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THE BEST METALLICA ALBUM? Which one of our hosts thinks so? Episode 19 covers the 1996 album “Load” by the Bay Area trash/heavy metal band Metallica, a new era for the band. Leave the long hair and bring in the guyliner, folks.
Subscribe, Rate, and Review:
Quick Reviews
Mark I’m willing to try to be convinced, but it takes some work. The difference between ’91 and ’96 is larger than any gap in music – can Metallica survive?
Chris About half the record is strong, with the lesser songs containing some great ideas that aren’t used well.
Alex My favorite Metallica album. Yes, you read that right.
Kevin Convince me on this one Alex. It has moments, but are they enough to justify the length?
Love It or Flush It
| M | C | A | K | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Ain't My Bitch" | F | L | L | F | ||
| 2 | "2 × 4" | F | F | L | F | ||
| 3 | "The House Jack Built" | L | L | L | L | ||
| 4 | "Until It Sleeps" | L | L | L | L | ||
| 5 | "King Nothing" | L | B | B | B | ||
| 6 | "Hero of the Day" | T | L | L | L | ||
| 7 | "Bleeding Me" | L | B | L | L | ||
| 8 | "Cure" | L | T | F | L | ||
| 9 | "Poor Twisted Me" | F | F | T | T | ||
| 10 | "Wasting My Hate" | L | L | L | F | ||
| 11 | "Mama Said" | B | F | L | L | ||
| 12 | "Thorn Within" | L | L | B | F | ||
| 13 | "Ronnie" | F | L | L | L | ||
| 14 | "The Outlaw Torn" | F | L | L | L |
Love It or Flush It Legend
L = Love. As many as you like.
F = Flush. Must flush at least one track per album.
B = Buy. Purchased for the ultimate LTS “Best Of” playlist for each of us. One per album.
T = Terminate. Should have never even existed. One per album.
The Rules
Each of us must Love, Flush, Buy, and Terminate AT LEAST ONE track on an album, no matter how great or terrible the album is. Whoever wins the “7 for the Buy” section gets an extra Buy or Terminate to use on the album. Because Chris hosts this section and thus cannot win, he gets an extra Buy or Terminate every 4 albums.
Album Information
Load is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on June 4, 1996 by Elektra Records in the United States and by Vertigo Records internationally. The album showed more of a hard rock side of Metallica than the band’s typical thrash metal style, which alienated much of the band’s fanbase.[7][8][9] It also featured influences from genres such as Southern rock, blues rock, country rock[10] and alternative rock.[11] Drummer Lars Ulrich said about Load‘s more exploratory nature, “This album and what we’re doing with it – that, to me, is what Metallica are all about: exploring different things. The minute you stop exploring, then just sit down and fucking die”.[12] Load is the first of Metallica’s albums to feature only three songwriters, the other being 2016’s Hardwired…To Self-Destruct. At 79 minutes, Load is Metallica’s longest studio album.
Load debuted and spent four consecutive weeks at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart. Load sold 680,000 units in its first week, making it the biggest opening week for Metallica as well as the biggest debut of 1996.[13] It was certified 5× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipping five million copies in the United States. Four singles—”Until It Sleeps“, “Hero of the Day“, “Mama Said“, and “King Nothing“—were released as part of the marketing campaign for the album.
