Metallica Administers Beefed-Up Justice

Metallica might be totally mainstream/old hat nowadays, but there was a time when they were possibly the most exciting underground metal band in the land. It was with their self-titled fifth album (the “black” album) that Metallica thoroughly entered the safe zone of everyday MTV watchers, but it was actually the band’s previous album, 1988’s …And Justice For All, that initially blasted them through to a wider crowd. It reached #6 on Billboard’s top albums chart (this was back when you actually had to sell a shit-ton of copies to get on that list), and “One” nabbed a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. Oh, I’m sure there were some hardcore Metallica fans that viewed all that success as a sure sign of sellout, but I really don’t remember much talk of that at the time.

Anyway, the album still kicks ass, and it’s getting a 30th anniversary deluxe remastered reissue on Nov. 2, in a variety of configurations designed to accommodate your level of fandom and/or thickness of wallet. Previously unreleased demos, live tracks, rough mixes, yadda yadda, including an uber-package that includes 11 CDs, 3 LPs, 4 DVDs, a picture disc, patches for your denim jacket, a baggie of smokable James Hetfield pubes and all sorts of other cool/stupid shit.