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Throughout their 30 plus years as a band, Metallica has produced a great number of instant classics like Battery, Master of Puppets, Creeping Death, Blackened, The Four Horsemen, Enter Sandman, Orion, For Whom the Bell Tolls, and Fade to Black. However, some songs are gems that never seem to get any attention, their spotlight stolen from them by the favorites listed above. Some of the following songs have either barely ever been played live, panned unnecessarily, overlooked, downright despised, or even all of the above. The quality of the song-however-does play a part, too. For that reason you will not find All Within My Hands or Shoot Me Again on this list. Those songs are just awful. |
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Honorable Mentions: St. Anger- St. Anger (2003), Escape- Ride the Lightning (1984), Until It Sleeps- Load (1996), Frantic- St. Anger (2003), Fuel- ReLoad (1997), Low Man's Lyric- ReLoad (1997), Damage Inc.- Master of Puppets (1986), Cyanide- Death Magnetic (2008), That Was Just Your Life- Death Magnetic (2008), Devil's Dance- Reload (1997) |
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20. The Call of Ktulu- Ride the Lightning (1984) |
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Times Played Live: 82 |
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This instrumental piece was a perfect way to cap off one of the band's greatest albums (2nd favorite of mine). Clocking in at 8:55, this is by far the longest song on the album it belongs to. It still contains some pretty heavy riffs that never fail to give me chills. It never seems to get nearly as much attention as its Master of Puppets counterpart, Orion. Despite being played 25 more times live, fans continually cite it as inferior to Orion. It is only #20 because on my meme page poll, this song beat out Enter Sandman 31 votes to 26. So apparently there are people out there who really like this song. |
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19. Leper Messiah- Master of Puppets (1986) |
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Times Played Live: 113 |
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This is another one of Metallica's earlier works that never seems to get much love. While it has been played live over 100 times, that still is the 2nd lowest of any of the Master of Puppets tracks. It has been called a filler track on the album. While I do think it is the weakest song on Master of Puppets, its message about religious fraud and blatant jab at televangelism and corruption in the church still entertains me every time I listen to this track. |
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18. Holier Than Thou- Metallica (1991) |
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Times Played Live: 81 |
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This song has to be the "thrashiest" song on Metallica's successful self-titled album. Sadly, it comes right after the two radio favorites: Enter Sandman and Sad But True. It sadly gets overshadowed by both of those songs as well as The Unforgiven. |
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17. ...and Justice For All- ...and Justice For All (1988) |
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Times Played Live: 257 |
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This is the second longest song in their 80s discography at a whopping 9:44. For this reason, one of the members blatantly said after they had finished performing it on their Damaged Justice Tour: "We're never playing that f**king song ever again." Of course, they ended up playing it again, but only after 20 plus years after the fact. You can find this on this link: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=5663 |
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Despite it being a bit of a chore to play, this song has powerful lyrics that call out corruption in politics and the court systems of America, contain one of Kirk Hammett's best guitar solos, and has one of Lars Ulrich's best performances on drums. The same cannot be said for the next song, however. |
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16. Dirty Window- St. Anger (2003) |
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Times Played Live: 31 |
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The fourth track from one of Metallica's worst albums and arguably one of the worst albums in metal, This happens to be one of the high What seems to be a major source of the problem with song is there is muddy production, Lars Ulrich's snare rings inside your ears throughout the song, some cheesy lyrics in certain spots, and the fact that it has NO guitar solos. Despite its shortcomings, this song along with others from the album are diamonds in the rough. The chorus ("I'm judge and I'm jury and I'm executioner too") marks one of the few times where James's vocals sounded excellent instead of decent to awful on the album. However, for the most part after this track the album only goes downhill. |
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15. Phantom Lord- Kill 'em All (1983) |
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Times Played Live: 155 |
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The only song from their first record to be on this list, Phantom Lord seems to live in the shadow of songs like Hit the Lights, The Four Horsemen, Whiplash, Jump in the Fire, and Seek & Destroy. Its ominous beginning part and killer riffs make this an underappreciated classic. The best part of the song is the Kirk's solo section in the middle. Definitely my favorite of this record. |
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14. Fight Fire with Fire- Ride the Lightning (1984) |
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Times Played Live: 329 |
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While this song has been played more times than any of the other song on this list except for one, this brilliantly relentless thrash tune doesn't seem to get the respect it deserves. It has been called one of Metallica's worst opening tracks. While it could be longer, clocking in at a mere 4:45 (the 2nd shortest on the list), it still has a blazing quick leave-you-in-the-dust kind of tempo and some killer drumwork. The ending is the best part, where the guitar sound mimics that of a bomb falling, signaling a nuke being dropped and the rush of air from the shock wave. |
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13. The Outlaw Torn- Load (1996) |
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Times Played Live: 13 |
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This is the second longest song Metallica has made at 9:49. Technically it should be |
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The longest at 10:43, but it was so long that the band had to cut nearly a minute off of it in order to fit it on the record. While it may be slow and doesn't pick up in tempo, James's vocals along with the lyrics and the ambience of Kirk and James's guitars gives this song a haunting vibe, Gave me chills the first time I listened to it and still does. Sadly because of its length, it has been played very few times at live performances. |
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12. Dyers Eve- ...And Justice for All (1988) |
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Times Played Live: 35 |
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This has to be the 'angriest' song Metallica has ever written. At a blistering 195 Beats per minute, it is one of their faster songs. It is a lyrical rant to his parents for sheltering him as a child. This marks the first time James swore more than once in a song. You can feel the burning anger in his voice and the instruments. Contains some of the best drumwork by Lars Ulrich (one of the best parts about the album in general). It has been played so few times live because of its tempo and how it is infamously difficult to play for all parts. Kirk's solo from 3:36-4:23 has to be up there on one of his best. |
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11. Eye of the Beholder- ...And Justice For All (1988) |
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Times Played Live: 125 |
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While this is, in my opinion, the weakest song on AJFA, it still deserves some respect. Its lyrics speak of limitations on the freedom of speech. The lyrics are what make the song good. Of course, the reason that this song gets overshadowed is because Blackened is only two tracks before it and the One is the track right after it. Despite being a weaker song, that does not mean this song should be skipped. |
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10. King Nothing- Load (1996) |
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Times Played Live: 358 |
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The Best song to come from Load, King Nothing has some striking similarities to Enter Sandman. However, King Nothing is actually able to keep my attention after listening to it so many times. It has more staying power than Enter Sandman, Even so, it suffers from being a part of an album that has a ton of filler songs on it. While this should make King Nothing shine even brighter, it still seems to be kicked to the curb by a lot of elitist fans who won't even give it a chance. |
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9. The Thing That Should Not Be- Master of Puppets (1986) |
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Times Played Live: 267 |
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The second song Metallica made having to do with H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu, The Thing That Should Not Be has a slow, but menacing feel to it. While not as thrashy as Battery or technical as Master of Puppets, it still is an excellent song with an amazing vocal performance by James. |
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8. The God That Failed- Metallica (1991) |
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Times Played Live: 88 |
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Without a doubt, this is the heaviest song on its album and is on par with songs like Fade to Black, One, Harvester of Sorrow, and Welcome Home (Sanitarium) in heaviness. It opens up with arguably one of Jason Newsted's best bass performances and the goes into a heavy riff. The lyrics and riffs combine to make this song such a heavy one. When you look at the meaning behind it, this makes it heavier still. James Hetfield's mother was sick with cancer, however because she was a Christian Scientist, who don't believe in modern medicine and resort only to prayer, she ended up dying when he was only 14 years old because she refused treatment. Now James's father had left a few years before, so when his mother died, this effectively made him an orphan. The lyrics speak about a reversed version of what happened with James where it is the parents who blindly trusted this deity alone to heal their child, but the child ended up dying in the end because they didn't seek medical assistance. |
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7. Ain't My B*tch- Load (1996) |
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Times Played Live: 175 |
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This song is another one of the gems off of Load, but it too was panned because it sounded so different from Metallica's previous works. Despite this, it still is a good song with an awesome guitar solo in the middle and lyrics about shedding the weight off of yourself by getting rid of a toxic friend or girlfriend/boyfriend. Also, the ending always makes me laugh: "YOU AIN'T MY?.OOOOOOOOO?..B*TCH! YOU AIN'T MINE!" |
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6. Trapped Under Ice- Ride the Lightning (1984) |
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Times Played Live: 21 |
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"Trapped under ice is the story of a wooly mammoth frozen in a glacier during the pleistocene, then being thawed and revived in the present day and going on a murderous rampage." -Tyler Greenfield |
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All joking aside, this song is powerful and quick like Fight Fire with Fire. It is sadly considered one of the filler tracks on its album despite having a frantic and thrashy tempo and guitar work. It is short and always leaves me wanting more of it, wishing it was longer than its 4:04 runtime. It feels even shorter than that due to being so fast. |
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5. The Shortest Straw- ...And Justice For All (1988) |
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Times Played Live: 94 |
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Another song about corruption from AJFA, The Shortest Straw is about how people can get in trouble or be panned for telling the honest truth. How telling the truth has started to become a negative thing. It has some good riffs despite being one of the weaker songs on its album. |
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4. Disposable Heroes- Master of Puppets (1986) |
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Times Played Live: 151 |
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This song, not Master of Puppets, is the best song on its album. The album was actually going to originally be titled Disposable Heroes, but it was changed fairly close to before release. This explains the crosses, World War II helmet, and dog tag in the artwork. It is another one of Metallica's many anti-war songs, what makes this song so great is Cliff Burton's backing vocals. When they get to the part: "Back to the Front!", you can hear a deep growl behind James's vocals. That is the legendary bassist's backing vocals. This live performance of it in 1985, just before the album's release as well as the studio version, makes a lot who listen to it miss Cliff Burton even more. His backing vocals on this song are on par with his performance on Creeping Death from Ride Lightning (1984). |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOYcH466Wiw |
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3. The Frayed Ends of Sanity- ...And Justice For All (1988) |
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Times Played Live: 12 |
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This song is about a person who suffers from schizophrenia and how their mind slowly falls into madness. The guitar solo for this song is amazing, but it is the backing vocals which add to it. I am still not sure who did them, but they are very nearly as good as some of Cliff's, which is certainly saying something. (Don't forget the awesome opening march lifted from "The Wizard of Oz" - Tyler) |
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2. Sweet Amber- St. Anger (2003) |
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Times Played Live: 1 |
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This song could have one of two meanings: it is about an actual girl named Amber who has a dangerous personality or alcohol. It is likely that it is a combination of both since the color of beer is an amber. Being the second shortest track on the album at only 5:24, it is much better than the rest of St. Anger with good riffs and a nice groove. Despite this, it is one of many songs that have been performed once. Hopefully with St. Anger's 15th anniversary coming in a few months, they'll decide to play the album in its entirety and thus giving this song another chance to be played live. That would mark the first time in nearly 15 years that it had been played live. |
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1. To Live Is to Die- ...And Justice For All (1988) |
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Times Played Live: 1 |
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Some people might not have even heard this song. At 9:48 seconds, this is the longest song Metallica made in the 80s and their final instrumental track. This song consisted of many riffs which Cliff Burton had written before his tragic and untimely death on September 27, 1986. It also includes a spoken version of a short poem he wrote: |
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When a man lies he murders some part of the world |
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These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives |
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All this I cannot bear to witness any longer |
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Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home |
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This song is on the top of the list due to the fact that I myself and likely a lot of others forgot that it was even a track on the album. While it is extremely long, if you look at why it was written, you can feel the grief and the pain that bled into the riffs of the song. When it builds up just before they read the poem at 7:03 until 7:32 has to be my favorite part in any Metallica song. What makes this sad is that it has only appeared on the band's setlist once and it was the Metallica by Request Tour in 2011. This song is also the last to be credited to Cliff Burton. It is like AC/DC's Hell's Bells, which was a tribute to Bon Scott, who essentially was AC/DC's own Cliff Burton in how he was adored by old school fans and even new fans as well. To Live Is to Die is a tribute song to the greatest bass player to have ever lived and the fact that it has been played live only once and a lot of fans have probably not familiarized themselves with it is why it is my pick for Metallica's #1 most underrated song. |
