It's hard to imagine you never listened to Metallica until circa St. Anger. I don't like much of their stuff after the Black Album, but it's just personal taste. I really like the Black Album and Kill 'em All, but for me the big three are Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, And... Justice for All. Those three albums were an enormous part of my high school and early college years. The thing I like most about Metallica is the masterful riffage combined with an incredible sense of song structure. Good shit.
A lot of my favorite songs have to do with my struggles with alcoholism. One in particular is Nightminds by Missy Higgins. I honestly don't know what it's actually about, and I don't want to find out, because it seems like it was written about me. The melancholy tone and the lyrics which exactly describe my highs and lows and my wife's desperate struggle to understand what's going in my head. Hearing it is both exquisite and gutting at the same time. I have to thank my brother for introducing me to Missy Higgins, one of the greatest gifts he ever gave me.
I know
I know
I know.
I knew before you got home.
This world you're in now,
It doesn't have to be alone,
I'll get there somehow, 'cos
I know I know I know
When, even springtime feels cold.
But I will learn to breathe this ugliness you see,
So we can both be there and we can both share the dark.
And in our honesty, together we will rise,
Out of our nightminds, and into the light
At the end of the fight...
Yep, here come the tears, dammit