Nothing Else Matters

"Nothing Else Matters" is a song by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released as the third single from its self-titled fifth studio album, Metallica. The song peaked at number 11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart as well as top-ten positions on many European charts. "Nothing Else Matters" was featured as a playable track in the music video game Guitar Hero: Metallica. The song has been covered over forty times.

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California whose early releases included fast tempos, instrumentals, and aggressive musicianship that placed them as one of the founding "big four" of thrash metal alongside Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax. They formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett (who joined the band in 1983) and bassist Robert Trujillo (a member since 2003) alongside Hetfield and Ulrich. Previous members of the band are lead guitarist Dave Mustaine (who went on to found the band Megadeth), and bassists Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton and Jason Newsted. The band also had a long collaboration with producer Bob Rock, who produced all of its albums from 1990 to 2003 and served as a temporary bassist between the departure of Newsted and the hiring of Trujillo.

History about the song

Singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield wrote the song (credited to Hetfield/Ulrich) while he was on the phone with his then girlfriend. Since he held the phone with one hand, he plucked the four open strings of a standard E-minor chord with the other, which eventually made up the first two bars of the song. The lyrics, which talk about being "so close, no matter how far", were also dedicated to his girlfriend, indicating the bond they shared even when Hetfield was on tour. Initially, the song was not meant to be released, as Hetfield had written it for himself, but only after drummer Lars Ulrich heard it, it was considered for the album.

Producer Bob Rock about the song:

“I can’t speak for what James wrote, but to me, the song was all about him trying to write a love song without saying the word ‘love’.”

“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. 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.”

“Musically, we wanted it big but not bombastic. We wanted size and weight, but we didn’t want to do what all the ‘80s metal bands were doing in those kind of cheesy power ballads. We really worked out the arrangement to make it huge and dramatic… but real.”

Nothing Else Matters

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

Never opened myself this way

Life is ours, we live it our way

All these words I don't just say

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

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Source and credits to Steven Walker for the art work, WikiPedia for the information and Lisa Brune who was singing this song yesterday at "The Forge" in SL and inspirited me to make this article.