[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Daradon

You're splitting hairs. Hammett (two t's) was the guitarist since before the release of their first studio album, Kill 'em All. If that isn't good enough for you, or you want to consider Dave Mustaine the true original member because he helped record a demo tape (compared the the eight albums and two compilations Hammett has contributed to) then fine, but it's a pretty silly argument.

And yes Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted were both heads and tails above the current bassist Rob Trujillo (maybe he just hasn't been able to make his mark yet) but the third bassist in 24 years probably isn't going to have a lot of affect or sway on the band. He's mostly just there to play the songs they already have.

Metallica has definitely gone down over the years, but I'd still take a bad Metallica album over 90% of the other stuff that's released out there. I've got the all the albums and even though I have ones I definitely listen to a lot more (Lightning through to Black) I'll through each of them in every once in a while. I actually really enjoyed the S&M album, though the first half of the second disk was a little weak.

The first time I saw them in 96 I believe for their Load tour, it was amazing. Energetic, exciting, and long. Saw them on the second show of their St. Anger tour, not as good, but still a good show. And got to meet six of the Flames on the floor! (This was just after they took out Detroit)

I agree with most of what you're saying but St. Anger was horrid. And do you consider Ringo Starr an original member of The Beatles? What about Brian Johnson for AC/DC?