[More Cowbell]

No, Master of Puppets is also a classic. Sorry, I should have worded a little better.
When I saw his post. And he had "Sandman", I just don't think of that song as classic. I felt that they were changing on that album to try and hit the charts.

IMO, classic Metallica is , Kill'em All, Ride The Lightning and MOP.

Sorry for the confusion.

I'll agree that they did change their sound on the Black album. They started getting away from more of the "speed" metal sound toward a slower version. That said, Sandman is still a very good song.

But what about And Justice For All? That album still sounded a lot like MOP and RTL. I would have to say that One and Blackened are two of my favorites as well. As for Kill Em All, I do like the album, but in my opinion the band had a different sound when they started out, and then changed somewhat before RTL.