Nothing Else Matters

I have been spending a lot of time in the folk/country spaces lately and decided to change it up today.

While I enjoy a lot of hard rock music, I’m not really a fan of heavy metal or thrasher rock, but I like to listen to unfamiliar stuff occasionally to broaden my horizons.

I surfed around a little, listening to some Guns N’ Roses, then somehow landed on the American heavy metal band Metallica and heard a few thrashers by them, including “Enter Sandman” and “Wherever I May Roam.” I settled on “Nothing Else Matters,” a downtempo power ballad (or love ballad) complete with orchestration and, of course, the obligatory ripping guitar solo. And I suppose it’s not all the way across the heavy metal/thrasher continuum, so maybe that’s why it appealed to me.

The song is the subject of an entire Wikipedia article that includes an archived link to a Village Voice interview in which lead singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett discuss the track. Hetfield says, “It’s absolutely crazy, that was the song that I thought was least Metallica, least likely to ever (be) played by us, the last song anyone would really want to hear. It was a song for myself in my room on tour when I was bumming out about being away from home. It’s quite amazing, it’s a true testament to honesty and exposing yourself, putting your real self out there, and taking the risk, taking a gamble that someone’s either going to step on your heart with spikes on or they’re going to put their heart right next to it, and you never know until you try. That solidified, I think, that we were doing the right thing, writing from the heart about what we felt, and you can’t go wrong that way. It has become an unbelievable song live, and from the New York Hells Angels putting it in their movie to sports people to people getting married to it, all kinds of stuff, people relate to it. I’m grateful that the guys forced me to take it out of my tape player and make it Metallica.”

Hetfield plays the lead and rhythm guitar parts on the song’s studio version; it’s one of the few Metallica recordings on which Hammett is absent. Of this, Hemmett says in the same interview, “We kept putting it in the set and taking it out until we were certain we were actually able to play it. I had to relearn that whole intro part to play by myself onstage, which was a little bit intimidating for me at that point, we never had a song that started that way. After a while, once we got it down, it was no problem. Once we put our sights onto whipping a song into shape and getting it together and ready to play, we’re pretty good about putting it together and making it happen.”

“So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

Never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
But I know

I never opened myself this way
Life is ours, we live it our way
All these words I don’t just say
And nothing else matters

Trust I seek and I find in you
Every day for us something new
Open mind for a different view
And nothing else matters

Never cared for what they say
Never cared for games they play
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know

So close no matter how far
Couldn’t be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
No nothing else matters”

“Nothing Else Matters,” James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
Lyrics retrieved from AZLyrics.com.

Metallica released the song in 1992 as the third single from their 1991 self-titled, fifth studio album which is also referred to as The Black Album. A few versions of the song have been made, including an “elevator version” which replaces all electric guitars with acoustic, and is accompanied by the orchestration from the studio track and Hetfield’s vocal.

Now you know a little about why this is my Song of the Day for Today. Thanks for joining me here.

Here’s the official music video from the Metallica YouTube channel:

How about you? Are you a heavy metal listener? Point me to one of your favourite tunes, won’t you? I’d love to hear from you in the comments on my Contact page.

Metallically yours,

Steve