“Oh YEEEEEE-AHHH!”
*Ahem, excuse me that was my attempt at typing a James Hetfield impression… moving on!…
And so, as predicted since the ancient times, written upon the sacred stones… on May 27th it is the Metallica Top 20 Show!
The format is this, the show starts at 10pm on the Wednesday 27th May, and will run until whenever it finishes. The scheduled end is midnight, but hey this is Metallica and with songs frequently hitting the 6 minute mark, I imagine I will be broadcasting from the studio into ‘The Small Hours’ (see what I did there?)
And how do you vote you say? Well, if you haven’t seen it already, here is the link to the voting page so go there now and vote vote vote! You get to pick your top 10 Metallica tracks from every studio album including Garage Inc. Once the votes are in, a point’s based system decides the top 20. The power is in your hands!
https://www.phoenixfm.com/2015/03/22/the-top-20-show-metallica/
To help with your voting, here is a little reminder and track listings from each Metallica album. Enjoy, and then vote!
Chris
Kill em all (1983)
Ah the 1983 debut. Its fast, its heavy and its angry… its Kill em All! This is the first my friends. Metallica pioneered Thrash metal and though 35 years old it still sounds fantastic. Some heavy weight tracks on here that will definitely make the top 20.
No. Title
1 “Hit the Lights”
2 “The Four Horsemen”
3 “Motorbreath”
4 “Jump in the Fire” (lyrics by Hetfield, Mustaine)
5 “(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth” (instrumental)
6 “Whiplash”
7 “Phantom Lord”
8 “No Remorse”
9 “Seek & Destroy”
10 “Metal Militia”
Ride the Lightening (1984)
1984 and Metallica are back with a vengeance with Ride the Lightening. They have started to master their craft and produced one damn good thrash metal album. One of these tracks is my top 3! This is the first of a trilogy to be produced by Flemming Rasmussen.
No. Title
1 “Fight Fire with Fire”
2 “Ride the Lightning”
3 “For Whom the Bell Tolls”
4 “Fade to Black”
5 “Trapped Under Ice”
6 “Escape”
7 “Creeping Death”
8 “The Call of Ktulu” (Instrumental)
Master of Puppets (1986)
How can Metallica improve on Ride the Lightening? By doing more of the same better, heavier and faster! Enter Master of Puppets. The album cover alone is a symbol for Metallica fans the world over. The title track was the first ‘Tallica song I learned to play and is one big contender for the top spot.
No. Title
1 “Battery”
2 “Master of Puppets”
3 “The Thing That Should Not Be”
4 “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”
5 “Disposable Heroes”
6 “Leper Messiah”
7 “Orion” (Instrumental)
8 “Damage, Inc.”
…And Justice for All (1988)
Far more complexity, …And justice for All has some very progressive highlights. James Hetfield has come into his own with his vocal ability and the album spawns the greatest song ever written (just ask Tenacious D in the song tribute). The last of Metallica’s true thrash albums and just like the previous 3 albums, several heavy weight tracks that are still live favourites today.
No. Title
1 “Blackened”
2 “…And Justice for All”
3 “Eye of the Beholder”
4 “One”
5 “The Shortest Straw”
6 “Harvester of Sorrow”
7 “The Frayed Ends of Sanity”
8 “To Live Is to Die” (Instrumental)
9 “Dyers Eve”
Metallica (The Black Album) (1991)
A turning point in Metallica’s career and a divisive album among fans. The first Bob Rock produced album spawned several singles. The album was slower than its predecessors and a step away from the world of thrash. Highly produced and the most commercially accessible album to date it gained Metallica many new fans, but it lost them a few too.
No. Title
1 “Enter Sandman”
2 “Sad but True”
3 “Holier Than Thou”
4 “The Unforgiven”
5 “Wherever I May Roam”
6 “Don’t Tread on Me”
7 “Through the Never”
8 “Nothing Else Matters”
9 “Of Wolf and Man”
10 “The God That Failed”
11 “My Friend of Misery”
12 “The Struggle Within”
Load (1996)
With the next album, Metallica’s transformation into a heavy rock band was complete. The sleeve showed Metallica in a variety of photoshoots and shock of shocks…they even cut their hair! This is a far cry from the Metallica who were spat at in 1989 for releasing a music video to One. Some great rock tracks here to watch out for in the top 20.
1 “Ain’t My Bitch”
2 “2 X 4”
3 “The House Jack Built”
4 “Until It Sleeps”
5 “King Nothing”
6 “Hero of the Day”
7 “Bleeding Me”
8 “Cure”
9 “Poor Twisted Me”
10 “Wasting My Hate”
11 “Mama Said”
12 “Thorn Within”
13 “Ronnie”
14 “The Outlaw Torn”
Reload (1997)
Released just a year later, re-load is really a continuation of Load and firmly establishes Metallica as one of the world’s foremost rock bands. In my personal opinion, Load was a better album however ‘The Unforgiven 2’ is a masterpiece.
1 “Fuel”
2 “The Memory Remains” (feat. Marianne Faithfull)
3 “Devil’s Dance”
4 “The Unforgiven II”
5 “Better Than You”
6 “Slither”
7 “Carpe Diem Baby”
8 “Bad Seed”
9 “Where the Wild Things Are”
10 “Prince Charming”
11 “Low Man’s Lyric”
12 “Attitude”
13 “Fixxxer”
Garage Inc (1998)
Garage Inc is a great album. It’s a collection of newly recorded covers that does exactly what it says on a tin. These are the tracks that Metallica like to jam with and warm up playing. Excellent covers of whiskey in the jar, astronomy and turn the page. Disc 2 included old recordings and b-sides of various covers from the world of Metal.
1 “Free Speech for the Dumb”
2 “It’s Electric”
3 “Sabbra Cadabra”
4 “Turn the Page”
5 “Die, Die My Darling”
6 “Loverman”
7 “Mercyful Fate”
8 “Astronomy”
9 “Whiskey in the Jar”
10 “Tuesday’s Gone”
11 “The More I See”
12 “Helpless”
13 “The Small Hours”
14 “The Wait”
15 “Crash Course in Brain Surgery”
16 “Last Caress/Green Hell”
17 “Am I Evil?”
18 “Blitzkrieg”
19 “Breadfan”
20 “The Prince”
21 “Stone Cold Crazy”
22 “So What”
23 “Killing Time”
24 “Overkill”
25 “Damage Case”
26 “Stone Dead Forever”
27 “Too Late Too Late”
St Anger (2003)
Ah, St Anger. Much anticipated and promoted by the band themselves as a return to metal that didn’t really deliver. Bizarrely produced by Bob Rock (and his last one with Metallica) St Anger was recorded at a time of many issues for the band, and it my humble opinion it shows.
No. Title
1 “Frantic”
2 “St. Anger”
3 “Some Kind of Monster”
4 “Dirty Window”
5 “Invisible Kid”
6 “My World”
7 “Shoot Me Again”
8 “Sweet Amber”
9 “The Unnamed Feeling”
10 “Purify”
11 “All Within My Hands”
Death Magnetic (2008)
Metallica exploded back in 2008 with Death Magnetic. Not the old Metallica of 80s and early 90s fame, but a Metallica back to playing metal none the less. There are tracks here that haven’t been matched in speed and complexity since …And justice for All.
No. Title
1 “That Was Just Your Life”
2 “The End of the Line”
3 “Broken, Beat & Scarred”
4 “The Day That Never Comes”
5 “All Nightmare Long”
6 “Cyanide”
7 “The Unforgiven III”
8 “The Judas Kiss”
9 “Suicide & Redemption” (Instrumental)
10 “My Apocalypse”
LuLu (2011)
An album with Lou Reed… Mostly spoken word by Reed with music by Metallica and occasional backing vocals from James Hetfield.
No. Title
1 “Brandenburg Gate”
2 “The View”
3 “Pumping Blood”
4 “Mistress Dread”
5 “Iced Honey”
6 “Cheat on Me”
7 “Frustration”
8 “Little Dog”
9 “Dragon”
10 “Junior Dad”
Why are you still reading this?…. follow the link and Vote! Here ill make it easy for you:
https://www.phoenixfm.com/2015/03/22/the-top-20-show-metallica/
Now vote!
See you on the 27th May!
\m/ Chris \m/
@cw_stagg
Seriously now…. Go and VOTE!
