time, Cliff Burton once mentioned in an interview that some fans who had watched the band perform in bars considered them sellouts for getting a record deal and releasing ''Kill 'Em All''.

* NeverLiveItDown: ''St. Anger'' is still to this day treated as the worst album ever made by the band by a lot of the fans. No-one is going to let James forget "I am the table" either.

*** Kirk's penchant for using pentatonic scales in his solos has also become a recent meme to see when analyzing his playing. Especially after his infamous solo from ''Lux Æterna''.

* AuthorsSavingThrow:
** The 2016 remaster of ''Death Magnetic'', which has much more dynamic range and much less severe clipping issues than the original version. It's not as dynamic as most people's ''Guitar Hero III'' remixes, but it still sounds a lot better than the original version of the album.
** ''Hardwired...to Self Destruct''. While it's still criticized by the band's ever broken fanbase, many fans do agree it's still a solid release within the ranks of ''Death Magnetic''.

** Is ''Lulu'' a Metallica Album featuring Lou Reed, or a Lou Reed album featuring Metallica?

* NightmareFuel: [[NightmareFuel/{{Metallica}} Has its sown page.]]