Trying New Things (Metallica’s “Black Album” Edition)

Metallica was 4 respectable thrash records deep, and while popular, they were at a peak. 

You just can’t top the charts with metal. 

What’s a rockstar without true stardom?

What’s a pop chart-topper without pop?

Most importantly - what’s the mental shift required to try something new?

This is the hard part about growth. You shed the old stuff once you admit it’s not serving you. You pile on into the new stuff that gives you the most upside, future potential

The most of your future potential. Which is the other mind-bender here, accepting that you’re the only one holding you back, and you’re doing it by listening, thinking, and likely overreacting to what you think everyone else wants from you. 

Push that rock up a hill and see what happens. 

Four albums of rock pushing and Metallica were ready to try something new. 

From a 1991 Rolling Stone interview, where James Hetfield is wearing a tie at the beginning (ha) but also speaking like a philosopher (emphasis added), 

Hetfield has heard the same complaint. "Kids come up and say, 'How come you don't do Kill 'Em All again?' " he says. "And I go, 'Yeah, I like that album, too. But there's more to our music than that.' We can still do it live, and when we play it, we mean it, man. But we have those songs in the set already. And they'll be there for the life of the band.

"But sitting there and worrying about whether people are going to like the album, therefore we have to write a certain kind of song — you just end up writing for someone else," Hetfield continues. "Everyone's different. If everyone was the same, it would be boring as s***."

Metallica fans can argue forever about how poppy The Black Album is. I’ll never forget waiting for the radio station to play “Enter Sandman” so I could tape it. I was old enough to know Metalica was cool, and not jaded enough for anyone to talk me out of “this song is pretty cool.” Maybe they sold out. I didn’t feel like they sold out at the time.  

The album was a global bestseller. It topped Billboard for 4-weeks straight. It changed the band members’ lives and careers. 

Changing doesn’t guarantee success. 

But staying the same is a guarantee you aren’t evolving. 

And if you’ve used everything you’ve got to reach the peak you’re at, maybe it’s time to try something new. 

Extra Hetfield. 

Extra realizing you can still (always) play the old songs in the setlist.  

What makes us different makes us interesting. 

What keeps us different keeps us changing. 

It’s a feature, not a bug. 

(The Black Album still rocks, and I can still remember the feeling of capturing those songs off the radio. Had it not charted, when would I have finally found them? How much longer would it have taken?)