Metallica – King Nothing

This is a live performance by the American heavy metal band Metallica playing the song “King Nothing” live. The performance is from 1996 from the British TV show “Later with Jools Holland”.
The song was originally released on the band’s 1996 album “Load”. The song is credited to: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett. All guitars were tuned down one half step to Eb.
The song was released as a single in 1997 and a music video was shot for it as well. It peaked at #90 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It’s a good song and a good performance by the band.

Enjoy ; )

Lou Reed & Metallica - Sweet Jane

This is a live performance from the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame concerts that were held in New York City. The performance is from 2009 and features Lou Reed and Metallica together on stage performing the classic "Velvet Underground" song "Sweet Jane".
The song originally appeared on Velvet Underground's 1970 album "Loaded". The song was written by the band's leader Lou Reed who also continued playing the song throughout his later solo career. Throughout the course of the song it's been performed in two different keys: D & E. This particular performance is in D.

On another note. It has recently been revealed that Metallica has teamed up with Lou Reed for their next album release. In fact these recording sessions have spawned a 10 track album that has yet to get an official release date. That is, we don't even know how it's going to be released as neither Metallica nor Lou Reed is currently under any recording contract. I personally think this is a great piece of news and can't wait to hear it. Others probably won't agree with me on that, but how the fuck can you hate on something before having listened to it. I mean really!! Just read a couple of the comments for the video and you'll see how stupid it is, I mean hating on something before you've even heard it, come on man!!

A picture of Metallica frontman James Hetfield with Lou Reed (sitting down in the picture)
A good song with a good little piece of news.

Enjoy ; )

Metallica – Enter Sandman

This is a live performance by American heavy metal band Metallica playing their infamous song “Enter Sandman”. The performance is from the British TV-show “Later with Jools Holland”.
The song is off Metallica’s 1991 album “Metallica”. It was released as the first single from the album the same year and in that way it started off several years of success and touring with this album.
The song is credited to Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. It is perhaps the most well known Metallica song ever and it has appeared on every Metallica live album and DVD since 1991.
The main guitar riff was suggested by Kirk Hammett and then slightly altered by Hetfield. It was one of the last songs on the album to have lyrics and the original lyrics were actually much darker and about crib death. Producer Bob Rock and Lars Ulrich asked Hetfield to try and write better lyrics for the song and thus he came up with the lyrics that ended up on the album.
It’s a great song and probably Metallica’s best crowd pleaser at gigs.

Enjoy ;-)

Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

This is a live performance by metal band Metallica playing their ballad "Nothing Else Matters" live. This performance is from the 1999 S&M concert which is available on both CD and DVD. It's a great concert featuring Michael Kamen conducting the San Francisco symphony orchestra playing live with Metallica in concert.
The song was released as a single in 1992 and it originally appeared on the band's 1991 album entitled "Metallica" aka. "The Black Album".
The song is credited to James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. Hetfield came up with the beginning of the song as he was plucking the four open strings of an Em chord while on the phone with his girlfriend. Originally Hetfield didn't want the song to be on the album, but after hearing it Lars convinced Hetfield to put it on the album. It is also one of the few tracks where Hetfield plays lead guitar. And on the original album version Hetfield recorded all of the guitar tracks on the song. So Hammett isn't even playing on this track.
The original album version was also scored by Michael Kamen. The band tuned down his scoring a lot, but a version with acoustic guitars, Hetfield's vocal track and the original composed piece by Kamen exists and is known as "The Elevator Version". Kamen orchestrated a lot of Metallica songs (including this one) for the S&M concert in San Francisco.
It's a really good song and a really good ballad for Metallica that seems to strike something in people when they listen to it. A really good track.

Enjoy ; )

Metallica - Mama Said

The top video is of James Hetfield performing an acoustic version of this song of the band's album "Load". It's a genre bending tune that strays a lot from Metallica's other songs. It starts off with an acoustic guitar, and the towards the chorus goes into a country inspired piece, with the whole thing sort of peaks, and power chords played on a distorted electric guitar plays through the last part of the song. I think it's a really good song, and it really sounds great in the studio version, a well mixed song that mixes genres. The video below is the music video for the song, so you can hear the studio version of the song as well.

The lyrics are written by Hetfield, and they are about a boy struggling to find his own way in life without his mother. This draws on Hetfield's own relationship to his mother who died of cancer.
The song has never really been part of Metallica's live set, probably because it strays so much from Metallica's traditional metal sound. Hetfield has played it alone with no accompaniment, and has also played with country singer Jessi Colter. But we'll probably never get the band playing the song live as it was recorded. It's sort of James' song which is also shown in the fact that the other band members only make a brief and excluded cameo in the music video for the song.
Still a very good song.


Enjoy ; )