Garage Inc.

Garage, Inc.
Compilation album of cover songs by Metallica
Released	November 23, 1998
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)
Genre	Heavy metal hard rock thrash metal
Length	136:38
Label	Elektra Vertigo Sony Music
Producer	James Hetfield Bob Rock Lars Ulrich Mark Whitaker
Metallica chronology
Reload (1997) Garage Inc. (1998) St. Anger (2003)
Singles from Garage Inc.
"Turn the Page" Released: November 16, 1998[1] "Whiskey in the Jar" Released: February 1, 1999[2] "Die, Die My Darling" Released: June 7, 1999[3]

Garage, Inc. is a compilation album of cover songs by American thrash 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.

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.^[4] 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".^[5] 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.^[5][6] 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.^[7]

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.^[8]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[10]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[11]
NME	5/10[12]
Q
Rolling Stone	[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[14]

• Rolling Stone (12/10/98, print edition, p. 122) – 4 Stars (out of 5) – "Gloriously hard as the album is, you can't miss Metallica's good natured side coming through."
• Entertainment Weekly (12/18/98, p. 84) – "We'll have to wait until Metallica's next 'proper' album to find out if this trip to the garage recharges their batteries. Still, all things considered, Garage Inc. is an intermittently exhilarating joyride." – Rating: B−^[11]
• CMJ (12/21/98, p. 29) – "Those who still relate to the adolescent angst of the 'Metallicas' earliest days will find plenty to like on Garage Inc."
• In 2005, the album was ranked number 500 in Rock Hard magazine's book of The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time.^[15]

Track listing

Disc one

These tracks were recorded in September–October 1998 for the Garage Inc. album.

• "Sabbra Cadabra" also covers part of the Black Sabbath song, "A National Acrobat."
• "Mercyful Fate" is a medley of the songs "Satan's Fall", "Curse of the Pharaohs", "A Corpse Without Soul", "Into the Coven", and "Evil"
• "Tuesday's Gone" was recorded December 18, 1997 during the "Don't Call Us, We'll Call You" radio broadcast on KSJO.^[16]
• "The More I See" contains a short segment of the Robin Trower song "Bridge of Sighs", from the album of the same name
• "Free Speech for the Dumb", Loverman, Astronomy, and "The More I See" have never been performed live.^[17]

Disc two

These tracks are a collection of B-sides from artists Metallica were inspired by, throughout the early years of the band.

• "Last Caress/Green Hell" contains a parody of Iron Maiden's song "Run to the Hills" at the end. Iron Maiden responded to this on a B-side cover of the Montrose song titled "Space Station No. 5"
• "Am I Evil?" and "Blitzkrieg" were initially B-sides to the International "Creeping Death" single and were also bonus tracks on the 1988 Elektra reissue of their first album, Kill 'Em All; they have since been removed from that album (together these covers were known as Garage Days Revisited).
• "Breadfan" and "The Prince" are taken from the "Harvester of Sorrow" single; "The Prince" is also the bonus track on the Japanese pressing of ...And Justice For All
• "Stone Cold Crazy" originally appeared on the Rubáiyát: Elektra's 40th Anniversary album and was later included on the "Enter Sandman" single
• "So What?" and "Killing Time" are taken from the "Sad But True" and "The Unforgiven" single; "So What?" is also the bonus track on the Japanese pressing of Metallica

Personnel

Chart positions

Album

Singles

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.^[18] Still, the million-plus record breaking debut of Garth Brooks' Double Live made Garage Inc. land only at second on the Billboard 200.^[19] 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.^[20]

Awards

Grammy Awards

Release history

References

External links

• Information about the album on the official website