How about the fact that when Metallica released their debut album in 1983, mainstream rock radio wouldn’t touch them? They released their next album in 1984 and again, radio wouldn’t touch them. They released their third album in 1986 and still radio said no to Metallica. Metallica were making music that was considered that uncommercial. In addition to that, they hadn’t made one video for MTV. Who else has gotten so big with that kind of a start? That third album, Master of Puppets is now certified platinum six times over in the United States of America. Metallica have a whole lot of gold and platinum records to their credit now and really, the other thing that separates them from many artists their size is just how few artists their size there are! If you look to some of the classic bands of the 60s and 70s who are still around, you can find the occasional band that compares in size. The Rolling Stones have had even more commercial success than Metallica, but the Stones are rock royalty and bands of their stature are very few and far between. Only a handful of bands in rock music are as big or bigger than Metallica and not one of them started out as a thrash metal band! It was only with 1988’s …And Justice For All that they made a video for MTV for One. Of course, the video for One did incredibly well. It was ranked at #1 on MTV not long after it started getting played. One was also their first song that any of the big rock radio stations would play in regular rotation and eve then, there were some markets were rock radio wouldn’t play One. Those rock stations that still wouldn’t play Metallica finally gave in when in 1991, Metallica released what is known as “the Black album.” That’s the album where Metallica took a creative risk, deviating from the style that had made them stars despite the lack of help from radio. The Black album took Metallica from stardom to megastardom. To date, it has sold over thirty million copies. It’s not thrash metal album but compared to other albums that have sold in excess of 30 million copies, there is nothing close to it in heaviness.