There was one band that changed my world for me, and that was Metallica. The album was Kill ‘Em All, released in 1983. I’d first heard of Metallica in 1985, when I was 12 and in 7th grade. But I didn’t actually hear Metallica or own a Metallica album until 1986, when I was 13 years old and in 8th grade. The Other heavy metal album I had at the time was Ozzy Osbourne’s Speak of the Devil live album released in 1982. Those two albums combined got me on the heavy metal path.

But it was mostly Metallica that started it. And it was primarily the Kill ‘Em All album. I could listen to it over and over and over again and it never got old. In fact, it’s still kick ass to this day. Sure, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and Garage Days Re-Revisited are also great, but Kill ‘Em All was my favorite.

I later learned that Metallica wasn’t just heavy metal, but they were thrash metal. And like a lot of other guys, I gleefully went down the thrash metal rabbit hole and got into “The Big 4” (now known as Metallica, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Slayer) and dozens and dozens of other thrash metal bands. And thrash metal led to death metal and black metal and beyond…

Upon further study, I later understood that thrash metal is kind of a hybrid of punk rock and heavy metal. So I also explored a bit of punk rock music. But thrash metal was my favorite musical genre.

Of course we can talk ad nauseam about when exactly Metallica changed and/or sold out, or what-have-you. Some say their 4th album “…And Justice for All” was the big change. Some say MTV destroyed Metallica by playing their video for the song “One” ad nauseam on their channel. However, AJFA was still a “thrash metal” album.

It wasn’t until Metallica’s 5th album – self titled, but also known as “The Black Album” released in 1991 (I was 18) where Metallica took a step back from “thrash metal” and put themselves more into the realm of basic “heavy metal.” People freaked out for whatever reasons, but technically, it was a good album. Maybe 1 or 2 songs were subpar or so. (“Don’t Tread On Me” was my least favorite – musically but not lyrically).

If you really wanna go all balls harsh on Metallica, you could say they sold out with Ride the Lightning because it was “emo.” Or you could say they sold out with Master of Puppets because it has so many slow parts, and they sounded like a “jam band,” and the lyrics on the song “Master of Puppets” were preachy and “against drugs.” Personally, I don’t really go there. But, I’ve heard some metal fans go there. RTL and MOP are great, in my book. Lol, and if you want to go all balls harsh on Slayer, they sold out with South of Heaven… but that’s another story for another article.

I started to lose track of Metallica after the Black album. Not because I didn’t like Black, it’s just that Black wasn’t doing as much for me as what I was finding with other bands. I was into Kreator, Coroner, old Celtic Frost, Death, Obituary, Sepultura, and more. I had a need for speed and intensity in my heavy metal experience and the Black album wasn’t cutting the mustard enough for me. But again, I’m not saying it was a bad album. I was just going “other places.”

It wasn’t until Metallica released Load in 1996 where I felt completely abandoned by the band. Granted, that was 5 years of time between Black and Load – holy shit. For me, that’s between age 18 to 23. SO MANY THINGS can happen to a guy between age 18 to 23.

I was actually working on a fishing boat in the Bering Sea when Load was released. I was on a 90 day contract on that boat. (Long story.) But anyway, sometime after I got back on land I went to a “record store” where I was able to take a sample listen to Load on CD – via the record store’s headphones. All I could think was, “What the fuck is this???? This is horrible!” I was like, “I don’t know who this band is anymore.” It was very difficult to even admit that I once loved Metallica so much as a teenager. I know I wasn’t the only thrash metalhead that felt that way. Thrash metalheads mostly just didn’t talk about Metallica, simply because doing so would open up a massive can of worms. Why do that when you could talk about literally any other kick-ass thrash band, death metal band, or black metal band?

I did get to see Metallica three times during their heyday. Once in high school during their Justice tour, once in college working security for their tour with Guns ‘N Roses (another “selling-out” area for the band), and the third time featured Suicidal Tendencies as one of the opening bands. The third time was the only time I got to mosh to Metallica. And for the record, that was a fucking brutal pit. That was serious shit. Worthy of note, Robert Trujillo was in Suicidal Tendencies at the time — nobody could’ve predicted Trujillo would be in Metallica nowadays. And yes, I also moshed to ST that day.

Metallica has done some amazing things for heavy metal. First of all, if it wasn’t for Metallica, you wouldn’t be moshing at big-ass area concerts. I can’t say for sure, but I’m going to say it anyway – it was Metallica that brought the mosh pits to arenas. If you’ve moshed in an arena to any band at all, I think it’s Metallica you have to thank for that.

Metallica also played in Antarctica. Cartoon bands like GWAR like to say they’re from Antarctica, but Metallica is the only band that has actually played a concert in Antarctica. That is fucking cool as hell, no pun intended. Also worthy of mention, they missed a golden opportunity to play their song “Trapped Under Ice” (from Ride the Lightning) during that performance. Funny and amusing “oops” moment, but whatever. To date, I kind of want to buy a Freeze ‘Em All t-shirt.

Moving right along, I do actually have the entire Metallica discography sitting on an external hard drive these days. I’ve given their last couple of albums Death Magnetic and Hardwired to Self-Destruct some courtesy listens, but, neither really do anything for me.

That’s not to say I wouldn’t see Metallica again in concert someday. I have kind of “forgiven” Metallica for splitting ways with me and large chunk of their fanbase back in the 90’s. And I have new metalhead friends that are considerably younger than me that find my history and stories about being a Metallica fan somewhat interesting. So that’s kind of cool. Recall that I am Gen-X. Well, the next two generations – Y & Z – have legions of metalheads that are discovering old Metallica in maybe a similar-but-different way that guys like me in Gen-X discovered Motörhead and Venom. Metallica has no shortage of fans dying to hear them play songs of their first four albums, and from what I understand Metallica is still delivering those songs at concerts.

As you’re all aware, we are currently living in unprecedented times with unhinged political correctness. I recently heard that a guy on a Reddit.com metal forum was banned from Reddit for simply saying Kill ‘Em All was his favorite Metallica album. It either triggered an algorithm, or the moderators are retards, or both – who knows. After I heard that, I went to Metallica’s online store and bought a Kill ‘Em All t-shirt. Hopefully Reddit and its moderators and algorithms all die in fire someday. Alas, Reddit.com deserves its own article in the future.

So Metallica and their Kill ‘Em All album will always have a special place in my heart. So to speak. It was the first band and first album that really got me excited about music.