Originally Posted by LOLPOCALYPSE

I can see what you are saying. An irrelevant and bad artist (Backstreet Boys IMO) selling a gazillion albums does not make them relevant. However, this case is different. I think the difference here is that we are dealing with a genre and band that wasn't mainstream (at the time) that brought in a whole new following with just one album. The Black Album is historic in that sense. I would even say was kind of the main evangelical metal album of the 90s. It opened up the path to more extreme genres for many people. The fact that it sold 15 million in the US alone really showed at the time that metal wasn't going away. In fact, Metallica did that as a band throughout their career. They may not have released anything as groundbreaking as MoP recently, but they still tour and are still backed by an influential and inspirational career. Most importantly, though, they are still releasing quality music. In that respect, I would say they are relevant.