Metal post! "One" by Metallica

In this post, I address a genre of music that is frequently regarded as "garbage" by many academic musicians. Let's take a look at why metal music shouldn't be disregarded as useless and noisy.

Photo courtesy of Metallica.Sarkisisozleri.org

For many Metallica fans, this metal ballad is a landmark. It was written in 1989 by James Hetfield (vocalist/guitarist) and Lars Ulrich (drummer and hater of Napster), and it was their first top 40 hit, reaching number 35 on the Billboard Top 100 chart. It was also their first song to also have a music video, which some argue is the reason for its popularity - and thus skyrocketing them to face and fortune. 20 years later, "One" is a staple at their live performances, and the 4th most played song at their gigs.

If you are wondering why there is so much talking in this video, its because the lyrics were based off of a 1939 novel by Dalton Trumbo, called "Johnny Got His Gun." It was amde into a movie in 1971, which is where the footage in the video comes from. If you think hearing excerpts from a movie in a song is as annoying as I do, listen to this video instead. It also has all the lyrics, which is nice.

Disclaimer: I had to consult my live-in Metallica enthusiast and professional guitarist, Sarah, to help me write this post. She knows far more than I do about anything guitar, and any praise for this post should go directly to her!

So, first things first. You'll notice that the intro, from the beginning until the chorus, has a much cleaner sound than most of the other stuff on  the album (And Justice For All). That kind of clean sound was influenced by their bassist, Cliff Burton, who died in 1986. He encouraged them to experiment with melody, which led to the Master of Puppets album. On the whole, And Justice For All uses more distortion, partly because they switched from Seymour Duncan pickups (used on Master of Puppets) to EMG pickups, which have a meatier, more "metal" sound.

  The differentiation between clean versus distorted sound is what really makes this song interesting and adds a certain kind of texture that isn't common in the metal world. In addition, the constant rhythmic switchbacks really jam. Even as a trained musician I have trouble counting out the measures, but I can assure you that we're definitely looking at some mixed meter here. This kind of mixed meter approach lends itself to some unusual melodies and some really amazing lyric setting, which, oddly enough, is a concept used by French opera composers to offset the awkwardness of the text. MUSIC!

Starting at about 5:24, the drums are gearing up for something exciting...a tapping solo by Kirk Hammett! This is the solo that every 17 year old (and possibly me) with a guitar is practicing in their bedroom. It sounds really impressive, but the technique isn't super difficult. Tapping means that the guitarist is literally just tapping the strings down on the fretboard. They aren't using a pick to strum the strings, that's why its so fast and agile. This solo is also mostly pentatonic, which is the bread and butter of metal. A pentatonic scale involves 5 notes in a specific arrangement. The easiest way to understand a pentatonic scale is to find your nearest piano and play only the black keys. CONGRATULATIONS! You just played a pentatonic scale. This scale is also used in most folk music from any culture.

Lastly, I'd like to share the version of this song that's on Metallica's S&M album. Its metal...with an orchestra. Take a listen!