Metallica - Black Album

This is the last really great album Metallica ever made (or will likely ever make) and it has still been accused of being overly-commercial and too accessible to the non-metal public. I guess I can see the logic on those arguments in that this album was accessible to me back in the day when the hardest-rocking thing I owned was Green Day's Dookie.

Here's how I would answer any arguments against this album: the songs are still great. "Enter Sandman" "Sad But True" and "The Unforgiven" are metal classics. They stack up with the very best any other metal band has ever produced (well, maybe not Dio, but who can compare with him. I'm serious. Ronnie James Dio is the very best metal singer in the history of the genre. It is indisputable). Yes, after this album Metallica cut their hair and started making music for people who weren't their fans to begin with and punished their fans with frivolous lawsuits, but the Black Album is the last moment of true greatness for one of the greatest metal bands ever. Respect it for what it is.