These 5 Metallica Songs Are Critical Flops — But To Us, They'll Always Rock Hard

Say the word "metal," and Metallica is likely the first band that comes to mind. Well, it probably helps that the group has "metal" in its actual name, but don't let that take away from the fact that Metallica is the poster child for the genre. Despite the extraordinary success over multiple decades and adulation from fans around the globe, not every song has been a hit. Some tracks have received the notorious thumbs-down from critics and appeared on several worst-of lists. Ouch!

Even though these songs fail to be in the same league as the likes of "Master of Puppets," "Blackened," and "Nothing Else Matters" (which Elton John calls one of the best songs ever), that doesn't mean they suck. For us, they still know how to get the one-person-in-a-car party started and turn every traffic jam into a mosh pit. At the end of the day, the worst Metallica song is still better than many bands at their best in heavy metal.

So, in deciding which songs to feature for this list, we pored over several worst-of lists from the likes of reputable metal publications, such as Metal Hammer and Ultimate Classic Rock, to find these so-called critical flops, and here we provide our own reasons as to why these tracks are actually total bangers!

Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" is the band at its unrestrained and ferocious best. The 1984 album lit the spark that electrified the path for greatness with heavy hitting songs like "Fade to Black" and "For Whom the Bells Toll." Yet, there's one track off this record that gets a lot of stick: "Escape."

Unquestionably, it's a more commercially accessible track, leaning more toward a radio-friendly sound than the rest of the bone-crushing music on "Ride the Lightning." Metal Hammer included it in its 10 worst Metallica songs article, writing that the group itself dislikes the track so much it didn't make it onto a live set until 2012. It's unsurprising, since Metallica's James Hetfield revealed an interesting fact about "Escape" to Sopitas, explaining how it was an eleventh-hour addition and saying, "That was the first time we wrote a song in the studio, actually in the studio."

Yet, while "Escape" might not meet the high standards of everything else on the album or showcase the band firing on all cylinders, it still demonstrates glimmers of the group trying to find the sweet spot between heavy metal and radio-friendly tunes. It's a precursor of what was to come a few years later with "Enter Sandman" and "Sad But True." Also, it's a fun mid-tempo song to rock out to.

In the year 2000, Metallica contributed to the "Mission: Impossible II" soundtrack, delivering the scrumptious nu metal-esque "I Disappear." It very much fits the music of the era, proudly standing alongside Limp Bizkit's "Take a Look Around" (a riff on the "Mission: Impossible" theme song) — all that's missing is James Hetfield wearing a backward red cap and Osiris skateboarding shoes. At the same time, the track soared to the top of the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, built on a solid foundation of Hetfield exclaiming, "Hey, hey, hey!"

While the music video remains memorable as it features the Metallica band members on secret agent missions interspersed in between Tom Cruise's death-defying antics from the movie, the song has its haters. Ultimate Classic Rock dubbed it one of the worst from the group, writing, "[W]e admit that the chugging 'I Disappear' isn't all that terrible so much as it's just so meh, given the high expectations for it."

Sure, "I Disappear" won't appear on any best-of lists, nor is it the most original effort, but it captures the essence of the band in that era. Maybe late '90s/early 2000s Metallica isn't the greatest version of the group, but this song turns out to be a high point from this divisive period.

Metallica's "The Unforgiven" — off the 1991 self-titled album, affectionately known as "The Black Album" — remains a staple part of any Metallica set. A sequel, "The Unforgiven II," arrived on 1997's "Reload."

For the most part, it's a continuation of the original song with a few musical changes and progressions, including more of a country twang to the guitars. Yet, Spin didn't hold back when it ranked every single Metallica song released up until 2015. In a shocking twist of events, the publication ranked "The Unforgiven II" at the very bottom of this list, meaning that tracks from "St. Anger" and "Lulu" (the terrible collaboration between Metallica and Lou Reed) featured higher. Someone call the doctor, because we're about to have a heart attack here!

Of course, nothing matches the original magic of "The Unforgiven," but the two sequels, including "The Unforgiven III" from 2008's "Death Magnetic," absolutely rip and deserve to be included in the S-tier of Metallica songs. "The Unforgiven II" revisits the poignant journey that James Hetfield started, taking the listener into the deepest, darkest parts of his soul. It's a reminder that healing takes place over a lifetime — not just in a singular moment. Don't ever trust anyone who tells you this song is bad.

Metallica is one of the few bands who release a lead single and generate a hotly contested debate over what the forthcoming album will sound like. Case in point: "Lords of Summer," which was released in 2014 — two years before the arrival of the album "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct." Ultimately, "Lords of Summer" only featured on the deluxe version of the record.

The seven-minute-plus song sounds like classic 'tallica mixing up thrash speed with recognizable riffs and James Hetfield's unmistakable snarl. Yet, Loudwire called it the second-worst Metallica song up until 2020. The publication called it a "death-fart," while also stating, "Constructed using riffs that wouldn't have been allowed anywhere near any of Metallica's first five albums, 'Lords Of Summer' was so shambolic that many fans feared the worst for the band's impending tenth album."

It's a conundrum, really. For years, Metallica had been accused of toning it down to appeal to the general audience; now, here's "Lords of Summer," an undeniable throwback to the "...And Justice for All" era. It demonstrates the band's desire to continue to shake things up after decades together and to not play it safe. To put this song lower than any song off "St. Anger" is simply sacrilege.

It's no secret that Metallica's self-titled album is the one that put the band on the map. From "Enter Sandman" to "Nothing Else Matters," you could pull a number of all-time classics from this record alone. You know one song that's unlikely to be mentioned, though? The album closer — "The Struggle Within."

Both Metal Hammer and Loudwire have been critical about the song, with the former writing it's "the most unpopular Metallica song" on a Google search. Loudwire called it "underwhelming" and ranked it as the second-worst album closer from Metallica.

Look, it's fair to say that it isn't the strongest song off 1991's self-titled record, but let's put something in context here: It stands among giants. The rest of the album features genuine contender songs for greatest of all time in the heavy metal genre. "The Struggle Within" might not have the same impact, but it still possesses an upbeat tempo that gets the head banging and feet tapping. Also, that blistering solo rips faces to shreds, so let's not lie to ourselves; this is a proper banger.