However, the one veteran band that stepped up to lead that charge was Texas foursome Pantera, whose transformation from Judas Priest copycats to Southern metal superstars was the biggest heavy metal story of 1990. Testament followed suit that year as well, as did Death Angel. Anthrax embraced groove on 1990’s best-selling Persistence of Time. Slayer had already slowed way the hell down on the 1988 classic South of Heaven and delivered the streamlined, dynamic Seasons in the Abyss two years later. That desire to downshift was hitting other bands from the thrash scene as well. When the time came to plan their fifth album, a change of pace was clearly needed, at least for the sake of their sanity, whose ends were fraying rapidly. They were bored playing the long stuff and burned out from the relentless speed of their faster thrash tunes. Each previous album had blindsided the metal scene with innovation, yet how far into heavy metal’s progressive, experimental side could they take this juggernaut? When they weren’t playing epic songs that were eight, nine, ten minutes long, they were playing shorter material at blinding speed during the Damaged Justice tour of 1988-’89, fueled on beer, adrenaline, and testosterone. Metallica were nevertheless at a creative crossroads for a band only in their late 20s with an already sizeable audience and four highly acclaimed albums under their belts. Thanks to the fierce devotion of the fans, first-week sales would go through the roof whenever Metallica put anything out, without the need for an expensive promotion budget. An arena headliner by 1988, Metallica were a guaranteed moneymaker for Elektra Records. They released their first music video and they performed on national television for the first time. By 1989 the band started to become gradually more visible. A word-of-mouth phenomenon, starting with 1983’s Kill ’em All and continuing through 1984’s Ride the Lightning, 1986’s Master of Puppets, and 1988’s …And Justice For All, Metallica’s audience became bigger and bigger by the year, fans were drawn to the artful intensity of the records and the unfathomable power, speed, and chemistry of the band’s live performances. The arrival of Metallica, or the Black Album as it has come to be known, was the result of an eight-year period where the San Francisco-based band simultaneously created a groundswell of underground support while completely transforming heavy metal in the 1980s. Yet despite its massive global popularity, its artistic merit has been hotly debated among metal obsessives for decades. The most popular heavy metal album of all time, it has permeated popular culture so deeply that it now feels ubiquitous, ever-present. More than 30 million copies sold worldwide, boasting five spectacular, groundbreaking singles, three of which cracked the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. It’s heavy metal’s own Dark Side of the Moon, Rumours, Thriller.
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