The true meaning behind Metallica’s “genius” love song ‘Nothing Else Matters’
“I enjoy playing ‘St Anger’, it really allows me to get pissed off and get it done, [it’s] very therapeutic for me,” said James Hetfield when he was discussing the Metallica songs that he enjoyed playing live the most. “Boy, I love playing ‘I Disappear’, ‘No Leaf Clover’, and ‘Jump In The Fire’. These are the songs that we’ve just kind of pulled out of the hat recently. Always loved playing ‘Fuel’, and, you know, I enjoy playing ‘Hit The Lights’, too.”
It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Metallica, one of the greatest heavy metal bands on the planet, enjoy playing their energetic and heavy songs live the most. Their shows are packed with pyro, energy and some of the hardest-hitting rock music ever made. Of course, like every band worth its salt, their music is far from one-dimensional. While they are famous for their use of distortion and being one of the driving voices behind metal, there is more to them than that.
One of their greatest songs that highlights the diverse talent within this band is another one that Hetfield said he enjoyed playing live, the 1991 release ‘Nothing Else Matters’. While the song is still very energetic and brings with it plenty of noise like Metallica are famous for, it is equally slow, sweet and serene. It’s one of the band’s slower numbers, which is very stripped back for the majority of the song and builds up naturally.
When Hetfield cited the song as one of his favourites to play live, he said he enjoyed it firstly because of the positive reaction it receives and also because it’s one of the Metallica songs that seems to resonate the most with people. He spoke specifically about a member of the Hell’s Angels who had passed away and how that song was used over a video of him.
“It was written in such a way, it connected with so many people, that it wasn’t just about two people, it was about a connection with your higher power, lots of different things,” he said, “I remember going to the Hells Angels Clubhouse in New York, and they showed me a film that they’d put together of one of the fallen brothers, and they were playing ‘Nothing Else Matters.’ Wow.”
Hetfield is right. The song is written in such a way that its meaning has been interpreted differently by different people. It begs the question, what was it originally supposed to be about? The answer is simple: love. Hetfield admitted, “It’s about being on the road, missing someone at home,” but he didn’t play into standard love song tropes when writing the song, to the point that it’s a love song that refused to say the word love. His emotion is evident throughout the track, but without using the term love, he made it so that more people could connect with the song.
“It’s interesting: The man that I knew back then… he could certainly feel love, but he could never say the word, especially in a Metallica song,” said Metallica producer Bob Rock when discussing the song, “This is his genius, to be able to say it in his own way and really mean it, despite everything he was going through, all the demons, all the anger he had in him. I think it’s one of Metallica’s best songs ever.”
