Released November 23, 1998 Garage Inc.
(1998) St. Anger
(2003) Release date 23 November 1998 | Length 136:38 Artist Metallica | |
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Recorded September 14 – October 1, 1998 (disc one)
1984–95 (disc two) Studio The Plant Studios in Sausalito, California (disc one)
Various other locations (disc two) Label Elektra
Vertigo
Sony Music Genres Heavy metal, Thrash metal, Hard rock, Crossover thrash Producers James Hetfield, Bob Rock, Lars Ulrich, Mark Whitaker Nominations Echo Award for Best International Rock/Pop Group Similar Metallica albums, Heavy metal albums | ||
Garage, Inc. is a compilation album of cover songs by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on November 23, 1998 through Elektra Records. Over 2.5 million copies have been sold in the U.S. as certified by the RIAA. It includes cover songs, B-side covers, and The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited, which had gone out of print since its original release in 1987. The title is a combination of Garage Days Revisited and their song "Damage, Inc.", from Master of Puppets, and the album's artwork draws heavily from the 1987 EP. The album features songs by artists that have influenced Metallica, including many bands from the new wave of British heavy metal movement, hardcore punk bands and popular songs. As of August 2013 the album has sold more than 6 million copies worldwide.
Contents
Metallica free speech for the dumb with lyrics
Production
The day after Metallica finished the North American leg of the Poor Re-Touring Me Tour in San Diego's Coors Amphitheatre, they hit the studio to start recording a new album of cover versions. As Lars Ulrich explained, the band wanted to do something different after "three pretty serious albums in a row, starting with the Black album and then Load and ReLoad", and the process would be easier by working with covers, specially as the band had a tradition of taking other people's songs and "turn them into something very Metallica, different from what the original artist did". Given the band had recorded many covers that were spread across various releases, such as B-sides of their singles and the 1987 EP The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited, the band would "put them all in a nice little packaging for easy listening" along with newly recorded version chosen through a group decision. Only one of the eleven songs in the "New Recordings '98" disk was not done in the three week sessions, a version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Tuesday's Gone" the band recorded for a radio broadcast along with friends such as Les Claypool, John Popper and Gary Rossington.
Packaging
The cover for Garage Inc. had a Ross Halfin photograph of Metallica dressed as mechanics. The band wanted the booklet to hold a detailed account of the contents of the project, and designer Andy Airfix was allowed to search through Ulrich's catalogue of Metallica memorabilia in San Francisco to create a 32-page booklet. Airfix also did the back cover, where the front of Garage Days Re-Revisited was modified with headshots of Metallica in 1998 and the track list written on tracing paper.
Reception
Disc one
These tracks were recorded in September–October 1998 for the Garage Inc. album.
Disc two
These tracks are a collection of B-sides from artists Metallica were inspired by, throughout the early years of the band.
Sales and certification
In the U.S., Garage Inc. sold 426,500 units in the first week of release, making Metallica's fourth straight debut surpassing 400,000 copies. Still, the million-plus record breaking debut of Garth Brooks' Double Live made Garage Inc. land only at second on the Billboard 200. As of 2003 the album has sold over 2.5 million copies and has been certified 5× Platinum.
Like the three preceding studio albums, Garage Inc. in North America during its opening week.
Songs
1Free Speech for the Dumb2:36
2It's Electric3:34
3Sabbra Cadabra6:20