I don't know about classic shell, I use start menu 8 which is pretty much a copy of the win7 start menu.
http://www.iobit.com/iobitstartmenu8.php
To hardly ever see metro you must change a few settings:
1) Boot to desktop
2) Program defaults should be set to their desktop program rather than their metro app counterpart. Eg. Photos etc
3) Right click on the recycle bin and turn on the delete notification.
4) Look for settings in your start menu replacement that could land you in the metro screens
After all the above, it should be pretty much the same as xp, win7.
One MS pull their finger out and finally bring back the official desktop start menu, then calm should be restored and the extra start menu replacements can be ditched.
Key shortcuts to bear in mind:
Alt+tab to switch screens.
Mouse top left to switch screens.
Mouse top right to bring up charms menu.
Live tiles are a non issue. You are not forced into using them or even looking at them.
I agree that they have tried to force a lot of tablet touchscreen items into this version of windows and screwed a few things up, but it really does not take long to adjust and they are pushing out updates fairly quickly in order to right the wrongs.
I can't comment on your failed install, my three have sailed through fine. You will be best googling and looking in your event logs to find the root cause..