Originally Posted by Buttmunker (Post 9081585)

For a person who voted the same way the OP did, I must say that I thought the answer to your question was quite obvious.

Enter Sandman and The Unforgiven were the two biggest hits of Metallica's career. What good is a poll if you know people are going to vote for the two biggest hits of Metallica's career? I wanted to know what people's thoughts were for the rest of the album. I already know people liked Enter Sandman and The Unforgiven. No sense in that.

EDIT: I would have included them, but I didn't have the option to include all 12 tracks. So I left off the two biggest hits of Metallica's career.

Originally Posted by nothingfails (Post 9082177)

I admit I'm not much of a metal/Metallica fan, but I don't understand the hate this album still received 15+ years later just because it was such a big seller.

Originally Posted by NoirFan (Post 9082630)

Metallica's first three albums (plus much of Justice, despite it's thin, bass-free production) are near-perfect thrash metal. The Black Album is polished, radio-friendly hard rock. There is a world of difference between the two.

Originally Posted by DVD Josh (Post 9079776)

WTF...how can you not include what are likely to be people's favorite tracks. I love Unforgiven, I think it's Kurt's best EVER solo.

This is poll is useless without ES at least. Useless.

Originally Posted by project86 (Post 9080124)

I picked all of them to screw with your poll. Ha-ha!

Originally Posted by Michael Corvin (Post 9083095)

I love the final four tracks that close out the album.

Of Wolf & Man
The God that Failed
My Friend of Misery
The Struggle Within

My two for the poll are in bold though.

Originally Posted by nothingfails (Post 9082177)

I admit I'm not much of a metal/Metallica fan, but I don't understand the hate this album still received 15+ years later just because it was such a big seller. I can understand the whole "they have more albums than this" type of mentality like Springsteen fans have with Born In The U.S.A. or Prince fans have with Purple Rain as a lot of consumers think that was the only essential album for either, but for the most part, Metallica seems to be the one exception where the fans really hate the biggest album. Whereas U2 fans seem to agree The Joshua Tree is one of their best, and AC/DC fans almost all love Back In Black even if they preferred Bon Scott, etc... Why is it so different with Metallica?

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man (Post 9082881)

And it had a motherfucking ballad on it. By that time, the "heavy metal ballad" was a punchline, and they went with it anyway.

Originally Posted by johnbook (Post 9083328)

Totally agree, IMO most albums start off strong and end a little weak, this album definately ends very strong with those four tracks, along with "Through The Never" those are my 5 favorite tracks from the Black album,

Originally Posted by NoirFan (Post 9082630)

Metallica's first three albums (plus much of Justice, despite it's thin, bass-free production) are near-perfect thrash metal. The Black Album is polished, radio-friendly hard rock. There is a world of difference between the two.

Originally Posted by Josh-da-man (Post 9082881)

The first four Metallica albums (Kill'em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, and AJFA) were heavy metal albums made for heavy metal fans.

The Black Album was a Metallica album made for mainstream audiences. It's the album that's safe to play on the radio. It was an album that was safe for the preppies and cheerleaders to listen to. In Nirvana-speak, "a radio friendly unit shifter."

And it had a motherfucking ballad on it. By that time, the "heavy metal ballad" was a punchline, and they went with it anyway.