Metallica: Fade To Black Meaning
Song Released: 1984
Fade To Black Lyrics
Drifting further every day
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters no one else
I have lost the will to live
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free
Things not...
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1TOP RATED
punkemorocker Apr 3rd 2006, 02:17 report
hmm, well I love this song, one of my favorite metallica songs, and not only becuase of the kick ass guitar, but it shows that people who you think look, or act tough, and really write something this emotionally involved, that's not wat the songs saying, I just wanted to make a note of that, but the song too me is pretty much about, well depressing things, about changning who you are, maybe to fit something your not, or not being able to ahve something u've set your life forand losing yourself, and getting futhur away form people you love, because your so worried about one thing, and you eventualyl start too die inside, adn there's nothign you can do, and your not sure, and you feel lost, so you might try to look for death, as a nice way out, and it looks as if the person in this song does die, and not necessarily ina physical sense, but more in an emotional sense
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3TOP RATED
anonymous Dec 19th 2006, 17:47 report
This song is about the thought of suicide, its never carried out in the song. It conveys the feeling of hopelessness, like there is no other option. It's more about feeling like killing yourself rather than actually doing it.
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anonymous Feb 17th, 23:28 report
I guess it is differant for everyone. Me myself feel the words like they are my own. Im going through a battle with drugs right now and have most more then anyone ever loose because of it and on top of that im dealing with mental issues as well that recently have taken over everything that the drugs didnt. So to me the song is saying everyday im getting more lost and mostly lost on myself feeli'g trapped helpless and like i have nothing elsr i can do.pain is an everyday thing along with a deep emptiness for all i have lost worst of all myself. Because what i am npw is not me,not the me i was but that exists no mote so much so that i cant remember a time when it did. Like he said, yesterday seems as though it never existed. Im not me anymore. I know only i can save or help myself but im so tired now and cant even try. And im not sayin i want to fie but apart of me just wants the death,meaning tje bad ending that i know is the end result to happen alrezdy tjrn maybe i can finally be free because i can give up. Shitty i kno just how it feels at times
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anonymous Jun 24th 2012, 03:58 report
Heroine. This fuckin song was written by dave mustane before its ride the lightning debut.
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anonymous Jun 23rd 2011, 22:09 report
this song is about severe depression(clinical depression) and it clearly describes some of the ways a a person suffering from this may think. including feeling like he or she "needs the end to set he or she free"
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anonymous May 5th 2011, 09:26 report
This song was written after all there stuff was stolen ...james hetfeild had an amp among those things thatwere stolen , and it had sentimental value to him because that was the amp his mom had bought him before she passed away he felt like dieing after that, that was the only thing she had to remind him of his mom ........lars ulrick has even said that in a interview.
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anonymous Apr 20th 2011, 15:07 report
In an interview with drummer Lars Ulrich on the set of the production "MTV Icon: Metallica" in 2003, he recalls how he and bandmate James Hetfield were obsessed with death at the time the album and song were produced.
The song's lyrics address suicidal feelings. It begins with an acoustic guitar introduction and becomes progressively heavier as the song goes on, similar to their future songs, "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "One", and "The Day That Never Comes". James Hetfield commented on the song in a later interview,
"That song was a big step for us. It was pretty much our first ballad, so we knew it would freak people out... Recording that song, I learned how frustrating acoustic guitar can be. You could hear every squeak, so I had to be careful. I wrote the song at a friend's house in New Jersey. I was pretty depressed at the time because our gear had just been stolen, and we had been thrown out of our manager's house for breaking shit and drinking his liquor cabinet dry. It's a suicide song, and we got a lot of flak for it, as if kids were killing themselves because of the song. But we also got hundreds of letters from kids telling us how they related to the song and that it made them feel better."
Since its release, "Fade to Black" has been a fixture in Metallica's live performances. It was also the last song that Metallica performed live with former bassist Jason Newsted before he left the band. Newsted's last gig was at the VH1 Music Awards on November 30, 2000. It was one of his favorite Metallica songs, and was said to be of great sentimental value to him, although it had been written before he had joined the band. His previous band, Flotsam and Jetsam, performed a song called "Fade to Black" on their 1986 album Doomsday for the Deceiver before he left to join Metallica.
While on the Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour on August 8, 1992, James Hetfield accidentally stepped into the path of one of the chemical flames that had been rigged to shoot from the lip of the stage while playing "Fade to Black". Hetfield's guitar protected him from the full force of the blast; however, the fire engulfed his left side, burning his hand, arm, eyebrows, face and hair. He suffered second and third-degree burns, but was back on stage 17 days later, although his guitar duties were delegated to former guitar tech and Metal Church guitarist John Marshall for four weeks while he made a full recovery. -
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anonymous Jan 31st 2011, 08:37 report
This song was written after James' guitars were burnt in a fire and LOSING EVERYTHING, the main meaning of the song.
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anonymous Jan 11th 2011, 19:56 report
1984 all of Metallica's equipment was stolen and so was James' amp. That was his first and favorite and the band almost broke up after that. They had to restart from the beginning and this song is about this happening.
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KSIxARESxVII Mar 24th 2010, 11:40 report
Oh I did forget to say this. but if you did look on the website i provided earlier, then you might have caught it, but this was just a little bit more up of what james and Kirk said:
What the song was really written about:
The song was actually written by James just after the band's equipment was stolen in Boston. Among all the stuff which has been stolen was a Marshall amp very special, because they had to search on two continents for a replacement amp with quite the same sound. So the song has to do with loosing all gear to keep on moving. And therefore the song seems to be about a person who decides suicide.
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KSIxARESxVII Mar 24th 2010, 11:36 report
Well I found this website, and it is a direct quote to what this song means. It is what james hetfield said:
Here is the website: http://www.encycmet.com/songs/srfade2b.shtml
And here is what he said: Him and Kirk too:)
Metallica about "Fade To Black"
Kirk Hammett: I was still using the black Flying V, but on "Fade To Black" I used the neck pickup on my guitar to get that warm sound. I played through a wha-wha pedal all the way in the "up" position. We doubled the first solo, but it was harder to double the secong solo in the middle because it was slow and there was a lot of space in it. Later I realized that I harmonized it in a weird way in minor thirds, major thirds and fifths. For the extended solo at the end, I wasn't sure what to play. We had been in Denmark for five or six months, and I was getting really homesick. We were also having problems with our management. Since it was a somber song, and we were all bummed out anyway, I thought of very depressing things while I did the solo - and it really helped. I played some arpeggios over the G-A-B prgression, but we widn't double track that solo. When that was finished, I went back and did the clean guitar parts behind the verse. James played an arpeggiated figure while I arpeggiated three-notes chords. We ende up getting a very 'Dire Straits'-type sound.
James Hetfield: That song was a pretty big step for us. It was pretty much our first ballad, so it was challenging and we knew it would freak people out. Band like Exodus and Slayer don't do ballads, but they've stuck themselves in that position we never wanted to do; limiting yourself to please your audience is bullshit.
Recording that song, I learned how frustrating acoustic guitar can be. You could hear every squeak, so I had to be careful. I wrote the song at a friend's house in New Jerey. I was pretty depressed at the time because our gear had just been stolen, and we had been thrown out of our manager's house for breaking shit and drinking his liquor cabinet dry. It's a suicide song , and we got a lot of flack for it; kids were killing themselves because of the song. But we also got hundreds and hundreds of letters from kids telling us how they related to the song and that made them feel better.
(source: GuitarWorld issue of '91)
The thing that I can believe is that other kids that have heard this song, have actually killed themselves, but for the other people it has somewhat guided them in a way. But as for me, it has in a way mede me feel better, and That is why I Love Metallica. -
JakobF Nov 16th 2009, 21:25 report
I love mMtallica first of all. and I believe this song is about life how it can change who you are and how it can make you very miserable...what I mean by changing who you are is the line "I was me but now he's gone!" means he was "him" but what he went through changed him.
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anonymous Nov 10th 2009, 10:18 report
This song is written about suicide and depression. Simple as that. LOL
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jonnypills321 Aug 8th 2009, 03:50 report
fastfordfocus thats more the meaning of "the unforgiven" This is about a person thinking about suicide not wanting to but its the only choice out of his life. it starts off slow to show how the person feels then picks up and by the fading part of the solo hes dead well thats just my interpretation
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anonymous Jul 15th 2009, 19:58 report
Could also be an interpretation of the bands future. when they lost their equipment, its not like they had a shitload of money to replace it. The band could have died in Jersey then and there. and, to point out, almost all of the songs on RTL are about death, just being killed in different manners
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anonymous Jul 4th 2009, 14:58 report
OKay
I love this song. Not to sound like a pansy, but it is pretty beautiful. ok nevermind
here's how it goes
It could be about James Hetfield's stolen stage gear, which sent him into a deep depression, but that is not likely. most think that is the case, but it is not. In that case, the "suicide" in the song is James quitting Metallica. That is Wrong. I say that because he says "I have lost the Will To Live", "Death Greets me warm", and "Nothing Matters, no one else". This song is about a man (Portrayed By James) who is contemplating suicide, and then eventually does kill himself. That's why this song is so grim, because of the seriousness and sadness of the topic. -
This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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snpragent009 Jan 19th 2009, 15:45 report
Well, I believe that the incident where they get all of there equipment stolen may have inspired the song, or had a big part in the song being made, but I belive that the meaning of the lyrics are on a much bigger scale. He/the band goes through life feeling empty, even with all of thier tours and fame, and everything in their life seems a bit more trivial to them, and nothing else matters because they don't deeply care for anything (at that stage in their life, anyways.) Basically, they reach the thought "why do we live here, and go on through life..."
Thats my opinion of what this song is explaining, anyway...
More Metallica song meanings »
Fade To Black lyrics
Fade To Black is considered:
Songs about Death
Songs about Suicide
Songs about Depression
Emotions: Sad Songs
Songs about Loss
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