“Metallica sold out!” It’s a complaint that elitists love to mash into comment sections and scream at anyone who’ll pay attention. Yet, for all the people desperate to bring heavy metal’s biggest stars down a peg, there’s little consensus on when this band actually (allegedly) traded their morals for big bucks.
Some say Metallica sold out when they went art rock with Load. Others argue it was with the first pluck of an acoustic guitar string on Ride The Lightning. The particularly pearl-clutching like to go back even further still. So, here’s the quintessential timeline of every moment where the Four Horsemen attacked metal tradition and overcame the backlash on their crusade towards the top.
