TRAINWRECKORDS: "St. Anger" by Metallica

When I worked in the drum dept. at Guitar Center when this came out, any time someone would come in asking to have drums like Metallica we would try to sell them a steel chair. I sold one.

About the Saint Christopher medallion: Technically it can be worn as a "symbol" of protection, but Saint Christopher is more commonly known as the patron saint of safe travels. The saint medallion used as a protector of all, especially warrior-types, is Saint Michael (who has been co-opted as the patron saint of soldiers, police officers, and firefighters since the beginning of the 20th century).

Jess the Stampede

uh this is a treasure

matt

yeah yeah

My hot take is that St. Anger is only marginally worse than the albums that surround it.

Peter Guilherme

I just remembered: the whole reason Metallica "opened up their set by covering Lenny fucking Kravitz" et. al. at the 2003 VMAs is because it was the 20th annual edition of that awards show . That was the same show where Madonna & Britney Spears kissed, in a symbolic passing of the torch that did not pan out...

Jon Heiman

I didn't listen to the post 2000 stuff because excepting for St Anger I've at least checked out Death Magnetic and Hardwired... to Self-Destruct kinda recently at the time.

Raymond

That's gonna be a rough death

Raymond

In 2019 I re-listened to all the pre St Anger Metallica albums since it's been a while and made a personal ranking of the albums. My pet theory was that the longer the album, the more meh they were. My top 3 were Ride the Lightning (47), Master of Puppets (55) en Kill em all (51) in no particular order, my bottom 2 were Load and Reload with both being 70+ minutes long. The weird thing is it looked like they agreed since ...And Justice for All was 65 minutes, but the black album followed it at 62:40 minutes, but then they jumped off of the 70+ minute albums cliff.

Raymond

The moral of the story is don't use jug band instruments unless you're mongojerry.

sugarfrosted

At around 13:45-13:46, there’s an editing issue. There appears to be a still image of yourself slipped between band footage and your on-screen shot. Otherwise, wonderfully tight work

James Polk

I always picture him channeling Kid Rock. "My name is BOOOOOOOOOB ROCK!"

Spielman

I'm still convinced that the snare was a folding chair, not an oil drum.

Spielman

Did he put it on Youtube already?

Jasper Phua

I wanted to comment in the YouTube comment section of this video but couldn't. Anyone else having this problem?

KenTerminatedDQ

I still want Calling All Stations and Adore.

There's an amazing re-recorded version of Stanger by Daryl Gardner, Chris Dando and Dave Cox, check it out and you can see where some apologism for the album comes from: https://youtu.be/lU-UI3_6HcM

Jasper Phua

This one has been hanging for a long time. Calling All Stations might be next

ParsnipPizza

It is probably the most insane trainwreckord of all time

I think it's worth mentioning that underground metal musician and producer Colin Marston made a video that combined every song off St. Anger into one song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_TxZ0IrNPE&t=44s

Dyl

Metallica released a live album last year with a version of All Within My Hands that is miles better

Triple 9

Dave Mustaine being so offended by his inclusion in Some Kind of Monster that he almost never reconciles with Metallica is hilarious because of how much more level-headed he comes across in his 8 minutes of presence than Lars and James

Jasper Phua

Even hearing St Anger as someone who isn't a metal fan (but certainly likes a fair few metal songs) and has never listened to the album before, I could tell immediately that this album was crap just from the snippets shown here. It really is impressively awful (Still holding out for that "The Final Cut" [what an aptly named album] episode Todd)

Morpheus

At last: Todd tackles CLANG-TALLICA! But I think "Invisible Kid" would have been great entrance music for a young John Cena.

Josh Liller

I hadn't heard of that Gareth Brooks/Chris Gaines album, so when you namedropped it I thought it was just like a really sick roast.

Error 52

How often does Bob Rock say "My last name is Rock"?

Stephen Gillie

Isn't Enter Sandman's 2nd lyric something about a "big apple pie-yea-WHeyea!"

Stephen Gillie

System of a Down sounds about right given the association both bands have with tables. And Todd will probably get to that one soon.

I liked Metallica as a kid and thought everyone did. Then this album came out and a lot of my friends didn't like them. I thought it was just this album, but they would go and mock older songs like Fuel too. Looking back, I'm guessing this album might have turned them completely against the band, even the old stuff they used to like. Listening to it - I honestly can't tell much difference between this and a lot of their previous stuff. No hits, sure, but still like 3/4 of what they used to make. The snare sounds like a marching tom. I think a lot of people liked them because they were popular - given mainstream appeal by being the most palatable version of an edgy product, with the side effect of amplifying both success and failure.

Stephen Gillie

Maybe it’s just me, but you bring up how it doesn’t sound like any rock band of that era, but with James vocals and some of the sound, to me it sounds like they’re trying to sound like System of a Down but failing miserably.

John Seiler

I don't know why but my father, a huge Metallica fan, says that this is one of his favorite albums. He doesn't even understand English and doesn't seem to know anything surrounding the album either. He just likes the sound.

That video is particularly cringeworthy. It's a desperate attempt to give the song badass cred it just doesn't have.

Kristopher Bluth

Personally I feel bad for the prisoners in the St. Anger video. Some people in history got to see Johnny Cash give a career-defining performance. These guys got to see Metallica at the bottom of their game.

Justin V

I AM THE TABLE.

Kim P

Teasing a Lulu episode? That could be super interesting. Lulu has way more defenders (and welll, merit) than St. Anger. Even Fantano is pretty warm on it. Personally, I don't mind it. I think Lou Reed's lyrics are bonkers in a good way. I wouldn't listen to it on my own, but it's overhated.

Kim P

Sounds about right, 50 Cent was so big in 2003 it's hard to comprehend

Anthony Pierre Coco

My favorite anecdote about the album is when they were filming the "St. Anger" video, the actual prisoners there said there didn't want Metallica, they wanted 50 Cent! Also: I want to hear a version of the album with squeaky dog toys now. Get Amydog to do it!

Jon Heiman

I gave Lulu a first listen recently. It's bad but St. Shitter is worse.

GeddyLeeRoth

I don't know a ton about Metallica, so this was really interesting! (Also, tiny thing at 12:59 where the subtitles in the video you used pop up for half a second is kinda distracting.) But it was a really great video, I enjoyed it!

Call Me Christina {PuellaDocta}

I actually quite like Jar-Jar and after hearing that Ahmed Best almost committed suicide because of death threats from angry obnoxious Star Wars fanboys, i'm kind of sick of hearing people continue to whine and bitch about him.

RedBedroomRecords

They also played Frantic on tour occasionally for a few years after the album came out.

RedBedroomRecords

I actually liked Jar-Jar and I don't think it was a bad idea at all, and I feel terrible that Admed Best got death threats from obnoxious fanboys that made him seriously contemplate suicide. I'll defend Phantom Menace and all of the prequel trilogy on my deathbed as good movies. This album is the pits though, even listening to it as a 14-year old kid who knew very little about music production, I knew drums weren't supposed to sound like garbage can lids. My reaction was "I thought I listening to a Metallica album, not a recording of "Stomp!". While musically it might not resemble Nu metal bands, lyrically it definitely does at times. Dirty Window(which I believe was that song with question marks on it in the video), My World(which also might be that ??? song) and Invisible Kid definitely don't sound too far off from the likes of Limp Bizkit. The lyrics are just so whiny and cringy that it makes me scratch my head. For me the worst song the band ever did was "Shoot Me Again" which is a whinefest Lars wrote about Napster, it's the most irritating and repetitive song on the album.

RedBedroomRecords

Sidebar: I feel like I need that "Weekly St. Anger Defense" tag for "...And Justice For All", cause whenever somebody criticizes its production I wanna go into a 20 minute rant about where the band was after Cliff's death and how they were "hazing" Jason by making the guitar and bass parts identical and the sterile production only makes it sound more angry and desperate and apocalyptic and GOD that's a good album

The Hand Of The People

It's probably time. https://news.avclub.com/chris-gaines-is-back-baby-1846494650

Kristopher Bluth

And the smirk in his voice tells you it's gonna happen.

Anthony Hansen

Robert Trujillo would go on to revive the band back into musical coherence and self-awareness.

Me, to my housemates: Where are our pots and pans?

Something similar seems to be happening at the 21:00 mark, at least to my eye.

FRANTIC TICK TICK TICK TICK TICK TOCK

waywardlaser

Fun fact: Metallica poached the kickass bassist (Robert Trujillo) from my favorite band, Suicidal Tendencies. Even though he was an integral part of the band, he left them to join Metallica and the first thing he made with them was St. Anger. Feels bad man

Sierra Reppert

The Jar-Jar comparison is inspired. I was cackling. Another excellent vid!

Matthew T.

It's pretty common practice. Even before digital, if a singer couldn't quite hit a high note on the day, they'd do "comping": having them sing the note a tone or half-tone lower then speeding up the tape to hit the right pitch and punching it into the vocal track. (One of the many reasons analogue recording was such an expensive and time-consuming process.) Nowaways, probably every album has at least a little bit of autotune, just not the obvious processed kind.

Joe G

Karen O is the true master of the awesomely manic: "Tick Tick Tick tick"

At 13:44, there's a little visual hiccup where it appears you jump forward from the previous shot.

I'd watch a Chris Gaines episode. Idk if youd be able to put it on youtube though.

Well. This was inevitable.

Anthachu

HELL YES

Cameron Kirkpatrick

“except for lulu but that is a story for another day” more exciting than any marvel post credit scene

Holy crap, this is a big one to mark off the list. Around the time this came out, there was a new couple at church (back when I still went to church) named the Angers and all I could think when I saw them was "I'M MADLY IN ANGER WITH YOU!!!!!!"

Kristopher Bluth

I have to give credit where it's due, Lars' drum sound has aged very well. It still sounds terrible after all these years.

I’ve been waiting for this episode since the series began. Now it’s time for a Billy Squier episode.

I’m guessing the latter.

Grace

It's not a mistake you should fix but I'm pretty sure it's "Ull-Rick" and not "Ull-Rich"

Is Lars saying it sounds "stock" or "stark"?

Jason Schneiderman

Some of the footage in the opening couple of minutes has a lot of flashing lights - maybe add a seizure/flashing lights warning?

Cordelia Of The Seas

That's interesting. Do you know how they recorded their follow up albums? Did they go back to James and Lars doing everything or did they stay democratic?

Dorian Wainwright

oh boy, is this the part where I defend The Unnamed Feeling? because I actually really like The Unnamed Feeling.

So the list of people who like Lulu is: Metallica, Lou Reed, David Bowie, and you. Not bad company to be in.

Scootinand

Even the band didn't take all that long to realize what they had on their hands here. The game Guitar Hero Metallica, released just six years later, contains *one* song from this album (out of 31 Metallica songs on the disk, plus the entire Death Magnetic album as DLC) and even that feels like an obligation.

Timur Hahn

i'm learning a lot about metallica this last couple of weeks

Ixcaliber, Gay Fox 4 Life

Aw man, great episode as always but FUCK it was a bad idea to watch this with a headache.

Jessica Forbes

James' vocals actually sound like they're being pitch-shifted at times.

Russet Burbank

So it actually...kept the train from wrecking?

Russet Burbank

Good catch

Todd in the Shadows

Your closing statements reflect my thoughts that this was an album they needed to make, but not one we needed to hear. Funnily enough, the song you bailed out on at the end (All Within My Hand) seems to be the only one they still play, but they mostly play it acoustically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcG-htmIZR0 (and gotta say, I always interpreted "st anger 'round my neck" as the protagonist being choked/controlled by his anger, not as a "fuck yeah, anger" kind of song...then again, I can't remember ever looking into the lyrics all that much >.>)

"oh boy!" i say as I rush to watch this video about The Migraine Album then become regretful immediately when I predictably get a migraine.

Katastrophe

I think one other big reason this album is like how it is is they tried to record it more democratically instead of having James and Lars just hole up together, write a bunch of hooks and lyrics and then present it to Kirk and Jason and say, "Here, you're playing this." Like the whole "Lifestyle determines my death style" thing came from Kirk. So in some ways it feels kinda like Mardi Gras but not done with any sort of true maliciousness like Fogerty had.

I hate to be that guy, especially this early to the party, but I feel like Lulu succeeds in all of the ways that Saint anger fails honestly. It's ambitious, the riffs are interesting, the instrumentals are mixed decent... it's a weird album, and it doesn't always succeed, but the tracks that do work, work so well. I don't want to start an argument about the merits of Lulu, but I just have to say, regardless of how you feel about it, at least it's competent, and there was a lot of Creative Vision that was a guiding force. Saint anger though, I have no problem calling Hot garbage, great video is always!

At 13:44, there's a visible cut with the footage of you.

Ridd

I understand that the CDC has designated Lulu as a "choking hazard."

David Dixon

After 24 minutes of listening to you comment over one of the ugliest-sounding mainstream albums ever made, I couldn't help but laugh at your gentle piano rendition of the title track at the end.

Jacqueline Sailer

Just goes to show how great Todd is that I can watch this video and laugh and understand his points without getting angry, considering Metallica is my favorite band and they kept me from harming myself when I struggled with my sexual identity (yeah, Metallica is my bisexual power anthem band, figure that one the fuck out) and while i continue to struggle with depression and anxiety. I love this album not just despite its flaws, but because of them. I hated it until I watched the movie which made me understand why it is the way it is. I personally love that the "godlike" aura was destroyed. I hate that shit. It makes music feel like the unattainable thing that only magic people can harness. I like knowing that my favorite band are a bunch of crying little bitches from time to time. Because I, too, am a crying little bitch. Todd hates this album for all of the reasons I like it. That all being said, Lulu is a trash fire and I'd love to see an episode about that, but I do respect them for being unafraid to do whatever the fuck they want, despite the effect on their reputation. People hated them when they were young because they didn't play party music. People hated them in the middle because they "sold out," and people hated them in their middle age for makijg weird ass records of dubious quality. But they did it. They took that risk. And I'd rather them take those risks rather than make the same album over and over again. That all being said, this was a great episode, and the "sad little boy" bit made me lose my shit. You made fun of my favorite band, the people who inspired me to put down the knife and pick up my guitar, and you made me laugh the whole way through. Good job, Todd. Thank you, Todd

Scootinand

My life style determines my death style. And my life style is that this is the only Metallica album I’ve ever liked.

I Have Four Names

...Todd, I am not sure if that ending was a tease for a Lulu episode, but for your own sake don't do that to yourself man. There's no need to be a hero.

Adequately Sized Dog

fuck yeah

CLONG CLONG CLONG

Russet Burbank

LFGOOOOOO!

Aaron Larson

yeahhh-AH!

David Dixon

Oh... OHHHHH. Oh boy.

Crash Thompson

oh holy shit yes

pj

Yessssss finally let’s GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Christina Kelley