James Hetfield, Metallica frontman, recently shed light on how one of the band’s most iconic songs, “Enter Sandman,” directly influenced a track on their 1996 album, Load. Hetfield confirmed that “King Nothing” was crafted as a response to the immense success and popularity of the Black Album’s lead single.
“King Nothing‘ was kind of an answer to ‘Sandman‘ really,” Hetfield stated (via Loudwire). “It was and obviously at the end of the song, there’s a little bit of a ‘off to never, neverland,’ a little nod towards it. 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, that pound.”
Hetfield further revealed that Metallica‘s songwriting approach at the time was also shaped by lessons learned from Soundgarden.
“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 and for that to work, you actually have to have a really good singer like Chris [Cornell], 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, cause it was. It was an nod to ‘Sandman.'”
In other recent news, all four members of Metallica attended the premiere of their new documentary, Metallica Saved My Life, at the 2025 Tribeca Festival earlier this week. Directed by longtime collaborator Jonas Åkerlund, the film offers a unique perspective by turning the camera away from the band to explore the profound impact their music has had on fans around the world.
James Hetfield underscored the film’s message, stating: “We try to stay as grounded as possible, and I think this movie really shows how we are the same as our fans, and we’ve got, and they’ve got, a great story to tell.” The idea for this fan-centric documentary, which features interviews with fans from 23 different countries, originated from comedian Jim Breuer.
