Master of Puppets, Iron Fist, Slade’s MTV‑era glam, and Tora Tora’s late‑80s hard rock all hit the poll. Your vote decides which album gets the deep‑dive.
Normally, I’d have gone with Slade. However, if you’re going to do that album, it should really be from the perspective of the original (and superior) European release of that record, The Amazing Kamikaze Sydrome, before it was re-named and reconfigured for North American audiences. Any possible future show should talk about the differences.
As such, I’m throwing my vote in with Tora Tora, which is an underrated great, that suffered from being released at the tail-end of the Hair/Glam Metal era. And even though they weren’t that, they got lumped in with that scene.
Nobody asked, but I struggle with the Master-of-Puppets-is-Metallica's-best-album thing so much. I mean, it probably is. But...like all of Metallica's albums it has weak spots for me that are hard to ignore...and Metallica's my favorite band! Now, this probably has the least weak stretches and has some of the highest highs, so, like I said, it probably is their best album but in my head their best album is actually like the dozen or so tracks that still get played on radio from their first four albums...like pick 2-4 from each and you've got an amazing record.
OK, that said, I'll say this because if I'd led with it nobody would have listened to me. Everything I said above is exactly how I feel except St. Anger is actually their best album and I love it from start to finish. If you don't like the drum sound, I'm sorry, but I don't have that hang-up (it's kind of like a bold color in a painting that at first I cringed at and then grew to just define that album) and the songs are amazing. (The one thing I have to try to forget is that Bob Rock plays bass.)
Anyway, I don't need another take on Master of Puppets.
Hard no to Tora Tora. That was a band my friends and I mercilessly pilloried a few years later when their label, for some bonkers reason, decided to really push Spread Eagle hard. They were one of the representatives of what we wanted to see die as our tastes were all switching to the alternagrungewhatever you wanna call it.
I voted Motorhead because I need to know their catalog better. Slade would have been my second choice.
You’ll want to listen to the Metal albums of 1986 episode we just recorded. I make the case that whatever “cred” Metallica still has comes from Master of Puppets.
Normally, I’d have gone with Slade. However, if you’re going to do that album, it should really be from the perspective of the original (and superior) European release of that record, The Amazing Kamikaze Sydrome, before it was re-named and reconfigured for North American audiences. Any possible future show should talk about the differences.
As such, I’m throwing my vote in with Tora Tora, which is an underrated great, that suffered from being released at the tail-end of the Hair/Glam Metal era. And even though they weren’t that, they got lumped in with that scene.
Nobody asked, but I struggle with the Master-of-Puppets-is-Metallica's-best-album thing so much. I mean, it probably is. But...like all of Metallica's albums it has weak spots for me that are hard to ignore...and Metallica's my favorite band! Now, this probably has the least weak stretches and has some of the highest highs, so, like I said, it probably is their best album but in my head their best album is actually like the dozen or so tracks that still get played on radio from their first four albums...like pick 2-4 from each and you've got an amazing record.
OK, that said, I'll say this because if I'd led with it nobody would have listened to me. Everything I said above is exactly how I feel except St. Anger is actually their best album and I love it from start to finish. If you don't like the drum sound, I'm sorry, but I don't have that hang-up (it's kind of like a bold color in a painting that at first I cringed at and then grew to just define that album) and the songs are amazing. (The one thing I have to try to forget is that Bob Rock plays bass.)
Anyway, I don't need another take on Master of Puppets.
Hard no to Tora Tora. That was a band my friends and I mercilessly pilloried a few years later when their label, for some bonkers reason, decided to really push Spread Eagle hard. They were one of the representatives of what we wanted to see die as our tastes were all switching to the alternagrungewhatever you wanna call it.
I voted Motorhead because I need to know their catalog better. Slade would have been my second choice.
You’ll want to listen to the Metal albums of 1986 episode we just recorded. I make the case that whatever “cred” Metallica still has comes from Master of Puppets.
Black album is my fave.