TRAINWRECKORDS: "St. Anger" by Metallica
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 มี.ค. 2021
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It's one of the most legendary bombs of all time -- the biggest rock band in the world turning in a tuneless blast of cacophonous trash-can banging. How did the much-maligned "St. Anger" turn Metallica from gods of metal to rock-and-roll punchlines?
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My whole family loved Metallica, especially my mom, and I convinced her to buy this album right when it came out. We left the mall for the hour long drive down country roads, with St. Anger playing. We just kept saying um... okay... well... and now it's actually one of the things I most regret doing to her. As a teen, I didn't do drugs, get bad grades, or get brought home by the cops, but I got her to buy this album. Mom, I'm sorry.
This is genuinely funny and sad at the same time. I feel your pain. Artists might do something that fans don't like, musically, whatever.. that's their right. But this album is just objectively *terrible* and the audio engineering choices are physically painful. Just a big oof all around.
As someone who did drugs and got brought home by the cops, I’m pretty sure mom would’ve been a lot more disappointed if I brought this piece of garbage home
How....could.....you
@@zendakk music can't be OBJECTIVELY bad you smoothbrain lmao. I'm not defending this album but that is not how objectivity works.
@@Phantom_Mountain_Art objectivity tends to refer to a standard being achieved, or simply remaining at a consistent quality. St. Anger fails at both. So with the finite amount of source material to analyze within the album itself, and seeing how it stands on its own merits, one can conclude that it is of objectively poor quality. Lots of people seem to think objective means "100% correct and universally agreed upon" when it's really not. The evidence used should be held up to scrutiny and if said evidence holds up, a conclusion can be made based on the information present. The conclusion is purely based on how well researched the information is, but simply working to analyze a piece of media with its own contents is engaging in objective critique. Stuff that would not qualify as objective would lend to personal feeling, or having to come up with your own personal explanation for a choice being made.
For example, choosing to have the snare sound like someone smacking a bat against a trash can makes for an awful sound, not only on its own, but within the context of the rest of the composition; it sounds superbly out of place, even with them going for an "edgier" and "rougher" sound.
Anyone can use objectivity to analyze a piece of art. It just comes down to the facts you use, and the assessment of said facts.
"Meesa lifestyle determines meesa deathstyle" - Jar Jar Hetfield
Meesa lifestyle determines messa deathstar.
😂😂😂😂
Saiiiint Jar Jar 'round my neck, heeeee never gets respect - literally James f'ing Hetfield
I always hear “my wife’s style determines my dad’s style”.
I love that I'm reading this while my mom is watching Star Wars in the other room.
Imagine being in prison and Metallica shows up, but then they play St. Anger.
I'd ask for the electric chair. Even if I was jailed for unpaid parking tickets or something 😂
@@matthewhodgson4447 "please, let me ride the lightning already"
@@matthewhodgson4447”flash before my eyes,now its time to die”
really underrated comment
Notice how bored the inmates all look. It's like even in jail there are better things to do than listen to Stanger
"If we have no guitar solos in any of these songs, that dates the music to this period. " super fucking perceptive of Kirk
It's the only lucid moment in the entire documentary, he's so rational and everyone is like "Nahhh" it's a real life Spinal Tap bit.
Kinda weird how even Todd doesn't seem to agree with him on that even though he'd just spent several minutes complaining about how the lack of solos on the album was one of the big contributing factors in it tanking, because Kirk was fucking right.
And it dated the album to its period. Sure, you can name metal bands doing solos at the time, but most of the mainstream metal wasn't doing solos.
@@Aleph3575i think he agrees with the fact that the way solos were handled sucks, but that he thinks that it's not the absence of solos per se that makes the album terrible, but the lack of hooks.
In esdence, trend chasing itself wasn't the problem, it was the sheer absence of willingness to make a good album
@@Running_Colours Yeah, there are tons of hits and great metal and rock songs with no solos. But is not experimenting, is just lazy
that mtv awards napster sketch is peak cringe
It's incredible that they managed to get the guy from the Dungeons & Dragons movie to be in it! :-P
The St. Anger video was nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2003 edition, but lost against Linkin Park
I like it when my favorite content creators comment on each others videos. :)
WAIT HOL UP THAT ERIK ANDRE?
@@michaelboydston313 Pretty sure that's one of the Wayans.
Here before Lars Ulrich copyright claims the whole video
Lars just sent me a cease and desist letter as he has copyrighted my life.
In the VH1: Behind the Music, Metallica openly admitted they got big initially because fans were sharing bootleg copies of their demos. Then, once they made it big suddenly they are against people sharing their music. Fortunately, entertainers and entertainment companies learned from the mistake and never attacked their fan bases again.
@@Arbbal
Metallica actively encouraged fans to bootleg their early performances and EPs.
They would even let them plug in to the sound boards at concerts for cleaner recordings, if Radio DJs from the early 90s are to be believed.
Then when other bands were able to do that same tactic on a wider scale, they sued and shut it down because a couple people were downloading their radio singles. /smh
Shit, is this actually gonna be taken down?
@@Dill_Pickle1997 oh god no dude, Metallica don't go and take down any video about them. Though their record label, or some other company might try and strike the video for the music
That shot of the music video to St. Anger, where they're playing in what seems to be a parking lot, washed out with sunlight and with a slightly yellow cast to it? That's 2003. That's what 2003 looked like.
Parking lot? I thought that was the courtyard (or whatever it's called) of San Quentin Prison.
You do know 2003 was a year in real life, right? Not just an aesthetic from a Metallica music video...
That was a prison. Dumass
@@demoleramera It was just an aesthetic from a Metallica music video; it's not a real thing you dork.
@@demoleramera nah hes right tho. i feel the same way lol 2003 just had that vibe.
“Especially Lars who brought in a giant beer keg to play drums on” is one of my favorite Todd jokes
It is a good analogy. I reached a similar conclusion myself when listening to it back in the day. At the time I remember saying it sounded like they were banging on Teflon pans.
@@olliep8117 My punk rock singer friend played this for me when it came out. I said the drums sounded like Lars ran them through the Pye limiter Hendrix used on the piano in Crosstown Traffic. He agreed. Then I said "Fuck this shit, put on Kill'Em All, I need to clean out my brain." So he did, and it worked.
Just watched a video on yt where a guy plays a beer keg with a metal baseball bat. 😂 Sounded better than Lars’ sound on St. Anger.
The best thing about St. Anger being my first Metallica song, is that there was nowhere to go but up from there.
yo do you live under a rock tho?
@@Cronposh ?
wait until you hear Lulu, it makes St Anger look like the Black Album
@@Massachamp08 Well, depending on who you ask, the Black Album isn't exactly great either lol.
@@j.j.4150 bruh the Black Album is a fantastic album, metal wouldnt be big as it is today without it and we all know it
The most embarrassing thing to happen to Metallica is still copyright-claiming their own live performance on Twitch.
Wow. That sounds like an Onion headline.
@@stevegeorge6880 It was hilarious. They had to play copyright free music over it
Poetic justice at its finest.
The most embarrassing thing Metallica ever did was rejecting Les Claypool. Hetfield's best song licks shit off the shoes of Claypool's worst.
@@lulairenoroub3869 WHAT!!!!! LES CLAYPOOL COULD HAVE BEEN METALLICA'S BASSIST?!?!?! *HEAD EXPLODES*
8:14 As a drummer, I can explain the sound: Lars turned the snare off. It’s not DETUNED, it’s just off. It has been used well in songs like “I Disappear,” it’s just mixed SO LOUDLY and the reverb is BALLS!
Yeah, I think he's trying to sound like Korn, who were HUGE at the time. Lots of their songs the drummer turned the wires off on the snare.
Can I ask what does it mean to "detune" a drum?
@@stevencoffin328precussions, unlike normal pitched instruments (basically anything that is NOT a drum), when referred to as tuning it means to change the timbre of that particular piece (the ACTUAL pitch happens on the overtones, aka the "ring", thinks Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit's drums, where the snare's RING is in the key of F)
@ryujinvtubecs
Think you mean "percussion".
I have been a percussionist since 1986.
Percussion refers to any instrument that requires "striking" to produce a sound. That includes piano, BTW.
Only drum I ever tuned to match a pitch is the timpani (the kettle drums most commonly used in symphonies). Like the person already commented, Lars just turned his snare off.
@@stevencoffin328 Dankpod's 4th channel The Drum Thing is a pretty good source for Drums
Watching this right after the Will Smith episode has me wondering how many of these things feature Chris Rock hosting a show right before a career-ending event occurs.
Lol, Chris Rock being some kind of harbinger of ill fate 😂.
It's uncanny how I was literally about to post a comment to the effect of "Isn't it funny how Chris Rock was indirectly tied to two career-killing moments, both times at an award show?" And then I saw this comment.
Perhaps the most under rated comment of this entire amusing comment section.
Don't throw Chris Rocks in Glass Houses I guess?
Kirk being told he can’t solo looks like Bambi finding out his mom is dead
I love all the comments about Lars and James fighting in SKOM being "they really fighting over who has custody of Kirk" lmaaaao
It's my favorite part of "Some Kind of Monster", and I will never stop to find it funny.
I love Kirk to death, but the funniest Metallica-related comment I have ever read was someone saying "If you ever feel useless, just remember that Kirk Hammett sang background vocals to Creeping Death opposite Jason Newstead."
Kirk is a fantastic guitarist and has written so many beautiful rifts and he clearly has his place in the band.
I fully understand why it's sacrilege to take that one thing away from him in his eyes.
It’s even sadder considering Kirk came out looking the best out of the band in that documentary.
I once read a comment describing the behind-the-scenes stuff as Kirk going to the bathroom while everyone else is recording, and when he comes back the album's finished.
Metallica 1983: Thrash metal
Metallica 2003: Trash cans metal
@Luke you have to emphasize the drum sound
@@lilo5437 And trash 'the rest of it'.
@Luke Just 'trash'.
metallica 2021: royalty free 8 bit music
Metallica 2003: Crash metal.
St. Anger is like a coworker who's talking way too much about their personal life problems to the point where its uncomfortable and annoying
Best review ever.
That's exactly how I feel about some woman whom I worked with at a CVS named Margaret. She was exactly as you described.
Watch me drop these "PORN BOMBS ON MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY YEAHHHH!!!"
"Turns out...ooops!!! Sorry busy parents, I happen to like BDSM!!!!!"
"Ok real talk.....TURNS OUT BDSM DIDN'T SCRATCH THAT WEIRD-ASS ITCH AND I LOVE random "midget and horse porn oh GOD please eensure safety like my God why...???
"
@@dostwood5103 my mother is a margaret who used to work at cvs.
And now every Metallica song is like that now.
“I think it sounds stock to my ears”-Lars Ulrich on the album that actually had stock drum sound effects
Says the most stock drummer ever.
@@Captain_Neckbeardhey that's an unfair comparison. Stock needs to be standard and listenable. Lar's garbage drumming is neither of those things!
Y'know how people tell you that sometimes when you're angry you should type up a letter to someone but then never actually send it, just throw it away instead? Yeah....
@Joshua Roehl Dude... that song is St Anger level bad! Rebecca Black would listen to Friday on repeat to get it out of her head. You should be proud!
Haha! 🤣
Oh crap we wasn't supposed to send those?
The problem is when you're that famous, some people want to hear everything you have to say, even if it's the shit you shouldn't say out loud
@Joshua Roehl Stop posting that song everywhere. It is definitely worse than St. Anger.
“except for Lulu, but that is a story for another day”
Metallica will return to Trainrecords
James will return as the table.
lulu wasnt that bad...
Lulu was good, imo
Can't wait for the table wrestling memes that episode.
Lulu had decent production but it was very very poorly paced and Lou Reed sounded horrible. He really brought the album down. It would have at least been listenable if they took out Lou Reed and just had James, and maybe shaved off some of the songs like Junior Dad which are way too long for no reason.
"So then his friend says 'It's not stealing, we're just sharing' and then Lars pulls out a comically large soda can"
“Oh, goody. I found my new snare.”
“Funniest shit I’ve ever seen.”
Give "In Utero" this, it still had hooks. People still belt-out, "HEY! WAIT! I got a new complaint!"
On the listenability scale, St. Anger makes In Utero sound like Revolver.
Well Kurt was always a big pop music fan. One of the funniest stories about him was he invited his friend over to his place saying "I just heard the coolest song!" And he plays his friend "My Sharona" by the Knack and it took his friend a minute to realize that he wasn't playing it as a joke and he seriously considered it one of the best songs he'd ever heard.
Oh dude. In Utero is still a great record. Heart Shaped Box is an immaculate song.
In Utero had effort put into it. Cobain simply didn't want his band to be perceived as sell-outs. It wasn't about making too much money or being too famous, it was about controlling their image.
Nobody said that In Utero was bad, just that it was intentionally abrasive (to the point where much of the lyrical content got them pulled from stores). Also, Heart-Shaped Box is essentially the only single out of the album that randos on the street recognize and can belt out.
Their live performance stream on Twitch getting replaced with 8bit folk tunes to avoid copyright infringement for their _own music_ felt like very delayed karma.
Copyright so strict that artists who made the music/companies that publish it... can't play it when they legally want to... *sigh*
Not unheard of, some bands or artists had their own music blocked on their own channel by the automated system.
@@battlion507 It's awful for all the other musicians getting screwed over but for those who were Metallica fans back when Lars went on his copyright striking tirade and getting Napster shut down, it's finally getting the last laugh.
If there was a right way to do music copyright, they’ve long since blown it.
every time i hear people use that royalty free song in videos now i always comment "so cool you used metallicas for whom the bell tolls live at blizzcon"
I just remember a local DJ announcing, "Here's the new song from Metallica" and they played the song's debut, and then he came back on and said, "That was a bag of suck!"
Haha! I miss the days when DJs had balls
The DJs in my area definitely still have balls. Corey & Patrick.
When Volbeat - Last Day Under the Sun premiered, after it finished, Corey was all "Can I make a point? I really like Volbeat. They always have big riffs, driving solos, & are just generally fun to listen to. This song sounds like it's made for little kindergartners to all hold hands to. Yeah. I guess it's a "song", but unless my kids specifically ask to hear it, I wont be playing this bullshit anymore." & i swear to god they never played it again.
@@jacksonteller3973 Totally. I throughly enjoyed Last Day, but then again I enjoy good music as opposed to the DJs of a butt rock station
My friend Chris was a massive fan of Metallica. He told me he listened to it once and threw it out the window of his car near his house. That CD case with a new CD stayed in that gutter by the sidewalk for weeks and no one took it. It was a running joke when we got together to rip on it savagely.
My mind is blown that "My lifestyle determines my deathstyle" isn't something They Might Be Giants made up for Scott Bower, since it's such a dorky sentence.
Love TMBG. Scott Bower, Scott Bowerrrrr
I saw Metallica at the Download Festival in 2006. At the end of the set, Lars said "Thanks everybody and sorry about that fuck-up two years ago" (referring to him being too sick to play at the 2004 event). Three separate people around me simultaneously turned to their friends and said "What, St Anger?"
I saw them at Sonisphere in 2010 - it was apparently Hetfield's birthday and the overall a cool atmosphere between the band and the crowd... except when Lars addressed the audience. Real 'fuck off' vibes then 🤣
Nothing to apologize for. They played Battery with Dave Lombardo. Probably the best that song ever sounded.
Did you get to see Strapping Young Lad? I know they were in Download '06
@@theyoyoyo7833 The worst album Devin can release in his career will always be better than the worst Metallica album. That's for sure.
@@theyoyoyo7833 i’ve watched that SYL set so many times on youtube, so good
this album sucking is what bonded my dad with my boyfriend when I took him to meet my parents after a month of so of dating, i got to sit back and watch them go to town on how much they hated St Anger. they resumed the chat at our wedding reception 6 months ago - it is their favourite subject and is way more entertaining than the album itself.
That's so wholesome lol. My ex bonded with my dad over how good Learning To Fly by Pink Floyd is
I love this!
Such a good story!!
Fucking hilarious.
Congrats on the wedding!
That rules
Let’s not forget that the early 2000’s had some HEAVY competition in the rock scene. Like even if you weren’t into emo or nu metal. Just two years earlier tool came out with lateralus and soad came out with toxicity. Not only did you not want to listen to st anger to begin with but you had other far better options to listen to at the time.
Seriously. Two words: Linkin Park.
Slipknot, Sepultura. Metallica isn't that heavy anymore.
@@johnps1670heavy music nowadays is practically unlistenable. I dont care if that makes me sound old, its fuckin unintelligible and extremely grating
I very much agree that Metallica's prestige fell after this, even if they did "return to form" after. It was like Metallica was more a force of nature before and then just became a band after. I had one friend who I saw it with directly.
I was never that into them personally, but I knew so much about them bc of him. He would obsessively try to learn the guitar parts to all their songs whenever we'd jam or would put in the S&M album whenever we drove places and talk about it like it was music gospel.
But after St Anger something shifted. He kind of just started moving on to other metal bands. Didn't really bring up Metallica as much anymore. He didn't complain about them getting worse or anything but it was clear their mystique was gone for him.
And I noticed this especially when I eventually stumbled across the video for "The Day That Never Comes" on tv. I didn't even know they had a new album until that point bc I just wasn't hearing the hype from him.
I think Todd's right that the whole St Anger debacle and documentary humanized Metallica. They were no longer gods of metal but people making metal music. Achilles had fallen.
Once you see how the sausage is made you no longer enjoy eating it as much.
You totally nailed it with the sausage comparison there. Nicely done.
@@duncanpadgett Thank you 😁
There was an episode of Northern Exposure in 1994, when one of Maurice Minnefield's fellow former astronauts comes to town. He was someone Maurice really looked up to, and considered to be a role model not only as an astronaut, but also as a man. Then he tells Maurice his business failed, he lost his house, etc., and asks him for a loan. Maurice is so shocked he doesn't say yes or no. He doesn't know what to say. Later, he mentions it to Chris, barely able to communicate his feeling of being abjectly let down. Chris says that he shouldn't be, the greatest people are also, at bottom, human. Maurice turns to leave, pauses on his way to the door, and says, "I've got all the humans I can use."
That's probably what happened to your friend, and a lot of Metallica fans, after St. Anger. When I read the line "he looked like he'd given up on life", I saw Maurice Minnefield's face.
My punk rock singer friend played St. Anger for me when it came out. After 20 seconds, I said "It sounds like Lars is running 5-gallon paint buckets and 66 Chrysler air cleaner tops through the Pye limiter Hendrix used on the piano on Crosstown Traffic." He agreed. I said "Fuck this, put on Kill 'Em All, I need to clean out my brain." He did, and as far as I know, that was the last time he listened to a second of St. Anger. And he has hundreds, maybe thousands, of records. He's one of those guys who likes music, TV, and movies that are so bad they're good. St. Anger is one of the few things that is simply off the table, and not negotiable.
@@emilyadams3228 I will upvote a Northern Exposure reference anytime, anyplace.
@@SamAronowI second this!
Kirk saying that the lack of guitar solos would date the album to that specific point in time was so extremely on point and accurate.
one problem with the lack of solos is metallica always writes their songs around kirk's solo, and during the solo, there's this cool jam happening behind kirk with james, cliff/jason/robert, and lars playing something bad ass.
which is one reason the songs go nowhere.
I like to think that Mtv told them "nah guys, solos are too complex for the average mtv listener"
Ya
And then came the rise of Metalcore and Djent bands which brought back guitar solos into modern metal.
Yep. It's kinda hard to explain now, but Avenged Sevenfold hitting with Bat Country with a stated goal of bringing back guitar solos and dual harmonies was actually a big deal. They were viewed as "uncool" for a loooong time.
"This album is like seeing your parents cry for the first time" is one of the harshest insults I can imagine.
12:36 Hetfield as a stern dad fits. He'd go on to narrate an anti-porn documentary. Not kidding.
Fun Fact. St. Jerome is the Catholic saint of Anger. Or at least the saint you pray to in order to control your anger.
Metallica is so legendary, they have TWO Trainwreckords-tier albums and it still wasn't enough to kill their careers.
Oh, we're counting Load and Re-Load as one album now?
@@thisisfyne I think he meant Lulu with the second one
You make 4 of the best thrash albums ever and you earn some goodwill.
@@SomeDumbKid1 they didn't even need four albums. Master of Puppets cemented their legacy.
Don't forget they are the cause of DMCA
11:27 Pretty sure bringing prisoners out to listen to a performance of St. Anger counts as cruel and unusual punishment
better than bending over for the soap in the shower I guess...
"I'd like to go back to my cell, please."
@@jasonvaughn4886 it's not better
@@play-s-_______-osu yes, I know, they're both pretty cruel treatments...
I was about to say the same thing but I just knew someone else had to have the same thought. XD
Protractor!
Contractor!
Compactor! Green Tractor!
Smoke detector! I hardly know her!
James Hetfield (covering Amy Winehouse): "They try to make me go to rehab I say YEAH YEAHHHH YEAH"
That movie extended my marriage by at least a few years. Whenever my ex or I would blow up over nothing instead of addressing the real thing that was bothering us we called it "Suing Napster", then we'd bond over how ridiculous we were being and make up. Our eventual divorce was amicable, and our other divorced friends are all weirdly jealous, like "yeah, they really got divorce right, they don't blame each other, they don't hate each other, it just didn't work out" "Some Kind of Monster" is always going to be one of my favorite movies for that reason.
That’s like that Breakfast at Tiffany’s song but instead you have a healthy disdain for Metallica to bring you together ❤️
@@galleryofrogues "Do you REMEMBER how METALLICA, were gonna sue Napster?"
You couldn't satisfy them
This is one of the best stories I’ve ever read. Genuinely warmed my heart, thank you
@@NEEDbacon I heard that as I read it and I can't decide if it's terrible or not XD
When I was on the editorial staff for a small local literary magazine, we used to use the acronym "GTBP," which stands for Good Therapy, Bad Poetry. "Yes, this poem sounds like it represents an enormous personal emotional breakthrough for you, and I want to make sure I acknowledge that when I inform you that it is very, very bad." From what I can hear, St. Anger sounds like GTBP hooked up to a Marshall stack.
That sounds like literally everything Roger Waters has ever done.
As a Metallica fan who actually listened to St.Anger in full, I can confirm that it does sound like that.
@@the-NightStar
Post-Pink Floyd that is
@@littlekingtrashmouth9219 Post 1983 Pink floyd at least; A momentary Lapse and Division Bell are all Gilmour albums basically waters sounds phoned on those two and Delicate sounds of thunder(before division) and Pulse were live Albums. The Final Cut is the last Pink Floyd Album before Roger started to check out of the band.
@@michealpersicko9531
His solo stuff was shite too
St Anger - incontrovertible proof that 'abrasive and difficult' isn't the same thing as 'good.'
I actually liked St. Anger when it released. I'm sure it's a coincidence that I was 10 years old and had literally just discovered Metallica a week prior.
Those "clonk", "donk", and "bonk" has to be the highlight of the video.
@@mezzb I think the lack of bass on that album also helped worsen the drum sound, since often the bass helps the tone of drums by the parts often being similar rhythmically. And Justice is actually by far my favorite Metallica album as I think the songs themselves are almost all excellent there, but there’s always been something weird sonically about it (which is also partially why I love it so much).
@@FragmentedR_YT exactly, taking Newsteds work out of the mix ruined the drum sound, too.
It's also my favorite Metallica album, vut I gotta honest, It would be much more fun and I would listen to it more often, if it had the powerful sound it deserved.
I wish they would have fixed that in the remaster (as far as possible), but I understand the difficult circumstances under which tge album was made, the very personal decision to mix it that way and even though I disagree with their decision, I can see why they don't want to.
I can imagine that changing it would feel like betraying their former selfs and their history to them.
"the snare is to st anger what jar jar is to the phantom menace"
Amazing comparison
The problem is that even without jar-jar the phantom menace still isn't good.
@@plasmakitten4261 and changing the snare tune of st anger also doesn't make it better.
Hence the comparison, guys.
Oh you like it? You're a big fan? You think it's an amazing comparison?
@@dr.loomis4221 Nobody paged Dr. Shithead to the operating theater, thank you.
“I have never been more acutely aware of James Hetfield as a human being, and I hate it.” That line is absolutely perfect. If I was let down by Load and Reload, I was depressed by St. Anger. It just put a stake in the heart of Metallica. And the documentary just made James and Lars look like insufferable egomaniacs. It was well past time for me to abandon ship.
I always found it ironic that a band who built their whole momentum in the 80’s on TAPE TRADING was the band that went after Napster.
Forgot where they came from.
They’re legends. They’ve redeemed themselves. But that period from like 2001-2007 they were maybe the most loved and hated band simultaneously.
Little-known fact, behind the scenes, Lars Ulrich actually gave up the majority of drumming duties on this album to Bam-Bam from The Flintstones.
oh what a fun joke
@@dr.loomis4221 he's not wrong tou. Lars IS nothing but a big blonde baby
@@ghostoflazlo Bam-Bam is also a way better drummer.
Go easy there, Gdouble. Bam-Bam has feelings too.
DAAHhhahhhahHAhah!
Oh... fuckin' WINNING!
Now that this is done, Chinese Democracy is inevitable.
I’m not so sure of tha… oh, you mean the album. >.>
Complete with Axl Rose and his dreadlocks
Yes!
Chinese Democracy was good, though.
Why? No one expected anything from a new Guns n' Roses album in 2008, 15 years after their last. In fairness, people probably didn't expect much from Funstyle, but that was such a clusterfuck that you could get around it.
One of the most beautiful snare sounds in existence is We're In This Together Now by NIN. That gorgeous ring at the end of each riff. It's really slow, and it has a pitch that fits with the tune. But when it's just pummelled so relentlessly like that, it's just torture.
Trent has always been a master of production
Agree that is a beautiful song.
When I was younger, VH1 (in Latin America) used to play every single music video they came across, regardless if it was an obscure artist, the song didn't made any impact on the charts or, worst case scenario, it was Jewel singing about cellphones causing cancer.
The fact that they aired St. Anger only twice during its release and none of the other videos from this record seems very telling to me.
*Edit*
They did play artists/bands like Cradle Of Filth, Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Type O Negative, Ministry and others on a regular, so it's not like they had anything against metal.
That's pretty interesting. In America, VH1 was basically obsessed with adult alternative, softer rock, etc. They were in love with Creed in the early 00s, to the point that their second annual award show promised it wouldn't have any more Creed on it. Stuff like the female rockers, Matchbox 20, any kind of "social rap," that was the stuff VH1 loved. Here, they would almost never play metal. But then in the mid 00s, VH1 turned into a permanent nostalgia channel, with so many variants of "I Love [decade]."
The patron saint of anger is St. Jerome, in case anyone was curious.
Cheers, I was curious.
You did more research than James, well done.
source ? according to wikipedia:
"Patronage: Archaeologists; archivists; Bible scholars; librarians; libraries; school children; students; translators; Morong, Rizal; Dalmatia"
there is also a page for another saint jerome (Gerolamu Emiliani), where (again, according to wikipedia):
"Patronage: orphans and abandoned children"
the only thing i found about him being a "saint of anger" is about him having anger issues and dealing with them. maybe that gives him an unofficial title of "saint of anger". however officially he's not the saint of anger.
no it isn't it's St. Anger
@@justsomecommentchannel8602 i did some quick googling, and it seems that according to catholic scholars, st jerome is who you pray to when you yourself have pent up rage you need to channel somewhere
All the songs here sound like bad parodies of heavy metal music written by someone who hates heavy metal.
yeah.
I think this is the most accurate description of this album I’ve ever heard.
i swear to god, you are just describing james hetfield when he was doing this album.
All their songs sound like that, period.
At least Spinal Tap was fun.
I feel like St. Anger needed to exist, like if you swallow poison and they have to pump your stomach. St. Anger is what came out of Metallica when they pumped it's stomach.
1. frantic wanted to be System of a Down. Its like if someone how barely understood SOAD made a song for SOAD.
2. st. anger feels like a stream of conciousness to me. kind of like that song (i think it was korn) where the lead singer just went into a fugue state and started ranting about a child hood abuser of his. The difference is that THAT song didnt ever intend to be a song, it was just musical therapy.
3. The whole thing feels like...chaos. They couldn't actually agree on anything anymore but couldn't take not being metallica anymore so they just....fuckin made SOMETHING.
The people who love Metallica the most are metalheads and Metallica fans, the people who HATE Metallica the most are metalheads and Metallica fans
This is a perfect description my dude.
So basically, Metallica is the “Star Wars” of metal
@@Pundit07 That checks out I would say.
You either like the black album or you hate the black album, very little in between
"No one hates _________________ like ________________________ fans."
The more I think about it, the more amazing it is that we basically stopped paying for music in the 2000s and got away with it.
Lars was kind of the canary in the coal mine on that one. When other musicians saw how he was treated by the fans, they adjusted their PR accordingly.
Now they're just like "...please pay to stop ads from happening?
😜
👉🏿👈🏿"
No, now they're like "please pay $100 for nosebleed seats at my next concert since you won't pay for my new record".
We make up for that now by paying $100 to sit half a mile away in an arena to see our favorite musicians when $100 could almost get you backstage passes in 2000
@@Arizona_Bay_Real_Estate I think that was due to TicketMaster being a monopoly.
St Anger the song was basically my first exposure to metal, at least that I can remember. That music video was everywhere back then. I was pretty young and remember thinking "Jesus, metal is awful, it really is just noise". It's Metallica, so I just assumed in my childhood way that metal sounded like Metallica. Thankfully St Anger doesn't even really sound like Metallica.
20:39.
Bob's face there, just says it all.
He is simply, beyond done, with this tantrum throwing.
From taking Metallica to the bigtime, to sat around doing sweet f*ck all. That smirk tells it all.
I'm glad 'St Anger' was a hit. Because it means Metallica, are still here. But don't act up like this again, lads.
When I was at Marine Combat Training in 2003 someone wrote "my lifestyle determines my deathstyle" inside one of the stalls in the bathroom. So I guess it was a big hit with 18 year old Marines right out of boot camp, at least.
Sounds about right.
The single most embarrassing line from an album that almost exclusively consists of embarrassing lines! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
my poop style determines my wipe style
@@2-d_in_a_bag lol
@@2-d_in_a_bag i laughed harder than i should at this
St. Anger backing a Jar Jar Binks scene was the nightmare I never knew I would suffer.
I loved it. 地獄 is what I live for.
Jar Jar > you.
@@commandercaptain4664 “I’m madly in Jar Jar with you.”
MEESA FRANTIC TIC TIC TICK TOCK
@Julie Miller And Jar Jar for All.
The “tick tick tick tock” always makes me think like the “Saint Anger” album is like Metallica is trying to be Cannibal Corpse.
To me it feels like theyre trying to be system of a down. Which makes more sense seeing as they were the most popular metal band at the time.
I mean it’s literally a Hives lyric
I also lowkey expect them to start singing the Metalocalypse theme any second now 😂, probably not a coincidence since as previously mentioned in this thread Some Kind of Monster somewhat inspired the show
@@SiRenfield What, for real? When I first saw Metalocalypse, I thought "This so reminds me of Some Kind Of Monster/St. Anger Metallica!"
(I've had the good sense to not watch the movie, or listen to the album, based on what I've heard.) I mean, a movie about the making of an album? Then there's a book about the movie about the making of the album? That's like This Is Spinal Tap seeing itself in facing mirrors. All that stuff where literally every man, woman, and child on Earth buys everything Deathklok sells, no matter how elaborately stupid, and go to their shows even though every one of them goes, well, Metalocalyptically awry and kill everyone there, has Monster/Anger written all over it. Only, Metalocalypse is fuckin excellent. So ya know, silver linings.
@@ayyguevara8448 That album came out four years after St. Anger
There's a "Trainwreck" brand guitar amp in the background of their studio. Perfect.
Trainwreckords Weird Lyrics Hall of Fame:
"And now she thinks she's bissexual" (Lauryn Hill)
The entire "Door to Door" song (Creedence Clearwater Revival)
"In a word to, Yah! The wisdom tooth, So open up and say aaaah-men, rinse cup, hey and spit again" (Van Halen)
"I am the modren man" (Styx)
"I'd love to hurt the population" (Hootie & The Blowfish)
"Keep you and hold you, after I scold you, I hope I can mold you" (Arrested Development)
"Mary Jane, I wanna roll you down to the fields where you were born" (Spin Doctors)
The supreme god:
"You're being a penis, colada that is" (Liz Phair)
And now, a new addition to the family:
"MADLY IN ANGER WITH YOU"
Edit: A few great additions I missed, thanks for commenting lol
"We love Spam in America / Polanski's banned from America" (Jewel)
The entire "American Life" Rap (Madonna)
"A Tribe Called Quest is a bad investment" (MC Hammer)
"We aint gonna be treated like trash, we got one thing, we are the Clash" (Bernie Rhodes)
"Gay man, looking for another / Candyman, yeah the candyman can" (Van Halen again)
Also the entirety of magic pie (Oasis)
That Liz Phair episode just made me cry.
@@prufrock1977 Yeah, her entire discography does that.
The whole American Life rap (Madonna)
Also "my life style determines my death style", "tick tick tick tick tick tick tick TICK TICK TICK TOCK" and " St Anger round my neeeeecckk"
Metallica behind the scenes documentaries are fucking hilarious. Someone in editing knows what they're doing, cause they're paced like comedies.
I read somewhere that Some Kind of Monster was gonna be a reality show before the band got the rights, so I think you’re onto something there
A Year and a Half In the Life of... was really good but that was back when they were at their peak too.
"HE FOCKING LEFT THE BAND!!"
13:30 Huh, it’s only two years after this review that I learned Hetfield had _literally_ blown up and suffered severe burns due to a pyro malfuction during a concert. Ouch.
When they played frantic at mtv icon, it led everyone to believe St. Anger was going to be a monster of an album. Things changed quickly after the release.
It was a monster, but one from Rick And Morty or Superjail.
Todd: "Is it gonna sound like that for the entire album?"
Narrator voice: "It will sound like that for the entire album."
it has its charm if not listened all at once
@@AnarchistMetalhead Oooof, just when I thought ancap opinions couldn't get any worse you gotta hit me with that one.
James immediately afterwards:
"I've made a huge mistake."
I read the last line in Ron Howard's voice in my head.
Hey this isn't the Arrested Development episode
That skit was so very on point. Imagine you are in your crappy little dorm room while you, struggling to pay your bills while putting yourself through school and some rich asshole barges in and says that he now has the rights to all your shit because he only made $5,000,000 that year.
-- Unintentional messaging "We're judging you for using Napster anyways so... Why buy the good stuff we're already a criminals?" Yeah, not hard to see how they lost.
@Dustin Kimpton Most of those are live show costs, which I assume are paid for by the tickets. You wouldn't download a live show, right?
@MR.CLAW97 imagine defending rich musicians
@@Arcademan09 Imagine that the concept of paying for music doesn't register to some people, case if you haven't noticed the reason why merch and ticket pricing skyrocketed in the last 20 years is mainly due to the fact that people just weren't paying for music like we uste too, it's not about "DeFeNdInG RiCh MuSiCiAnS" it's about the value of the music, it's about people supporting their artists not just by tickets or merch but by supporting mainly by buying the actual music they make, cause ever since the Napster days us the fans have been supporting mainly by compensating the lost profits of record sales by buying more expensive merch and tickets for the shows
@@lionwolf2797 I agree. People don’t realize that when they start downloading music, the artists that they claim to “love” aren’t being compensated. There is a lot that goes into recording music or live shows and everyone has to be paid. If these guys are rich and made a ton of money over the years, it’s because of their own success and hard work. They have countless fans and have been touring and writing music for decades. Their fans have supported them all of that time and have always paid for their music/merch/shows, up until Napster and downloading started. They started losing money from that, they called it out, and they were right to do that. Most people wouldn’t appreciate being stolen from or having their hard work just stolen off of them and never reimbursed for it. I’m not even a fan of Metallica and never was but I believe they were in the right to come out and go against Napster. People didn’t like it cuz they weren’t getting freebies anymore, straight up
James Hetfield’s vocal performance in “Frantic” sounds like he's doing a Trey Parker impression.
I'm surprised South Park never took a jab at "St. Anger." Or maybe they did and I missed it.
@@drygnfyrethey made a jab at Lars’ take on music piracy in their classic Christian rock episode
My favorite part of the Documentary is that there's a segment in there of Lars selling his paintings and how it calms him down and whatnot, and they all look like garbage, and he speaks about them like they're made by rembrandt or someshit, but they all just look like shit.
Not a Basquiat enthusiast, I presume?
"I'M A LONELY LITTLE BOY AND I NEED TO BE LOVED; DAD WAS REAL MEAN AND NOW I NEED A HUG"
Bro I'm crying lmfaoooo
Shut the f****** You're Metallica not Weezer
>Super Macho Man Who Hasn't Felt Love In 10 Years
>Sad little boy who is misunderstood
Pick one James XD
My dad looks so much like this era of James hetfield that back in 2003 he was stopped on the street for autographs.
Did he gave autographs? Or maybe get a free guitar plus sponsorship?
St. Anger is a detox. It perhaps shouldn't have been put out but I suppose they felt they had to put something out.
I do feel so bad for Kirk though. He literally did not need to be a part of that. He had like no input and doesn't really play anything different to James. It was a musical detox for James and Lars, with Kirk simply "allowed to be there".
Kirk is credited as a writer in every song of the album. He literally wrote the fucking "my lifestyle determines my deathstyle" line. Fym he had "no input" lol
What's funny is that as someone who's not musically literate, at first the snare sounds fine to me, it just mostly blends in.
But the more the album goes along, at least as far as this video is concerned, the more distracting it starts to sound, like it's beating a drum against my head.
Yeah, I never would have noticed it if Todd hadn't pointed it out. It still doesn't bug me that much, honestly 🤷♀️
@@lumpchunker5516 For me it bugs the hell out of me, but that's because (mainly because of Dankpods) I became interested in the drums, and while I would love the idea of making a song in the worst tunes imaginable, Marching Band Snare will always stand out
All these references to Some Kind of Monster, and not once does Todd show Lars yelling, "HE FOCKING LEFT THE BAND?!"?
which part of that is... helloooo?!
th-cam.com/video/kj_8E3FOU4s/w-d-xo.html
Period!
Exclamation point!
ffftUUUUUUUHHHH!
Or him screaming "FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK" into a microphone.
I don’t think the drums were replaced by an oil barrel.
I think it’s more accurate that he’s playing with a Half-Life crowbar.
Oh god you're right. While Gordon was in stasis for 20 years after the Black Mesa Incident, his crowbar ended up in the hands of Lars, who somehow... turned it into a drum or something. ANYWAY, that was that until he lost it and Barney got it back to give to Gordon once he got out of stasis.
@@accountwontlastlong1 Barney is actually Lars Ulrich and was using it as a drumstick
Yeah one of the guys in Slipknot plays with kegs or oil drums in his kit and they don't sound anywhere near as bad.
To me, it sounds like he’s dribbling a dodgeball lol
"Lars Freeman, who is Gordon Freeman's brother..."
The "*donk*" subtitles are brilliant.
I remember in Highschool that my metalhead friends were all excited because they really expected the next "Ride the lightning". It was sad. The first day they thought it was good, the second they said that two or three songs were kinda ok. The third day they stopped talking about it. For months!
This album reminds me of one of my therapist’s techniques: Write an angry letter to someone that wronged you.
The problem is the second half. To BURN that letter, instead of sending it.
This album literally was a therapist technique, they had a therapist who made them right lyrics to air out their anger.
@@thereverse-flash9942 That therapist should have been fired. If you hire a therapist to get an album's production back on track and the result is St. Anger, they did not do their damn job!
@@noesunyoutuber7680 It was to get the band back together
@@noesunyoutuber7680 Yeah, to be fair, the therapist wasn't brought into make a stellar album, he was hired to keep the boys working together. In that regard, he did his job swimmingly.
What's your therapist's opinion on not sending it, but setting it to music, thus launching your wildly successful musical career?
St. Anger's snares sound like getting hit in the face with a dodgeball.
It does!!
It's a bold move, Cotton - let's see how it works out for them...
No wonder so many Metallica fans hate it. It's triggering and reminds them of middle school.
That's a new one for me
Trashcan lid
The problem with St.Anger is everyone was saying that Metallica wasn't metal anymore. After the Black Album, they did Load which was Hard Rock at best, then they did Re-load. On the Reload tour they insisted on doing short medley's of kill em all and garage days songs on acoustic guitars on stage. It seemed like they were abandoning everything that gave them their reputation by 2000. Then the Napster thing happened. St.Anger was supposed to be them going back to the speed and thrash heaviness, then we got an unfinished, terribly mixed, forgettable album that almost everyone wanted to forget
Heyyyy, a million views! Congrats, Todd!
The idea that the way we live foreshadows the way we die is really a profound and impactful one. It deserved such better writing than "My lifestyle determines my death style"
*in dreaded black and white, hands on head in confusion* my life style determines my death style....
*in neon lights, thumbs up, shades and rose colored nostalgia* MY LIFESTYLE DETERMINES MY DEATHSTYLE, YEEEHEEEH, YEEEEHEH!
That’s what happens when you let anyone other than James write lyrics
Is it bad that I think that's the best lyric on the album?
Don't you mean "My lifestyle (donk donk) determines my death style"
@@morley364 Ah yes, my mistake!
I didn’t know Hbomberguy was the drummer for Metallica.
Yes, and he also wrote the song "Fifteen Thousands Dollars".
St. Anger failed because they didn’t include the cult classic “No More Horses” on the record
Jason is garbage,and here's why
th-cam.com/video/Mdbn5pJJGOk/w-d-xo.html
@16:32 if you notice Robert Trujillo's face, you can see him contemplating if joining the band was such a good idea after all. I mean, who could blame him... "Invisible Kid" is garbage.
Its actually insane to me how that song is fucking 8 minutes long.
@@Aleph3575and yet it’s only the second worst of the three 8 minute St Anger songs
This was my first Todd In the Shadows episode and it's still my favorite.
I vividly remember hearing Frantic on the radio when it first came out. I was so excited! I'm a metalhead, I was not used to hearing this kind of heavy music on mainstream radio. Sure, it wasn't *good* exactly, but it was loud and aggressive and I was so hyped to hear what this new, young, popular metal band was going to do next! Then the song ended and the DJ said "That was Metallica." Total whiplash.
Was that last part supposed to be a pun?
@@liamfitzgerald7217 I mean, I noticed the reference and I left it. I'm not gonna claim it's clever or anything
@Stella Hohenheim it's a song off Metallica's Kill Em All
@Stella Hohenheim Metallica has a song called Whiplash.
St. Anger kicks ass. Only idiots care what other idiots think.
My favourite line from this album was
“Can’t you help me be uncrazy?”
That sounds like something Homer Simpson would say
"All work and no play makes Homer...something something."
I'm a sucker for "Frantic tick tick tick tick tick tock!"
I just imagine James writing that and feeling so damn clever.
@@qty1315 I see him just trying to get the perfect words before the therapist Dr Towel (thats his real name watch this podcast called Why I Hate This Album episode on st anger) Dr Towel just gives him his words (that happens)
d'oh!
@@ladyoftheratking7801 it's spelled "Towle," but close enough.
Funny thing is that the rehearsal DVD that came with the album sounded 1000 times better than the actual CD did lol
I illegally downloaded St. Anger on principal alone. Listened to it once and never again.
Lars: "My Coke style determines my snare style"
One of my first jobs was at a pizza place, and I had a friend who bought this album the morning it came out.
He pulled into the parking lot blaring it, hopped out of the car talking about how awesome it was...but by the end of our 6 hour shift, he had slowly come to terms that the album literally sounded like garbage.
It was actually sad, he came into work so happy...
Basically my experience with Netflix's reboot of Aggressive Retsuko. I was a high schooler with really annoying classmates, so I loved the original shorts, and I was excited to hear it was coming to Netflix. Then, when it finally premiered on Netflix, I watched a little bit of the first episode in the car on the way home, and, well... let's just say that after finding out how they screwed up the show, my traditional Friday pizza didn't taste as good as it usually does. I stopped using Netflix permanently, I burst into random fits of rage in class, and I wished I could stop being so angry, but couldn't. In essence, Netflix's version of Aggressive Retsuko was my personal St. Anger and it effectively turned me into St. Anger.
My stepdad has a similar experience listening to WEEKEND WARRIORS by Ted Nugent. He was a huge fan, then heard that and it slowly creeped on him, "Oh no, this isn't good..."
Same. I was so pumped but before I even got halfway through the album I was just crushed. XD
@@Bismuth83X XD I'm sorry man, it's really the worst when something you love is eviscerated right before your eyes.
@@seamusburke639 Henry Rollins had a good story about Ted Nugent before and during Weekend Warriors. Not only did Weekend Warriors suck, but Ted made the mistake of having this up-and-coming band called Van Halen opening on that tour, who ended up upstaging Ted.
This documentary and the album, were amongst the first big lessons in my teenage life. Realized that I don't really want to know anything about people, who make music/movies/books that I like.
I think what i realized is something that lots of singers do. When they wanna get more serious, or more broad with their artistic and lyric range...they also regularly get voice lessons. if James wanted to make his voice all front and center and be this new introspective james hetfield who doesnt sound like james hetfield...he shoulda gotten some voice lessons.
Your reviewing style determines your viewer style, Todd.
It's funny because it's true.
I do
Actually more clever than the original lyric
"My *donk* *donk* !
Determines my *bonk* *clonk* !"
- Lars Ulrich, 2003
@@lordofgiovanni But it's only more clever because of the context, which wouldn't exist without the line
my 6th grade teacher, who was like a 60 year old woman whose primary interest was Elvis Presley, was a huge metallica fan. just to add to that ''bigger than metal'' thing
My friend's pastor father is a Metallica fan
@@boomslang182 Just like all those republican congressmen who claim they love Rage Against the Machine. Irony can be a hell of a drug.
I had a 60 year old teacher who was a Rodgers and Hart fan who hated Elvis. But she got totally turned on to Texas favorites The Judys, and also the B-52's and Devo. She knew a couple of the Jonestown killers and thought "Guyana Punch" by The Judys was the infamy they deserved.
@Stella Hohenheim stop upvoting your own comments
@@seymourglass26 Exactly lol
Skipped school to get this cd and the vinyl. Wish I'd just stayed in school.
I find myself coming back to this video every now and then. This is some of your best work, Todd. In fact, Trainwreckords as a whole is really great. Thanks. And by the way, I bought St. Anger the day it came out. As a lifelong Metallica fan it just really confused me. Although I still really like the song Dirty Window despite the wall of shit production.
Love that “METALLICA will return in TRAINWRECKORDS: LULU” tag at the end
the rare double Trainwreckord
I AM THE TABLE
I was thinking the same
Can't wait to hear about Lou Reed's obsession with "colored" people.
Never made it more than 10 seconds into it
I respect the artistic choice to make the snare sound like a rubber playground ball hitting the side of an aluminum shed.
Lars Ulrich introduced the argument that it is always morally-correct to pirate Metallica's music.
Dude your videos are really good. Found you a few days ago and can't get enough of em. 👍👍👍