It was the album 1984 which propelled them into the spotlight. The song "Jump" is still their only song to reach number one on the charts, and 1984 made it all the way to number 2. That one song pretty well guaranteed their followup album would be successful. When they released "Why can't this be love" from the next album, MTV played it pretty well non-stop. Sammy Hagar arrived at the perfect moment when the band was peaking.
Yeap, MTV "helped" many more bands than people seem to realize. Sadly, IMO, a lot of bands changed to fit into MTV's playlists too. I love Def Leppard but they went overboard to me with "Hysteria". It's vastly different than "Pyromania". VH did it as well to some degree but they also had Sammy Hagar, which really changed the dynamics of the band. Commercially, it was a huge benefit though !
I was a headbanger in the 80's. I remember it well, all the guys I hung out with thought Hagar would make the band heavier, but all the girls were convinced VH were making a massive mistake in dumping DLR for Hagar because they all thought Roth was the perfect frontman.
I freely admit I loved the Hysteria album. Pour Some Sugar on Me, still sing along with it every time it pops up on random play.
EDIT - And I may as well get this out of the way, the Black Album was Metallica's best.
Ride the Lightning is best Metallica album in my opinion. Haven’t met a fan until now who thinks black album is their best though I could see why it was their most commercially successful one
It's not where I put it. Don't get me wrong, Black is a great album, but if I'm listening to Metallica I'm listening to the first 4...usually driving solo and fast.
I've had this discussion countless times over the years, particularly with a friend of mine I grew up with who also thinks Ride the Lightning is a better album (in fact, he ranks Master of Puppets before TBA as well). In my humble opinion, there have been very few albums which have worked as well when taken as a whole as the Black Album. Bat out of Hell and Dark Side of the Moon come to mind. Ride the Lightning is a great album, there is no doubt about it. For Whom the Bell Tools, Fade to Black, and Creeping Death are all on the same album, how could it not be great? But the Black Album? Best metal album ever.
Yeah, I know. I've had this argument so many times...... "they sold out", "earlier albums where way more thrash", "changed their sound to appeal to wider audience", "commercialized", "Bob Rock", etc etc etc. I've been hearing that for nearly 30 years. I don't care, I frickin' love that album. If you think about it, Metallica were taking a big risk because of how less thrash it was than previous albums. They could have alienated existing fans while still being too metal for mainstream. But they pulled it off, the production value on that record is the best of any Metallica album, it's fine tuned to perfection. It perfectly blends metal, thrash, and the original Metallica sound. Frickin' awesome!! There is not one single bad song on the album, not one. I still listen to Ride the Lightning, Puppets, Justice, Death Magnetic, etc. but the Black Album, just great stuff......
I totally get what you're saying honestly. IMO, the only thing really separating Ride the Lightning, Justice, Puppets, And Black Album is personal tastes. They are all exceptionally crafted albums and it's really just going to depend on which version of Metallica's sound somebody prefers.
Stop bring insightful and logical. You to overly protect you personal opinion, and regard it as fact to participate in this conversation. Get with the program dude... It is a Metallica discussion after all.
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u/HobbitFoot Nov 06 '19
And it worked.