Metallica ultimately chose the self-titled album name Metallica instead of the working title “Married to Metal.”
“Married to Metal” arose as a joking reference to the divorces experienced by Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, and Jason Newsted during the album’s troubled production. According to Ulrich, the phrase was treated as a running joke rather than a serious final title.
The band also considered “Five,” a straightforward reference to the album’s position in its studio-album sequence, along with using the title of one of the songs. Instead, the musicians chose the eponymous title because they wanted to keep the presentation simple.
The nickname The Black Album came later from the packaging rather than from the official title. The cover’s black background and barely visible embossed logo and snake encouraged fans and the media to use that informal name. This creates a frequent mix-up: Metallica is the official title, while The Black Album is the established nickname.