30 Years Ago Today!!

I feel more than compelled to be the one to honor this album. If "Kill 'em All" was a game changer for the genre, this album was a game changer in "my" life. It was my senior year and this album took precedence over anything else that came out that year. I probably listened to this album every day for a really long time. Anyways...

Amazing album, brother. Many memories of cranking this on the headset. It's funny, I remember riding home on the school bus and then having a brief walk home from the drop off site. The first side of the cassette was almost always the same length as my journey. I always seemed to be walking down the street as the last few bars of "One" were playing out. Good times.

I hate the liner notes giving credit to Cliff Burton for writing the spoken words in the song Orion. Do any of the newer versions still give him credit for that? It happens to be a line spoken by Merlin in the movie Excalibur.

Still a great album, makes me cry hearing that, then realizing what came after. Great memories for that one though for sure. Was lucky enough to see them on that tour, with Faith no More opening. Don't remember a ton from that night, cause I drank way too much, but still a great show.

EDIT: lol I said Orion, when I meant To live is to die!

This album was a game changer for me as well. It was the 1st time I had ever heard anything that heavy. I still spin this one fairly often.

I only got into this album and other Metallica classics around 1992. My introduction to the band was through the Black Album which is an awesome album. I am glad that their latest album was a step in the right direction. Gets lots of spins from me.

Are they not gonna reissue this one like the others? A deluxe edition with the bass remixed would be great.

this album was so damn trendy when it came out. People that would tell me Metal sucks and so on started listening to this and it really pissed me off!! Everything from Jockboys, Surfers, skaters, punkers, Mod people etc... I never liked it and still don't care for it. It is better than anything they have done since its release, but still.

Lurideath wrote:

this album was so damn trendy when it came out. People that would tell me Metal sucks and so on started listening to this and it really pissed me off!! Everything from Jockboys, Surfers, skaters, punkers, Mod people etc... I never liked it and still don't care for it. It is better than anything they have done since its release, but still.

You sure your not thinking of the black album? I don't remember those things happening for this album, but for sure happened when the black album came out.

This is my 2nd favorite Metallica album.Master would be at the top for me. Shortest straw was my favorite song for a long time. Such a great riff!

...And Justice for All is a classic album. Their last great album. "Blackened", "Dyers Eve", and "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" are my favorite songs from it.

I was only three when it was released, but Metallica performed only a 15-20 drive from my house during the tour. If only I had been born about 10 years sooner.

Troublezone wrote:

Are they not gonna reissue this one like the others? A deluxe edition with the bass remixed would be great.

I think it's supposed to be reissued in November.

Quote :

You sure your not thinking of the black album? I don't remember those things happening for this album, but for sure happened when the black album came out.

No it was this one. It all started with the One video and their appearance on the MTV Music Awards. When the S/T album came out I was overseas and had no idea they even released that album.

Lurideath wrote:

Quote :

You sure your not thinking of the black album? I don't remember those things happening for this album, but for sure happened when the black album came out.

No it was this one. It all started with the One video and their appearance on the MTV Music Awards. When the S/T album came out I was overseas and had no idea they even released that album.

I remember the One video being all the hype, but my Mom didn't start liking them until the Black album came out lol

I see your from Vegas, you live there back then too? I was born and raised there, but moved out in 1992ish.

I saw RIP Magazine and another page on Facebook had erroneously posted this album as being released on August 25th, 1988 Saturday (the Wikipedia page is now showing August 25th, also - I checked there Saturday and August 25th and September 5th(?) were both listed on the page in different spots, no idea why) - the actual release date was Tuesday, September the 6th, 1988. Hard to believe it will be 30 years, though - I still remember getting out of school that day and going to my friend Kyle's, firing-up the bong and listening to the albums on his turntable. To this day one of my all-time favorites.

https://www.metallica.com/releases/albums/4212/and-justice-for-all

When I do put it on, it is very hard to listen to the entire thing. Way too many other thrash bands doing it better when this came out, so it has never resonated with me.

James B. wrote:

When I do put it on, it is very hard to listen to the entire thing.  Way too many other thrash bands doing it better when this came out, so it has never resonated with me.

I find it to be very cold and mechanical sounding and difficult to get into. I rarely listen to it.

This album hit at just the perfect time for me. I was in high school, just developing my taste for thrash, and was getting familiar with the Big Four and all their cohorts. I bought it as a new release on cassette and wore that sucker out. It'll always be a sentimental favorite of mine just because of that. 'Dyers Eve' still smokes.

Fun Fact: Years later, this album would inspire an infamous nickname my buddies bestowed upon my college girlfriend, The Harvester of Sorrow.

Geez, that was a quick three decades.

When Justice was released, my Metallica obsession was at an all time high. I'd been a fan boy all thru high school and had just seen them live for the first time on the Van Halen's Monsters of Rock tour. They'd played one track from the new album ("Harvester of Sorrow") at that gig and my friends and I argued for the rest of the summer about whether the new song was "Harvester of Sorrow"  or "Harvester of Souls," cuz the live sound at the Monsters gig wasn't great, so we weren't sure, haha.

By the time I moved into my freshman dorm room I already owned the U.K. 12-inch single of Harvester (with non-album tracks "Breadfan" and "The Prince" on the B-side) which came out a few weeks ahead of the album release. I was way too proud of the fact that I was the only person on campus with new Metallica stuff. Of course, nobody cared, but in my mind, merely owning that record meant I had major "scene" cred. Yes, I was a nerd.  

I actually got Justice the day before its street date. One of my new dorm buddies and I took a trip to the local shopping mall to get a break from all the stupid Freshman Orientation Week activities, and while nosing around the music dept. in a Crazy Eddie's store I found a whole box full of Justice cassettes on the floor in a corner, priced up and ready to go on the shelf the next day. Naturally I grabbed one and headed straight to the checkout, sweating that they might not sell it to me yet cuz it wasn't the "official" release date, but the guy behind the counter either didn't know or didn't care cuz he took my money and didn't say a word.

Needless to say, the album became the soundtrack of my freshman year. When I look back at it now, I'm a bit more critical of than I was back then ("Where's the bass? Why is the production so brittle? Why is the title track so friggin' long?") but at that time Justice was the greatest thing since sliced bread as far as I was concerned.

I'm pretty much the opposite of FF on this one. Over the years I've become less critical and realised that it's a flawed gem. At the time I hated the sound of it and it was the end of a love affair.

CrookedCross wrote:

I saw RIP Magazine and another page on Facebook had erroneously posted this album as being released on August 25th, 1988 Saturday (the Wikipedia page is now showing August 25th, also - I checked there Saturday and August 25th and September 5th(?) were both listed on the page in different spots, no idea why) - the actual release date was Tuesday, September the 6th, 1988. Hard to believe it will be 30 years, though - I still remember getting out of school that day and going to my friend Kyle's, firing-up the bong and listening to the albums on his turntable. To this day one of my all-time favorites.

https://www.metallica.com/releases/albums/4212/and-justice-for-all

I thought that date was wrong, cause that's my birthday and I would remember if that album was released on it or not.

Boris2008 wrote:

I'm pretty much the opposite of FF on this one. Over the years I've become less critical and realised that it's a flawed gem. At the time I hated the sound of it and it was the end of a love affair.

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, I still enjoy the album to this day, but as I've gotten older I've obviously grown out of the "Holy sh** this is the BEST ALBUM EVERRRRRR" mindset I had when it was current, haha.

Anybody remember a NFL Films compilation of hardest hits/tackles that used "The Shortest Straw?" I swear I saw this back in like '89 or '90.

Never liked it much. But it does have good moments.

To this day I still enjoy the album. It was my introduction to real metal! Before that I was listening to the glam and hard rock bands like Winger and Bullet Boys. I was a late bloomer to metal in general back then. I only discovered thrash sometime in late 1990 as a high school freshman.

On a side note, (and I'm not proud of it)
I had been to a theater to see the film "Lord of the Flies", and when we returned back to the parking lot I noticed the car next to ours had the window down and I saw the cassette single that had "Eye of the Beholder". So I ended up grabbing it and the rest is history! Not long after that I bought the Garage Days $5.98 EP and instantly became a big fan until the next year when the Black Album was released. I was shocked at the style change they made, but over the years I've grown to enjoy it's non radio "deep tacks".

nevermore wrote:

Troublezone wrote:

Are they not gonna reissue this one like the others? A deluxe edition with the bass remixed would be great.

I think it's supposed to be reissued in November.

Oh, cool. I loves me some Deluxe Editions. I have a couple of boots from this tour, so I hope for some rarities (if there are any left) and maybe some good demos/ alternative takes.