James Hetfield Reveals the Song Metallica Wrote as an Ode to Their Biggest Career Hit

Metallica released “Enter Sandman” in 1991 as the lead single from their self-titled album. The song introduced the world to the band’s new mainstream-friendly sound and was a top 10 hit in multiple countries. It also landed at No. 16 on the Billboard Hot 100, giving the band their biggest hit to date. “Enter Sandman” opened several doors for the band. As a result, when they began work on their next album, Load, they added an homage to the hit.

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Recently, released a deluxe edition of Load. To celebrate the release, Metallica worked with Q Prime and MX2 Media to recorded a syndicated special to be shared with radio stations, according to Loudwire. During the special, James Hetfield revealed the nod to “Enter Sandman.”

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James Hetfield on Paying Homage to Metallica’s Biggest Hit on Load

Listeners likely heard the nod to “Enter Sandman” in the Load track “King Nothing.” The phrase “Off to Never, Neverland” appears in both songs. There are other similarities, though.

“I think we were trying to keep up with the fact that ‘Sandman’ was a great song and people connected with it. So it at least made sense to write a song in that tempo, in that vein,” James Hetfield explained.

In the years since Metallica released Load, many have compared the album to much of the alternative rock of the mid-1990s. Hetfield revealed the connection between the album and one of the biggest Seattle-based bands of the era during the conversation.

“What we had learned about a different way of songwriting from Soundgarden was you play one riff through the whole song and the singer just goes all over the place,” he explained. “For that to work, you actually have to have a really good singer, like Chris [Cornell],” he added with a laugh. “But that was very, very intriguing to us. ‘King Nothing’ makes sense in that it was one of the first ones right after the Black Album because it was. It was a nod to ‘Sandman.’”

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