{"id":801677,"date":"2026-10-13T22:20:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T22:20:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/801677\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T22:20:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T22:20:18","slug":"the-top-10-best-metallica-1990s-songs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/801677\/","title":{"rendered":"The Top 10 Best Metallica 1990s Songs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Metallica<\/a>\u2019s first decade saw the San Francisco quartet grow from scrappy, snotty outsiders into the world\u2019s biggest cult band over the course of four peerless albums \u2013 Kill \u2018Em All<\/a>, Ride The Lightning<\/a>, Master Of Puppets<\/a> and \u2026And Justice For All. <\/p>\n

The \u201890s were a much more divisive period for supporters of the band, with founding members James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich determined, as ever, to break fresh ground for their group and re-draw the blueprints of what Metallica could be. The result was some of the best, if most contentious, music of their career\u2026<\/p>\n

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\"Classic\n<\/p>\n

10. Fuel<\/p>\n

When Lars Ulrich told the world that, post-Black Album, Metallica were exploring a more \u201cgreasy\u201d, dirty sound, he obviously had Fuel in mind. A Battery for the NASCAR demographic, there\u2019s nothing subtle about the dumbed-down petrol head turbo-blues blaster which introduces 1997\u2019s Reload album but there\u2019s no denying its full-throttle roar.<\/p>\n

Metallica: Fuel (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica:<\/p>\n

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\n9. No Leaf Clover<\/p>\n

One of two previously unreleased songs to feature on S&M, the document of Metallica\u2019s bold collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (the other being the unremarkable \u2013Human), the dramatic No Leaf Clover is one of the band\u2019s most under-rated compositions, with James Hetfield\u2019s bleak lyrics (\u2018It comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel is just a freight train coming your way\u2026\u2019) accentuated by Michael Kamen\u2019s brooding orchestration.<\/p>\n

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Metallica: No Leaf Clover (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica:<\/p>\n

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\n8. Hero of The Day<\/p>\n

Originally titled Mouldy, as James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich considered its main riff reminiscent of Husker Du\/Sugar mainman Bob Mould\u2019s guitar style, this slow-burning Load highlight is a masterclass in employing light and shade and push\/pull dynamics to take the listener on a journey. The song\u2019s video, meanwhile, is memorable for employing a rare use of erectile dysfunction in the story-line.<\/p>\n

Metallica – Hero Of The Day (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica<\/p>\n

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\n7. Wherever I May Roam<\/p>\n

Towards the end of the \u201890s, with their cover of Bob Seger\u2019s Turn The Page, Metallica dealt with the mundane, often soul-sapping, realities of being a touring musician, but on this Black Album highlight, with its memorable \u2018Rover, wanderer, nomad, vagabond\u2019 refrain, James Hetfield makes life on the road sound positively heroic.<\/p>\n

You may like<\/p>\n

Metallica – Wherever I May Roam (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica<\/p>\n

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\n6. Until It Sleeps<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s first taste of the controversial and unfairly maligned Load album<\/a>, this 1996 single is a Southern Gothic-tinged reflective meditation upon death and loss, all the more powerful and affecting for being inspired by James Hetfield\u2019s knowledge that his estranged father Virgil had incurable cancer.<\/p>\n

Metallica: Until It Sleeps (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica:<\/p>\n

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\n5. Enter Sandman<\/p>\n

Metallica\u2019s first single of the 1990s was both their passport to the mainstream and the song by which their decade would be defined. Thrillingly direct, immediate and impactful \u2013 in stark contrast to the labyrinthine twists and turns of the \u2026And Justice For All album – it kicked down the doors for the band on US radio, and ensured that the Black Album became first true \u2018event\u2019 album of the \u201890s.<\/p>\n

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Metallica: Enter Sandman (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica:<\/p>\n

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\n4. Sad But True<\/p>\n

An absolute beast of a song, Sad But True laughs in the face of anyone claiming that Metallica turned their back on \u2018heavy\u2019 music in the \u201890s. Proving the old age that less is sometimes more, its elemental, down-tuned riff is given room to breathe in a spacious arrangement that would have mystified the youthful thrashers who made Kill \u2018Em All, lending the track a rare authority and power.<\/p>\n

Metallica – Sad But True (Live Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert 1992) HD – YouTube
\n\"Metallica<\/p>\n

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\n3. Bleeding Me<\/p>\n

Dealing with themes of rebirth, regeneration and renewal, Bleeding Me is a perfect encapsulation of Metallica\u2019s mindset when approaching the Load album. \u2018I\u2019m digging my way to something better\u2019 sings James Hetfield at the outset of this masterfully controlled, suspenseful eight minute epic, a song undeniably influenced by the singer\u2019s burgeoning infatuation with mid-\u201890s stoner rockers Corrosion Of Conformity.<\/p>\n

2. The Unforgiven<\/p>\n

Though the Black Album was released one month ahead of the fifth anniversary of Cliff Burton\u2019s death, the late bassist\u2019s colossal influence upon Metallica resonates in every bar of this majestic metallic symphony. There are echoes of Ennio Morricone\u2019s iconic spaghetti western soundtracks in this sobering, thoughtful treatise on life, love and liberty, but it would have been impossible without Burton\u2019s schooling of the band in the sturm-und-drang dynamics of European classical music.<\/p>\n

Metallica – The Unforgiven [Theatrical Version] (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"Metallica<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a>
\n1. The Outlaw Torn<\/p>\n

The highpoint of Metallica\u2019s \u201890\u2019s output, Load\u2019s closing track is an atmospheric weighing up of loss and regret, which, as with The Unforgiven, unfurls into a widescreen cinematic epic. Metallica were forced to cut a whole minute from the song\u2019s outro on Load to accommodate the CD\u2019s running time – the full length version later surfaced on the B-side of the The Memory Remains single, wryly sub-titled (Unencumbered by Manufacturing Restrictions Version) \u2013 but the breath-taking version on S&M shows this remarkable band at their transcendent, untouchable best.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Metallica\u2019s first decade saw the San Francisco quartet grow from scrappy, snotty outsiders into the world\u2019s biggest cult…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,128,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-801677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}