Five years later is when the downward spiral began. Cutting their hair and getting a complete makeover, Metallica entered the hard rock hall of shame with the releases of Load and ReLoad. The Southern rock-inspired songs held their thrash roots at arm's length, chugging along at half speed. The public opinion on the band was at an all-time low when their legal against Napster made the multi-millionaires seem more and more out of touch with their blue-collar image and fanbase of yesteryears. To make matters worse, the documentary Some Kind of Monster pulled the curtain back a little too far, making the rock stars seem like immature, egotistical children. It all culminated with the release of 2003's St. Anger, a misfire on all accounts. What had intended to recapture their aggressive garage-space youth ending up being a bizarrely mixed, forced, and lazily written mess.
Let's look at each a little more closely:
... Cutting their hair and getting a complete makeover, Metallica entered the hard rock hall of shame with the releases of Load and ReLoad.
While I will concede that some of the songs on Load combined with some of the songs on ReLoad would have created a stronger album, I don't think that has anything to do with the length of their hair. Lars is, more or less, bald so he doesn't look like he did in 1989. SO WHAT?!?
... The Southern rock-inspired songs held their thrash roots at arm's length, chugging along at half speed.
This is just stupid. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Fade to Black" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and, sure, "Sad But True" are NOT at the same tempo as "Whiplash" but, yet, those songs are often on the setlist at their concerts, presumably because Metallica thinks their fans like those songs. So what if the songs are slower than "Whiplash"? "Seek and Destroy" is another popular concert selection and that's not even close to the tempo of "Whiplash" or "Battery."
... The public opinion on the band was at an all-time low when their legal against Napster made the multi-millionaires seem more and more out of touch with their blue-collar image and fanbase of yesteryears.
I will concede that the presentation of Metallica's disagreement with Napster was not handled correctly. What should have been the focus is that they are artists and their art is just that THEIR ART so they have the right to distribute their art as they want.
....To make matters worse, the documentary Some Kind of Monster pulled the curtain back a little too far, making the rock stars seem like immature, egotistical children.
Actually, I don't think the curtain was pulled back far enough. I wanted to see a lot more footage of how the lyrics were written in that control room with everyone throwing out ideas, which is actually the way most bands seem to work.
....It all culminated with the release of 2003's St. Anger, a misfire on all accounts. What had intended to recapture their aggressive garage-space youth ending up being a bizarrely mixed, forced, and lazily written mess.
"A misfire on all accounts" is pretty harsh. I have said elsewhere that "St. Anger" is one of my favorites because it is a lot like, to me, "And Justice for All" in the sense that the rhythm guitar and the drums are the driving force behind the tunes. The major difference is the lack of guitar solos on "St. Anger" as well as the lack of a "typical" snare drum sound.
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