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FALL 2026

Give Me Grunge or Give me Death: Why I will defend Metallica’s ‘Load’ to my dying breath.

commemorating the controversial album’s 30th anniversary.

By O. Jacobs

August 4th, 2026

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FALL 2025

‘SHINE’ - Collective Soul: And The Ballad of a Gen z doomer

SONG of the day | THE FRIDAY FREAK!

By O. Jacobs

November 7th, 2025

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Give Me Grunge or Give me Death: Why I will defend Metallica’s ‘Load’ to my dying breath.
Owen Jacobs Owen Jacobs

Give Me Grunge or Give me Death: Why I will defend Metallica’s ‘Load’ to my dying breath.

If The Black Album - Metallica (1991) acts as the peak of Metallica’s trip of confidence and ultimate mainstream power, then their 1996 effort ‘Load’ is the foreshadowing of a career nightmare looming overhead, as the high begins to wear off and the band begins to descend on their own comedown. 

Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield is forced to look his own demons directly in the eye for the first time in lyrical form [at least in the way we see on ‘Load’, vulnerable, afraid, warts-and-all] and the album’s grunge-like undertone helped convey these messages in the mid-nineties - when the likes of Nirvana, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, and Pearl Jam ruled the radio.

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“Limo wreck” - soundgarden - song of the day
Owen Jacobs Owen Jacobs

“Limo wreck” - soundgarden - song of the day

No song in this collection batters you, scares you, melts you down to your core like “Limo Wreck” does at track nine. It’s Sabbathy, it’s glimmering and full of fiery rage, it’s the boiling over point for Cornell’s vocals - as the band climbs toward a higher peak of intensity and stakes, making you feel a sense of uneasiness and impending doom unlike any other. This is the great middle point in Soundgarden’s catalog for me. It feels like looking God in the face and being terrified by a force so immaculately powerful - its mere existence rewires your brain.

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“SHINE” - Collective Soul: And The Ballad of a Gen z doomer
Owen Jacobs Owen Jacobs

“SHINE” - Collective Soul: And The Ballad of a Gen z doomer

“Shine” isn’t just the foundation in which Collective Soul built its entire existence ontop of, its an underdog of ‘90’s grunge in that it commands you to shake off the weight of the times, and choose happiness. It’s Rocky Balboa taking shots from Ivan Drago, unphased to if it may be his last day alive.

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