1. They sold out when Cliff died
While most people don't agree (including me) this argument holds some weight due to the fact that when Cliff was around, Metallica were VERY anti music video and vowed to never do it. Yet after Cliff died they made this clip:
Some have declared that because they went back on their vow, they sold out at this point. Also since Cliff was an important part of the band, and was most likely the one who discouraged music clips since he specifically demanded Metallica move away from LA and it's glam scene if they wanted him in the band, many label this the point they sold out. I disagree because ...And Justice for All is not even close to a sell out album since the songs are so fucking long and proggy and the One clip was ahead of it's time and looks like a disturbing early 90s clip.
2. The Black Album
Most people get dumped into this camp, and while this was easily their most commercial period, I have to say that I disagree again, though this argument has string merit.
First of all, many people point to the songs being shorter and therefore more radio friendly. It is understandable for them to feel this way but I don't think this was them saying "Let's make songs for the radio and make more money". It had much more to do with the fact that the songs on Justice were very long and the band hated playing the songs live, and the fans didn't enjoy them much either compared to previous albums. Because of this I think they wanted to scale it back as musically they had no need to get more proggy because they would only get worse.
They also point to more music clips being done, but by that time music clips weren't anywhere near as douchey and everyone was doing them for more artistic reasons. Ok, some of the Grunge bands made weird clips for the sake of being weird and disturbing, but Metallica's clips at the time were actually very bare bones compared to Load and Reload.
And finally, Bob Rock. This man cops it from so many Metallica fans and I agree that he is a corporate asswipe (watch Some Kind of Monster and tell me he isn't one when he and Lars tell Kirk to not play solos) but on this album he actually made the album sound better, like their live shows. Listen to Justice and the live versions at the time, they sound nothing a like, while the Black album songs performed live sound the same in terms of guitar sound and drums.
3. Load/Reload
This is where I fall into. First of all, Load/Reload should have been ONE FUCKING ALBUM. Half the songs on each album are terrible and are full of filler, something Metallica would have never done in the 80s. The pop world does this shit all the time by having 3 or 4 good songs and sells that as an album but Metallica actually had a full album length of material and decided to be whores and split it into 2 for more money. I am so glad Lars got pissed off with Napster.
Also, they changed there image for the Alternative crowd. Look at them in 1989:
Now in 1991, after they "sold out":
Looks the same to me, but lets looks at them during the Load period:
GO FUCK YOURSELVES. The sad thing is that Hetfield was uncomfortable with this shit:
From this an interview about the image:
Lars and Kirk drove on those records. The whole "We need to reinvent ourselves" topic was up. Image is not an evil thing for me, but if the image is not you, then it doesn't make much sense. I think they were really after a U2 kind of vibe, Bono doing his alter ego.
I couldn't get into it. The whole, "Okay, now in this photoshoot we're going to be '70s glam rockers." Like, what? I would say half — at least half — the pictures that were to be in the booklet, I yanked out. The whole cover thing, it went against what I was feeling.
And from the same interview about the cover of the album:
How can I put this? I guess when I talked [earlier in the interview] about the resentments of being left out of the band that they had through their drug use — Lars and Kirk were very into abstract art, pretending they were gay. I think they knew it bugged me. It was a statement around all that. I love art, but not for the sake of shocking others. I think the cover of "Load" was just a piss-take around all that. I just went along with the make-up and all of this crazy, stupid shit that they felt they needed to do.
If that isn't evidence of selling out, I don't know what is. If you have anything to add (or you violently disagree), feel free to comment.
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