Wheel of Rock - Metallica Albums Tier List (with Mike Portnoy)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ก.พ. 2025
- Our first episode of our spin-off series Wheel of Rock where we tackle ranking Metallica albums with guest Mike Portnoy.
Panel: Roie, Kyle F, Kyle G, and Vic.
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#mikeportnoy #metallica #masterofpuppets
I love how much of a music nerd Mike Portnoy is beyond being a phenomenal musician. Makes me appreciate him even more.
but his opinion of Load was a bummer
He's an uberfan and has the best taste ever alongside Pete Pardo from Sea of Tranquility at least as far as people who are in the public eye. I feel my cowriter in my band also has GOATed taste but yeah he's obviously not known like they are but I love him still shoutout Nicolas
I still tend to rank Death Magnetic pretty high. Love that one.
Me fucking too!!!!! As well as Beyond Magnetic
agree
have to listen to the uncompressed version though
I love the album but the mixing or production Is god awful
22:00 - Am I Evil was NOT on Kill ‘Em All originally. It was a b-side of the Creeping Death picture disk (along with Blitzkrieg). Those were added to Kill ‘Em All for its 1987 reissue (subsequently removed on the 1996 reissue).
Both Load and Relod have gems, the problem is that its 2 albuns that could be only one.
I think the second half of Reload has a lot of hidden gems. Bad Seed, Where the Wild Things Are, Prince Charming, Fixxxer, Carpe Diem...
Front half of Load plus The Outlaw Torn would've made for a perfect album
The last 2 good Metallica albums.
Exactly, there's some brilliant stuff! But I didn't understand this when they came out, I was just a narrow-minded metal teenager 😅
It all changed when my guitar teacher introduced me to Dream Theater... :)
It's ok that these are 2 albums.
Maybe if it was 1 double album it would have been better.
People shit on it for no reason.
I love that you guys are branching out from prog to hit other bands in different genres. Here are some suggestions,
Iron Maiden, Megadeth, Symphony X, the entire Devin Townsend catalog, take the top 6 albums from the Big 4 and rank em, King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Deep Purple, UFO.
Some great Jazz Fusion artists that have some prog elements as well that coulee be explored.
Cheers, can't wait for the next one.
Great ideas Kyle. Some of those are on the list!
So many prog artists to cover (as you mentioned) and TPR calls Metallica “rock” 🤦♂️… A Frank Zappa Wheels of Prog would be interesting… I think the wheel can’t handle so many albums…
May I add King's X and the Galactic Cowboys.
Zappa's catalog is infested with filler releases @@csantana1971
Anything Symphony X will be embraced with a chef's kiss! The band itself does NOTHING for the fans (2 albums since 2008, no news on SoMe EVER, still no recorded live show or even a crowdfunding campaign, no proper new merch, NOTHING) so getting any SX related content at all is like finding an oasis in a desert :D
OMG. Portnoy explaining which albums he has in his "A" and in his "S" (with the long island accent). Absolute chef's kiss. 🤌
I'm with Vic , the house that jack built is one of the coolest song of this album
abso-fucking-lutely
Very underrated song. It would be interesting to have people condense and combine Load and Reload into 1 album and see what songs everyone picked.
💯 Underrated, same with The Outlaw Torn
it's a solid album
half of it is very good
House, Sleeps, King Nothing, Hero, Bleeding Me, Poor Twisted Me, Outlaw Torn
then
Fuel, Memory Remains, Devil's Dance, The Unforgiven II, Low Man's Lyric
I have to disagree, most of Load is actually not good.
Love this! Doesn't matter if it's the "prog" report - you guys should do wheel of whichever band you all enjoy! So fun to watch. Hope there's more coming soon!
Kinda surprised by Mike's opinion on Load. I was expecting him to praise stuff like Bleeding Me and Outlaw Torn.
Same! Honestly, I think a few of the people here discounted Load before ever giving it a proper chance. It’s hard to go back and listen with fresh ears and expectations.
It is like a Venn Diagramm: they both love Metallica, but age, moment in life, they favorite music style etc. makes everything different and fun. Haha
Mike comments on Killem all comes from discovering the album when it was fresh... For me, I knew the Black Album and a friend showed my Ride... blew my mind.
Bleeding Me, Outlaw Torn & Fixxxer.. wtf Mike 😢
Reload is D really? I love it so much😢
There is NO way Reload is worse than St Anger and LuLu. NO WAY!!
Agreed!!
Agree, they are all dog shite.
Lulu is a good album, just a bit too weird for the usual dorky metal fan
St Anger is their best alongside Justice
@@adr.marius5636That's a super condescending thing to say. You can love a variety of music genres & still think an experimental album is shit. Is it unique? Sure, but taking risks does not a good album make.
As a major Metallica fan from my teens i really liked the approach of the Load album. It has deeper meaning lyrics, great compositions like the house that jack build, bleeding me and the outlaw torn. Also, the production of this album for me is a masterpiece, especially the rhythm guitars which sound so alive and crunchy with perfect amount of distortion.
Another superb show and so good to have Mike present again. With all of the commitments he has, it’s fantastic that he shares any of his down time with us. Love Kyle’s enthusiasm for the Load album 😂
I love this era we live in where music legends just casually doing podcasts :)
Ha! Mike, the reactions (thumbs up, fireworks, etc) are from your camera settings in MacOS. You can turn the auto reactions off.
I have never seen those before! lol. I kept thinking Roie did it.
Without those funny moments of confusion, this video wouldn't have been elevated to S tier.
@@YesOkayButWhy Ah man. Thanks for saying that. I don't know if I'd rank it in S Tier, but it's definitely the most fun I've had filming a podcast. And, to be clear, I'm always just joking with the other guys (and myself). We've been good buds for nearly a decade and this podcast filming came after a good week or two of arguing behind the scenes about our favorite (and least favorite) Metallica albums. The intended spirit of these podcasts is to be competitive and opinionated, but it's all supposed to be in good fun. Thanks for watching and I hope you come back!
@@KyleFagala
✌🏻❤
i think the napster debacle actually started with the mission impossible soundtrack / i disappear.
You're right. We misspoke.
Only yesterday I was thinking about Disposable Heroes, which came about after watching a Devin Townsend update in which described agonising over writing lyrics which got me thinking, "which tracks do I hold In high regard for their lyrical content?" Disposable heroes came to mind straight away, even the title itself is strong.
Man! I had so much fun listening/watching this episode of wheel of ROCK lol
I think you guys nailed the the list!
For me, and I'm almost Kyle's age, the video for One was embedded in my brain as a 5 year old when it aired on MTv and I never forgot how dark it was... years later when I was fully capable of appreciating music, I listened to Load and it marked me, but through the force of nature I discovered their 80s albums and felt like I had found pure gold! So even if I was in my teens by then listening to a decade old music I knew that was Metallica's best music ever
Load and Reload have some good deep cuts like Bleeding Me, Outlaw Torn, Low Man's Lyric and Fixxer. But they're are a lot of filler songs too. You could combine all the good songs from these two and make one high end B tier album. I always came from the mind frame that the only reason people don't like these albums is because it's Metallica and it's not their normal sound. If some new band had made these and sounded more or less the same, people would have had no problems with them.
B tier ahah funny. If you combine those 2 albums it's easily S tier.
Great show, gentlemen! Great to see Mr. Portnoy on TPR and Sea of Tranquility.
I need a video on Black Sabbaths catalog! Thanks for sharing, loved yo see Portnoy back on the show!
Im listening to this yet, but the dude saying that death magnetic with Rick rubin was good for audiophiles... What? The album is nearly meme material because the original release is almost inaudible.
You mean because of the fact the production is so bad it makes your ears bleed
Agree with Mike Portnoy on the S&M. As someone who also listens to classical music, I feel like Michael Kamen composed a totally different piece instead of staying faithful to the motifs of the songs and compliment it. I remember watching it for the first time and it gave me a headache. Like listening to 2 different bands playing at the same time.
Everything u said here is only about fan's idolatry, not about music & poetry. NVM what u used to & nwm what u expected. Only quality matters.
@@qrotagoras What do you mean by idolatry? Did you not read my comment? Do you understand the term Motif in Musical terms? I happened to have classical training in the conservatory so what "Idolatry" and "Poetry" are you talking about? Care to articulate?
Mike Portnoy participating in every show recently since he rejoined Metallica 😂👍🏻
Th song sequencing on side one of Ride is absolutely brilliant Awesome show guys!
I disappear is the song that triggered the Napster stuff.
This was fun. Great show, guys👍🏻!
If Load and Reload was made by any other band in the 90’s, it would get far more love. Even a first or sophomore release for a new band, it would be considered amazing. I think it would have made a much better solo album.
Also, I don’t get why people include Lulu. It is not a metallica album! It’s a collaboration with Lou Reed. It stands on its own as a pile of crap.
I loved this though!
I was/am one of those, that when the news broke, was pumped as hell. DT needs Mike Portnoy!!! Thank God it came to life!!!
Fantastic video guys. I haven't watched a 100min TH-cam video in a very long time but I was hooked on this. Very knowledgeable men talking about the greatest metal band of all time. Addictive viewing. I'm off to listen to all 14 albums back to back. 😂
Kyle absolutely killed it arguing for Load! It’s not perfect, but its best tracks feel so vital, and have aged really well. Can you imagine ANY other metal band writing a country ballad as heartfelt as Mama Said?
Did you like load when it came out? I really gave them credit at the time for trying other stuff so I kind of liked it. I find that with that initial response I like it less and less over the years. I'm down to 2 songs I think were even good for what they were trying to do.
Mike shaking his head because only his opinion matters apparently
Exactly. Load easily surpasses 72 Seasons.
As always, an awesome watch!!! ❤
Great one, I have enjoyed watching every minute of it. I would love to see Riverside albums tier list!
There were at least few epic albums that came out in 1997. Children of Bodom's debut "Something Wild" and Symphony X's "The Divine Wings of Tragedy" 😄
both incredible albums
Had a great time watching the vídeo, congrats guys!
My personal ranking would be:
S: Ride, Puppets, Justice
A: Kill em All, Black Album,
B: Death Magnetic, Garage, Hardwired
C: Load, 72 Seasons
D: Reload, St Anger, Lulu
So cool to see Mike hanging out with these guys!
Death put out Symbolic in 95 and The Sound of Perseverance in 98 their 2 best albums so not every metalband sucked in the late 90s. Obviously not too high profile compared to your Metallicas and Megadeths
If you remove from the Black Album the most “sellout-y” song or songs (Nothing Else Matters, maybe The Unforgiven, MAYBE Enter Sandman), we would all look back on it more fondly, yes it’s slower and less complicated but it kicks ass.
i mean the "sellout" thing is bullshit anyway. RTL is my fav album but lets not pretend Nothing Else Matters isn't one of the best power ballads ever
Srsly happy to have found your podcast - MP is a legend and I’m so happy he’s back with Dream Theater!!!
Loving this, got yourself a new fan. Please keep up the good work 🎉
Welcome! Thanks.
Liked this episode! I never got into post-black-album Metallica, but the first five will always be metal favorites of mine, with Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets being tied as my top favs. I think the next logical band for a metal episode would be Iron Maiden. Cheers!
I think load/reload can be made into 1 amazing album , same with hardwired/seasons. Top under appreciated Songs for me from those albums are outlaw torn, bleeding me, fixxxer, where the wild things are, Inamorata and spit out the bone.
My tiers below:
S - Justice, Puppets, Lightning
A - Magnetic, Kill ‘em all, Black
B - S&M, Load, Seasons
C - Garage, Hardwired, Re-Load
D - St Anger, Lulu
Prog channel, AJFA at #1, calling it. As it should be. Very interested to see where the post-03 material ends up.
Ajfa is peak James
Excellent episode, always great to hear inside baseball from Mike Portnoy.
Does anyone else really wish they’d release the wheel episodes on the podcast feed? I often use tools to download and convert the videos to audio files and handle it myself but most people are not willing to go through all that effort.
You need to have Mike back to do the Megadeth wheel!
The Metallica+Megadeth album tier list has everything by Metallica in D
The wheel of Megadeth can't be rid they said, and if it comes the living will envy the dead.
Of Wolf and Man and My Friend of Misery are my faves from the Black album.
with respect to Load, Kyle took the words outta my mouth. I understand it's more limited appeal (hell my fave Metallica album is RTL)... just wish Load was a bit more appreciated. Regardless of style the songwriting is strong, and substantially stronger than on Reload IMO... dont think it's fair to lump them together. Load for me only has three weak cuts (all on the back half)... put Reload's three strongest in their place and wow, woulda been excellent. For me, House that Jack Built, Until it Sleeps, Bleeding Me, Mama Said, and Outlaw Torn are staples/classics of the band. Just my 2 cents on Load.
At least you and I agree! haha
The loads are not bad albums. For me, the problem is it's such a departure from what came before, to the point where those 2 albums, along with St Anger, are the last albums I would listen to if I was in a Metallica mood.
Not surprised Load and Reload were rated so low.
They are criminally underrated, mostly by purists or people who "felt betrayed".
It's more authentic then anything they released after 2000.
Death Magnetic is good
@@lopa-u9f
All the post Lulu stuff really sound and feel forced.
The fans gave them so much shit so they tried to make something to please the fans, but they can't. It's not who they are anymore. It's not authentic at all.
As much as I hate them, they're definitely better quality albums and more organic sounding than anything they've made since.
That subtle dig at Falling Into Infinity from Mike Portnoy was funny; some things never change!
A daily dose of eMpTyV... Hahaha
Love the album.
Great video! I would love to see this for Riverside, but I understand about them maybe not having enough material yet
59:18 Mike Portnoy's Stewie pyjamas reveal
Where can I find that remixed version of death magnetic that Mike talked about????
Google 'Death Magnetic GH3'
Considering you started with Metallica I think you should go onto Megadeth
Hear Hear!! 🤘🤘🤘
Yes, thanks for mentioning the "loudness" problem on Death Magnetic. The vinyl sounds better but it is still not where it should be. Wish they'd remaster this one.
Im with Kyle on Load and Re-load, but then I was also a similar age... interesting AJFA was my first encounter with Metallica and then followed swiflty by Load and Reload.... sure they we're very different sounds but at the time... i didnt care... I just thought these guys are so cool... I loved it all.
The Napster thing started with the leaked release of I Disapear from the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack.
I Disappear from Mission Impossible 2 was the Napster leak /m\ . Good as always.
Yep. You’re right!
I had sooo much bootlegs and lost it
If S&M is included because the previously unreleased tracks, Beyond Magnetic EP should have been included. 😉
I agree. There’s some bangers on that EP
Them 4 songs would probably make the top 6 of death magnetic I don’t have a clue why they didn’t put them in
Great, loved watching this🤘. And MP... So cool. Thank you guys.
Well... I'm not a big Metallica fan. But I like Load and Reload 😂
So glad Mike isn't a wimp who is too afraid to give an honest review of an album from another band. He's a great guest on here.
Mike is the best podcast guest of all time. Zero ego and a huge fan at his core.
My list (just the main discography)
S: Master, Ride, Justice
A: Kill, Magnetic, Metallica
B: Load, Hardwired
D: Anger, Reload, 72 Seasons
THIS! My same ranking overall, maybe not in exact same order, but I agree with every tier for these
The best part of this video is the Portnoy special FX mystery being solved just in time.
LOL. Totally!
This is the last hurrah (and album/tour). It's definitely gonna be a go big or go home kit.
I dont get the defense for St Anger: It would be great If It wasnt bad?
Hahaha. Exactly! It would be great if it didn’t sound like it does!! 😂
That wheel looks like a clickable banner ad from the nineties. And it even spins like it’s coming over a dial up modem.
Sorry Netflix cut our special effects budget.
lol. Please find us a better wheel and we will use it!
I'm going to have to disagree with Mike here, Falling Into Infinity is from 97 and is a top tier album. Love you MP ❤
They didn't like making it- living that is probably why, the album and more over, the demos reflect that band doing it's best song writing- maybe not the heaviest or most technical side of the band, but songs..
72 Seasons in B tier is crazy. It's basically "We are modern day Metallica, we are going to do a very safe, minimally heavy modern day Metallica album and you will buy it because we are Metallica."
Agreed, i even think Load is better than 72 seasons
Gentlemen, we agree with each other. 🤝🤝
I love St. Anger. I get all the arguments, but I love the songs. The lyrics and the music compliment each other perfectly. The song St. Anger is perfect!
Minor correction: While MoP and RTL are closely aligned in terms of their tracklisting, the instrumental isn't the penultimate song on RTL, it's the final track.
i remember they uploaded the version of Dead Magnetic with the "good mastering" in Myspace first, that's the one i listen to too!
PLEASE do a Megadeth list. Id love to see all the different takes on all the crazy directions Megadeth has gone.
Also really would love to see a Symphony X list. Another band with a super varied catalogue.
I’m hoping to convince the crew on Megadeth!
Pete Pardo and Martin Popoff did a great show about changing your favorite because going back the other one sounded fresher...that was me with Ride. It was puppets for me for years.
Puppets essentially is a "sequel" to Ride the Lightening... But with drier production, less vocal range, and more repetitive and drawn out arrangements.... Also, 1984 was just before Metal really went big. By 1986 the climate has changed enough for a band like Metallica to get more popular, but in the process the first two albums kind of got buried for a while.
I was 17 and working on a house (our house) and this 18 year old from my dad’s friend and he put on a master of puppets cassette. I was floored. I was like … finally done great heavy stuff. It came at the hieght of glam and I was going back In time looking for great music. To me master came out and saved modern music then Janes addiction live xxx album in 87’ and appetite came out in 87’. Hard rock was saved by those three to me. Then dirty ass grunge came in 89’. I went opposite of progressive. I wanted simple and wild.
Great show! I’m seeing Metallica and Pantera tonight 🤘
36:12 bro I never thought Portnoy would go so hard on Load😂
I was surprised he didn’t like it. 🤷🏼♂️
Lulu should be considered the worst album of all time.
It’s up there for me. Certainly by a band of Metallica’s status.
Wheel of thrash would only cover the first 4 albums. 5.98ep garage days should really be considered seperate than garage inc.
my all time favorites from Load/Reload:
LOAD:
- House that Jack Built
- Until it Sleeps
- King Nothing
- Bleeding Me
- Thorn Within
- Outlaw Torn
RELOAD:
- The Devil's Dance
- Unforgiven II
- Carpe Diem Baby
- Low Man's Lyric
- Fixxxer (god damit!)
The Prince. One of the best cover songs of all time, so underrated in the Metallica catalogue!
I cant agree nor disagree. But Thank you Verry much for the recomendation! Bout to check it out
The mix that the AJFA album should’ve had. You can actually hear Jason!
@@JakeTerchyep but instead lars was like bass? What bass. Cause you can’t fckin hear it on AJFA
Load is fantastic… one of my faves for sure. Different doesn’t always means bad. Load is better than Death Magnetic in all senses for sure better sound, more iconic songs, etc. Well i guess it’s a matter of personal taste. Reload was a mixed bag because it has fantastic songs but overall is weak.
At the Saint Louis show, someone had a sign that said "Play Prince Charming" - James said, "Yeah, that's not happening."
At least they played Sandman and Nothing Else Matters!
I know that they are playing the tunes that make them happy so good for them.
You Must Burn and Too Far Gone are my favorite from 72 Seasons. I have that album in my ears when I snowblow out my driveway in eastern Iowa!!
I was at that show!
Please, I think you are the best people to do it, and consider it: DT's tier list of albums without him.
We did DT a few months ago.
@@progreport Yes I know, I saw it, but I meant an episode where Mike makes his Mangini era list. I expressed myself wrong, sorry 😄
@@Relocrian Oh, gotcha. Doubtful :)
@@progreport Probably, but I think you are the only ones capable of convincing Mike to comment on which track he likes the most from each of those albums. There are songs that DT will play live from the non-portnoy era and he will have to learn them. Just a thought 😉
@@RelocrianHe doesn't have to. They may have to leave quite a few songs out or bring a totally new life to them (which might serve them well)
S - Black, Master, S&M
A - Death Magnetic, Justice, Ride
B - Kiill 'Em All, Load
C - Garage, Reload
D - Lulu, St. Anger, Lux, Hardwired
yes, you MUST listen to the uncompressed version of Death Magnetic
yes! that mastery is tops, must must listen to it, guys!
wow, you guys who feel S&M is disconnected from the music, that's wild
I LOVE IT, and think it is one of the greatest live albums ever
the orchestration is great
Through the Never is sneaky one of their best songs
Love that Death Magnetic is finally getting it's love, it's A for sure, for me personally it's an S.
You should check out my re-record of St. Anger 😊 but this was a good listen guys!
I remember when St. Anger came out I loved it. After the 90s I was just happy about the faster tempos and longer songs. I didn’t realize till much later how much everyone was in agreement in hating it.
I'm with Kyle, I love Load and I would easily put in A tier.
"only 3 albums per tier" or not, all of the 80s stuff is S-tier compared to most of latter outputs, tbh. Intrigued to see where Death Magnetic lands!
23:39 Not many people know about the fact that Metallica's Whiskey In The Jar's a cover of a cover of a cover!! The first version of WITJ was recorded by an old American lady back in 1953 and Leo Blokhuis from the Netherlands played this version on a Dutch show called "Top 2000". He explained that many people believe that Thin Lizzy's version's the original, but 10 years prior, a band from Ireland called The Dubliners already recorded it but according to Leo Blokhuis, even that version's not the original, so on the Top 2000 show (can't find it on YT unfortunately, but I heard it many years ago!), he played an old American woman's version of the song. It dated back to 1953 I believe and it's just her rocking her chair singing and playing the acoustic guitar on her porch. This makes me wanna believe THAT's not even the original, but it's just not possible to record it before that timestap. It's unbievable even how that 1953 recording came to fruition. Btw, Leo Blokhuis is sorta a national treasure here in the Netherlands. There's a channel called Top 2000 A Gogo in which Blokhuis interviews many artists from Roger Waters to Mike Oldfield to Metallica, so make sure to check it out. I hope they'll upload the video about WITJ one fine day. In fact, I'm gonna send them a message reminding them of that video, hoping they'll upload it. :)
It's an old folk song. Centuries old.
The ...and Justice for Jason version of AJFA is definitely S tier.
Agree but I would rank Black Album on S and 72 seasons on D. The first half of Hardwired is A.
They only have 4 albums (and a worthy ep), but I cannot recommend Oceansize enough. They definitely deserve more praise and recognition.
Agreed I absolutely love Oceansize! Frames is one of my all time fav albums.
That last album killed Oceanside, it wasn't nearly as good as Frames, and I'm not surprised they broke up after that.
@@jimmypage2843 yeah Self Preserved wasn’t as good as the previous ones that’s for sure. Still some cool tracks though.
Yeah, I still listen to the first album regularly. You Wish is such a killer track.
There is definitely a line of demarcation for Metallica and I'm in the Mike Portnoy camp. Being older, and having seen Metallica live in 1985 and many times later, load and reload was an off ramp for me from Metallica. It felt like a couple of big fuck yous to their longtime fans. When kill em all came out, it was one of a kind. The rawness of it was part of it's charm. Ride the lightning was a continuation with better production. Master of puppets was somewhat evolutionary and still great. All three were God tier. And justice for all would be s tier if Lars hadn't done Jayson a disservice by almost mixing out the bass, and compared to what was coming next, the black album was good in retrospect.
My favorite albums of all time are Lightning, Puppets, and Justice. Pick your order of preference, it’s like a game of rock paper scissors. Having said that… am I the only one that LOVES the song Bleeding Me? No, it’s not as good as the 80’s stuff but it is amazing and I’ll always love it. Makes the other songs on Load (Outlaw Torn being the obvious exception) seem really basic, simple, BORING, in comparison. Bleeding me is beautiful, the rest of the Load Reload era is mostly bland.
kyle fucking i think i would agree with your personal tierlist the most, load in C and 72 seasons in B hurts physically 😢
Yeeeaahhh. Don’t sound so disappointed about it tho! Haha
@@KyleFagala oh dont worry! its all in good fun 🤘
@@JaelleJaen This stuff is always in good fun. I was just saying - "sharing opinions with me ain't so bad!" ;)
Please do Iron Maiden wheel with Mike
I think Disc 1 of Garage Inc. is possibly their best sounding mix for me, as a guitar guy.
James blew out his voice while touring for the black album. His vocals were never the same after that.
His vocals were equally as good in Load
Kinda wild hearing Mike saying every metal band (INCL. Dream Theater) had weak albums in the 90s, when a lot of DT highlights ARE in the 90s. Haven't heard the entire albums tbf but they definitely got some big early hitters.
I can't speak for Mike, but I believe he was talking about the late 90s specifically, and speaking somewhat generally. Obviously, there are some exceptions to his statement.