Eddie Trunk shared on X why Metallica faces so much hate.
“Why does Metallica get so much hate when they have done so much for metal music?” This Day In Metal recently asked on X.
Trunk replied, “I honestly don’t know anyone that hates Metallica. Rarely even have callers that say this. But if it really was a thing the answer would be because the top dog that is the biggest and most popular will always have people trying to knock them down a peg. Deserved or not.”
Other music lovers also shared their opinions on the issue. “Not hate but indifferent because: how they treated Jason, photoshoot with Anton Corbijn, and last 20 years of mediocre and lazy albums (similar to Iron Maiden),” a fan commented.
Another one said, “Because instead of being the standard bearer for Thrash Metal, they decided to follow trends to stay relevant. After the ‘Black Album,’ they started making music they thought people wanted instead of music they are passionate about.”
“It’s the same reason people ‘hate’ Nickleback. Nobody hates them, their music is just Coca-Cola Classic. It’s not cool to like it but everyone drinks it,” one other individual wrote.
Metallica became more popular after their song ‘Master of Puppets’ was featured in ‘Stranger Things.’ However, they later faced criticism from young fans after a viral TikTok video. The video, by Serena Trueblood, showed former bassist Jason Newsted seemingly giving a Nazi salute and the band making jokes about Kurt Cobain’s death.
James Hetfield was also accused of racism in Trueblood’s TikTok. One clip showed Roberta Freeman, a backup singer for Guns N’ Roses, claiming Hetfield used the N-word for Ice-T. Another video showed Axl Rose accusing Metallica of racism towards Ice-T and Body Count.
“I wish I watched this before I bought my Metallica shirt,” one person wrote on X. The debate continued on the platform, where many people defended the band from being ‘canceled.’
Many of these new fans also watch ‘Stranger Things.’ In the season 4 finale, Eddie Munson played ‘Master of Puppets’ on his guitar. The song became popular again. It made it onto Billboard’s Hot 100 and climbed on streaming platforms.