Band who reached their potential too early

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

baron, while I agree that Load is probably their most UNDERRATED album (I actually think it's better than Justice), it's nowhere near their best. It really is more of a 2-song album with "Bleeding Me" and "The Outlaw Torn," while the rest is pretty much filler. "Hero of the Day" is a good song as well, and "Ain't My Bitch" is a great opener, but...that's it, really. The rest of the album is more of the same. The intro to "The House That Jack Built" is good, though, and "Mama Said" isn't too bad of a song...but it's not a Metallica song, if that makes sense. It's more like "hey, I'm James Hetfield, I listen to country, so I'm gonna write a country song for this album."

[Rendclaw 0]

Puppets and the Black Album are almost equal, in my view. Puppets is a little bit stronger though.

 

Another band that peaked too soon is Queensryche. After Operation: Mindcrime and Empire, they fell off the face of the planet.. and only NOW, 17 years after the hard rock opus that was Operation Mindcrime, are they writing the sequel.... too little, too fucking late, I say.

 

But the poster band for this topic is and always will be GnR. They could have been as big as any band in the previous 30 years, save perhaps the Beatles (and I dislike the Beatles), but that train derailed hard.

[skullman80 0]

Puppets and the Black Album are almost equal, in my view. Puppets is a little bit stronger though.

 

Another band that peaked too soon is Queensryche. After Operation: Mindcrime and Empire, they fell off the face of the planet.. and only NOW, 17 years after the hard rock opus that was Operation Mindcrime, are they writing the sequel.... too little, too fucking late, I say.

 

But the poster band for this topic is and always will be GnR. They could have been as big as any band in the previous 30 years, save perhaps the Beatles (and I dislike the Beatles), but that train derailed hard.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Puppets owns the Black Album in every way possible. Not even close.....at all.

 

I think Load is somewhat underrated. Bleeding Me, IMO is one of the best songs Metallica ever wrote.

 

If I have to rank the albums just for fun..

 

1. MOP

2. AJFA

3. RTL

4. KEA

5. Load

6. TBA(Self-Titled)

7. St. Anger

8. Reload

 

I'm not counting Garage Days or any live stuff in here at all..just straight studio albums.

[cabbageboy 0]

St. Anger should so be in last. Reload was fairly tedious but at least it sounded like they still knew how to play their instruments.

 

Am I the only one who thinks Ride the Lightning might be the best album? The 2nd half of Master has a lot of stuff I tend to skip through for whatever reason, whereas RtL has some excellent stuff later on like Creeping Death. And Justice... is simply too long and drawn out to be my favorite, every song seems like it's 8 mins. RtL is a leaner album.

 

Kill Em All is an energetic debut but aside from Seek and Destroy and 4 Horsemen I don't listen to much off of it. The albums RtL-MoP-AJFA are the Holy Trinity of Metallica albums, at least to me.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

It's funny you mention songs at the beginning and end of Kill 'Em All, because I can listen to every song on that album and not get bored. Fuck, for about 3 years, "Motörbreath" was my favorite song PERIOD.

[LoRisk 0]

Ill echo the Janes Addiction and Oasis mentions.

 

There seemed like a lot of promising 90s bands that fizzled out with the alt-movement after just one record or so(I am very partial to this era). Gin Blossoms, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Live, etc all dissapeared to the bar/club/fair circuit after recording some good tracks. Im sure Porno for Pyros could have made some more good music as well.

 

Actually, I'd say Live's past two albums (V, Birds of Pray) have been among their best. They don't top Throwing Copper, but they're definitely ahead of the other three albums. It's a shame that, together, they both only really had 2-3 "hits".

[5_moves_of_doom 0]

Television. Plain and simple.

 

I'd say about a good 80% of punk bands really went the route of having one or two really great/landmark albums and then just became uninspired. There's X, the Ramones, The Sex Pistols (I don't like the first album even but it's a general census,) Black Flag, Pere Ubu (I think... I haven't actually heard anything after the first three albums but I hear it's not good,) the Dead Kennedys, the Dead Boys, the Germs, The Damned, Patti Smith, Stiff Little Fingers, Fear, and Generation X all fall under this category. Some big fans of some of those bands could argue against it (Dead Kennedys, Patti Smith, Black Flag, and a few others specifically,) but for the most part a lot of punk and hardcore bands are one-classic-album-wonders. I guess it's just harder to keep those genres interesting than others, and that's why I have even more respect for the Clash, Husker Du, the Minutemen, etc.

 

And Van Morrison has had a lot of good/decent albums over the years, but those first two (especially Astral Weeks were just at a level that he had no chance of ever attaining again.

[Guest RadioBurning]

Television. Plain and simple.

 

I'd say about a good 80% of punk bands really went the route of having one or two really great/landmark albums and then just became uninspired. There's X, the Ramones, The Sex Pistols (I don't like the first album even but it's a general census,) Black Flag, Pere Ubu (I think... I haven't actually heard anything after the first three albums but I hear it's not good,) the Dead Kennedys, the Dead Boys, the Germs, The Damned, Patti Smith, Stiff Little Fingers, Fear, and Generation X all fall under this category. Some big fans of some of those bands could argue against it (Dead Kennedys, Patti Smith, Black Flag, and a few others specifically,) but for the most part a lot of punk and hardcore bands are one-classic-album-wonders. I guess it's just harder to keep those genres interesting than others, and that's why I have even more respect for the Clash, Husker Du, the Minutemen, etc.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I would second this about most punk bands. When I got into the genre, I found myself getting mostly and album apiece, Whereas what I've heard from Husker Du and the Minutemen attracted me to other releases.

Also, a Minutemen reference gives you like a thousand points.

[Rendclaw 0]

The problem with Punk and Metal bands is that as they get more popular and (usually) more successful, very few can keep their edge for any length of time.

 

My favorite Metallica albums are as follows:

 

1. Ride the Lightning

2. Master of Puppets

3. The Black Album

4. Kill Em All

5. And Justice For All

6. Load

7. ReLoad

8. St. Anger

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

There are bands that can keep their edge even though they mature/change their sound, though. Slayer is definitely one of them, as they have classics coming off of their post-Seasons material ("Dittohead," "Sex.Murder.Art," "Disciple," and "Bloodline" being the most well-known, in my eyes) still, even if it's no match for their string of 4 incredible albums (Hell Awaits, Reign In Blood, South of Heaven, and Seasons in the Abyss) in the mid-to-late 80'/early 90's.

 

Exodus is also one of them, though that could be because they broke up and reformed a decade or so later. Tempo is better than some of their earlier work, surprisingly enough.