So, Bethany is awesome and got us tickets to go see Metallica when they come to Pittsburgh in October. We don’t have a whole lot of overlap in musical taste. We have been to a bunch of concerts together, ranging from Flogging Molly, Rancid, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, & the Dropkick Murphys, to Willie Nelson, The Devil Makes Three, Poison & even (Lord help me) Kenny Chesney. This doesn’t even count the dozens (hundreds?) of club shows we have attended for the local and national levels back when I was actively gigging… which was mostly punk or metal stuff on a more local-ish level like Omegalord and Peelander-Z. I think I have successfully sold Bethany on the awesomeness of punk rock. We haven’t really delved into metal past what I have played in the car. Even myself, I have gravitated more in the punk direction than metal listening over the years. Perhaps due to a shrinking attention span? Metallica stands as one of those influential bands for me as far as it being one of the earlier things I “got.” A kid in 6th grade lent me his cassette of …And Justice for All, and it was all-in from there. It led me to stuff like the Misfits, Danzig, Megadeth, Motörhead, & Black Sabbath. I wore out multiple copies of the Master of Puppets cassette. The black album is a hugely definitive and divisive album, but it hit right when I was headed into high school, metal ruled the airwaves and guitar magazines, and grunge hadn’t yet stomped all over the oft-mocked hair metal’s reign supreme. A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica and Live Shit: Binge & Purge made me want to be a rock star. My aunt & uncle took a me and a friend to the Guns N’ Roses & Metallica concert at Three Rivers Stadium. That was the first and only time I ever saw them live. It was my two favorite bands at the time. It was awesome. I’m anxious to go again.
That brings me to this; How do I bring the wife up to speed on multiple decades of Metallica fandom, some of which even pre-dated my time as a fan? Dave Mustaine getting booted? Cliff Burton? Jason Newsted? Haircuts? The Napster thing? James catching on fire? Goofy psychologists? Lulu? Lars’ drumming ability vs. his business acumen? Kirk Hammett’s appearance of total passive and obedient participation? “Four Horsemen” vs. “Mechanix”?
If you were going to make a mix tape playlist as an introduction to Metallica, what would you include? Jokes about St. Anger or Load/Re-Load aside, what is the important stuff? Audio? Video? Live performances? Documentaries? Metallica covering their influences? Other bands covering Metallica? Related bands? Originals that Metallica has covered? What videos would you say are essential? MTV Icon? Behind the Music? When Metallica Ruled the World? I know “One” is up there in my all-time favorite songs. Do I start there, or go in chronological order? Which instrumentals?
World (and Lunar) Domination 
Definitely Live Shit: Binge and Purge. That’s a reasonable coverage of material through the Black Album. I personally enjoy the hell out of Symphony and Metalica as well.
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That is a good one. I never did buy the box set. A lot of my friends had it,.and it was EXPENSIVE back in the day.
I do have the S&M DVD somewhere…
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OK, first pass… any glaring omissions? Any covers of Metallica songs that ought to be in there?
Metallica 101 Playlist…
“(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth” (Kill ‘Em All)
“Whiplash” (Kill ‘Em All)
“Seek And Destroy” (Live Shit: Binge & Purge)
“Four Horsemen” (Kill ‘Em All)
“Fade To Black” (Ride the Lightning)
“Creeping Death” (LIve Shit: Binge & Purge)
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” (Ride the Lightning)
“The Call of Ktulu” (S&M)
“Orion” (Through the Never)
“Master of Puppets” (Master of Puppets)
“Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” (Master of Puppets)
“Disposable Heroes” (Master of Puppets)
“Blackened” (…And Justice for All)
“One” (…And Justice for All)
“Harvester of Sorrow” (…And Justice for All)
“One” (S&M)
“Enter Sandman”
“Nothing Else Matters”
“Unforgiven”
“Wherever I May Roam” (S&M)
“Sad But True” (Live Shit: Binge & Purge)
“Until It Sleeps” (S&M)
“Mama Said” (Load)
“Fuel” (Re-Load)
“The Memory Remains” (Through The Never)
“Unforgiven II” (Re-Load)
“Low Man’s Lyric” (Re-Load)
“Frantic” (St. Anger)
“St. Anger” (St. Anger)
“Some Kind of Monster” (St. Anger)
“The Day That Never Comes” (Death Magnetic)
“All Nightmare Long” (Death Magnetic)
“Cyanide” (Death Magnetic)
“Hardwired” (Hardwired… To Self-Destruct)
“Altas, Rise!” (Hardwired… To Self-Destruct)
“Now That We’re Dead” (Hardwired… To Self-Destruct)
“Stone Cold Crazy” (Garage, Inc.) [Queen]
“Tuesday’s Gone” (Garage, Inc.) [Lynyrd Skynyrd]
“Die, Die My Darling” (Garage, Inc.) [Misfits]
“Whiskey in the Jar” (Garage, Inc.) [Thin Lizzy]
“Last Caress” (Live Shit: Binge & Purge) [Misfits]
“Overkill” (Garage, Inc.) [Motörhead]
“Commando” (St. Anger Single) [Ramones]
“I Disappear” (Mission: Impossible 2 Soundtrack)
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Battery?
Ecstasy of Gold?
Unforgiven III?
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