21 for 21: #7—Metallica, "Metallica" (aka "The Black Album")

Oh, for heaven's sake, it's the title of the blog! Coming in at #7 on my top 21 favorite CDs from my collection is Metallica's self-titled 1991 monster smash, often called "The Black Album" due to its cover art. This was Metallica's first #1 album, and it spawned five hit singles, including the one for which this blog is named, "Enter Sandman." It also happens to be my theme song.

Or at least it would be, if I were someone famous. I don't really want to be famous—not any more, at least—but I'd be lying if I said it wouldn't be amazing to have a late-night host announce my name, the curtain opens, then I walk out onto the stage with that driving percussion and ominous guitar proclaiming my arrival.

Why is this my song? That's a story in itself. Although it seems rather obvious, considering my last name is "Sanders," I was given the nickname "Sandman" by a young man from St. Louis named Lou Viviano when I was a freshman at the University of Missouri. Living in the dorms was like the army in that you didn't get to pick your nickname; it was given to you. "Sandman" stuck, and it's stuck for almost 30 years now.

My friends from college still answer to these names...Mike Wagner is "Wags," Mike Tucker is "Tuck," Joe Daus is "Joe Dog," William J. Williams, Jr. is "Ditto," and PhD in nuclear physics David Rainwater is "Super Dave." One of my proudest moments was walking across the stage at Mizzou in 1992 to receive my master's degree in English and hearing Wags and Ditto shout out from the crowd, "Exit light! Enter night! Take my hand! We're off to Never Never Land!" It's the closest to walk-on music I'll probably ever come, so thanks, guys!

The album is amazing, of course. I was never a big fan in high school—metal heads were a weird, frightening group—but I liked the MTV single "One" enough to buy their "...And Justice For All" album (#23 on my 2013 list of favorite vinyl albums), so I was familiar with their music when "Metallica" came out in 1991.

The traditionalists condemned the band for "selling out" because their music was more acceptable to a mainstream audience (like me). It's definitely less prog-thrash (no more 15-minute long tracks) and much more emphasis is placed on lyrical and melodic structures. But it's certainly no less hard and no less metal. There's more than enough thrash to go around, even if they did include a power ballad ("Nothing Else Matters").

Sorry, I need to go now—they're playing my song: