Many people have the idea that the 80's was a horrible time for music, full of bad metal music. Although there are shitty bands from the time [Slayer] there are good ones. One of the best metal bands is my second favorite band, Metallica. They wrote great songs and were excellent when it came to their music, full of solos and adrenaline. Criticized by some for being Satanic, a word many metal bands are labeled, although the band is Catholic and their songs are misinterpreted, like Jump in the Fire, which is written as Satan narrating. Unfortunately with the decline of metal in the early 90's, Metallica changed their sound and made only one good album afterwards, the Black Album and then fell into mediocrity, I won't list those shitty albums.

Favorite songs:One, Master of Puppets, Fade to Black, The Four Horsemen, Enter Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Battery, Welcome Home, Ride the Lightning, Creeping Death, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Jump in the Fire, ...and Justice For All, Disposable Heroes

Favorite Albums: 1) Master of Puppets 2) Ride the Lightning 3) ...And Justice For All 4) Black Album 5) Kill 'Em All

Best (in order): Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All, Black Album, Kill 'Em All

Lyric bits I love.

Time
Has taken it’s toll on you
The lines that crack your face
Famine
Your body it has torn through
Withered in every place
Pestilence
For what you have had to endure
And what you have put others through
Death
Deliverance for you for sure
There is nothing you can do
So gather round young warriors now
And saddle up your steeds
Killing scores with demon swords
Now is the death of doers of wrong
Swing the judgment hammer down
Safely inside armor blood guts and sweat -- The Four Horsemen

I can’t remember anything
Can’t tell if this is true or dream
Deep down inside I feel to scream
This terrible silence stops me
Now that the war is through with me
I’m waking up I can not see
That there is not much left of me
Nothing is real but pain now -- One

Guilty as charged
But damn it, it ain’t right
There is someone else controlling me
Death in the air
Strapped in the electric chair
This can’t be happening to me
Who made you God to say
I’ll take your life from you!
[chorus:]
Flash before my eyes
Now it’s time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flames
-- Ride the Lightning

Welcome to where time stands still
No one leaves and no one will
Moon is full, never seems to change
Just labeled mentally deranged
Dream the same thing every night
I see our freedom in my sight
No locked doors, no windows barred
No things to make my brain seem scarred
Sleep my friend and you will see
That dream is my reality
They keep me locked up in this cage
Can’t they see it’s why my brain says rage --Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

Life it seems, will fade away
Drifting further every day
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters no one else
I have lost the will to live
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free
Things are not what they used to be
Missing one inside of me
Deathly lost, this can’t be real
Cannot stand this hell I feel
Emptiness is filling me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness taking dawn
I was me, but now he’s gone --Fade to Black

End of passion play, crumbling away
I’m your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear
Leading on your deaths construction
Taste me you will see
More is all you need
You’re dedicated to
How I’m killing you
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master -- Master of Puppets

Nothing else matters

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters
Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters
Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters -- Nothing Else Matters

Down in the depths of my firey home
The summons bell will chime
Tempting you and all the earth
to join our sinful kind
There is a job to be done and I'm the one
You people make me do it
Now it is time for your fate and I won't hesitate
to pull you down into this pit -- Jump in the Fire

The ultimate in vanity
Exploiting their supremacy
I can't believe the things you say
I can't believe
I can't believe the price you pay
Nothing can save you
Justice is lost
Justice is raped
Justice is gone
Pulling your strings
Justice is done
Seeking no truth
Winning is all
Find it so grim
So true
So real -- ...And Justice For All

Yes, I agree. Metallica were great! I used to listen to a lot of that stuff when I was a teenager, back in the early 90s. I saw Metallica live supported by Megadeth at the Milton Keynes Bowl, I think it was in 93 or 94 - I waited for about 7 hours outside the gates in the blazing heat so I could get to the front and have the living shit kicked out of me by all the moshers in there. Great times though!!

My favourite songs by Metallica are Fade To Black, One, Nothing Else Matters and Enter Sandman. You're right as well that they did go right downhill after the Black Album.

Although I very rarely listen to that type of music anymore now I'm older, I still get a shiver down my spine when I hear the opening bars of Nothing Else Matters....

I'm not a fan of metal or anything like that, but I'm always around it because my best friend loves it. The only song I like by Metallica is 'Nothing Else Matters.' The most I hate about this kind've music is how they have guitar solos and such that last forever. If I'm ever reading lyrics, I just want them to sing. I don't want to hear them play the guitar for 6 minutes. It pisses me off.

another band that I love. while I'm not a big fan of guitar solos, they don't have any negative impact on Metallica to me, and for all who complain about the satan shit, GO TO HELL! this is heavy metal. "it's only rock'n'roll", I don't care if they are satanic (which they're NOT), it's just a way of entertaining. now, Don Vecetti, if you consider Slayer one of the "shitty bands" from the 80's, you're a very lucky guy. I'm not a fan of them, but that is one of the classic thrash metal bands... try listening to Poison or Boston and Slayer will become one of your favorite bands

about Metallica, I agree that their best songs are in the early-heavy-metal years pre-Black Album, but I do like the album Reload, and even Load and St. Anger have some great songs. I really agree that they are well past their prime, but they're not done yet. I also don't listen Metallica that much anymore, but I do get a shiver down my spine everytime I hear "One", "Enter Sandman" or "For whom the bell Tolls", as Bella Mafia UK said. long-story-short, one of the great bands of our time.

I never liked Slayer. I didn't like the lyrics or anything, although they do play well.

Megadeth is very good, although I'm not as big a fan as I am with Metallica. I'm surprised Pat doesn't like songs like One, Disposable Heroes, or ...And Justice For All. :p

St. Anger is horrible to me, and definitely one of their worst. Every goddamn person at school who's new to Metallica can only name "Some Kind of Monster." Only the metal fans at school know their earlier stuff.

Anyway Pat, Metallica isn't the only one with long songs/solos. In fact, many bands do that. Led Zeppelin, one of the best bands ever. The longest solo I think comes from the Guns N Roses song "November Rain." One of my favorite Zeppelin song that comes to mind is 'Achilles Last Stand.'

I made a 3-disc Metallica greatest hits package a couple of years ago. If you want the track listing, I'll post it here, it fills all 3 discs and it is pretty good, all my friends love the mix/track order.

I'm a huge fan of Metallica like others have mentioned they went downhill after the Black album, although their most recent blunder i.e. St. Anger is by far their worst album ever.

Fave album-Kill Em All
Fave song-Seek & Destroy

Great band that while they haven't produced anything in a good awhile for me to give a shit about, they still are future Rock HOF members for sure!

Then again, considering all those bands I find to NOT be part of it, who knows!