The Memory Remains is one hell of a tune though. That it placed worse than Lulu in our poll pretty much tells you all you need to know about the significance, influence and impact it had on Metallica fans. While James Hetfield’s lyrics hit new peaks of maturity, too many of his riffs here are – to employ a Lars Ulrich passive-aggressive criticism – ‘stock’, and should have ended up in the Pro-Tools recycle bin. With Load front-loaded with the better songs, Reload picked up the slack from the writing sessions, and understandably suffers as a consequence. You guys are extremely passionate about this, so I’ll jump on board, because if the four of us are into it, it’s going to be better.’ So I did my best with it, and it didn’t pan out as good as I was hoping, but, again, there’s no regrets, because at the time it felt like the right thing to do.” Even Hetfield himself (opens in new tab) has since conceded that he "wasn’t 100% on with it, but I would say that that was a compromise," effectively throwing his bandmates under the bus by adding: "I said, ‘I’m going with Lars’ and Kirk’s vision on this.
Perhaps if Bob Rock (opens in new tab) hadn’t become so friendly with Metallica in the aftermath of the phenomenal success of the ‘Black’ album (opens in new tab), the producer might have had the balls to tell James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich that about half of the ideas they were offering up for its successor were utter shit. Still, this would be worth the price of admission even if only to have the (previously released) likes of Breadfan, Helpless, Stone Cold Crazy, Am I Evil? and the riotously filthy So What all in one place. is part of the appeal: this is the sound of four musicians kicking out the jams purely for fun, and as such, for all that it’s indulgent, it’s a hard album to dislike – though as its position here shows, it's also a record which failed to make much of a lasting impact on fans. That there’s no real ‘point’ to Garage, Inc. While the second disc was a smorgasbord of B-sides from various Metallica releases across their career, the first was a brand new collection of fresh takes on timeless classics. (opens in new tab) – a monstrous double-disc collection of covers of seminal rock and metal songs that had inspired the Four Horsemen over the years. Released on November 23 of that year, that “something” turned out to be Garage, Inc. “We made three pretty serious albums in a row.
“Metallica still needs to have fun,” Lars Ulrich (opens in new tab) told Billboard magazine that November. In the autumn of 1998, after a three-album run of Metallica, Load (opens in new tab) and Reload had seen them evolve from thrash metal’s greatest band to an arena rock behemoth, Metallica set about doing what they do best: blindsiding everyone with something completely unexpected.
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