Nothing else matters is a song of the american band Metallica of the year 1991 (release: 20 of april 1992). The song is a ballad, which was released as a single from their successful album and immediately rised up to the most known song of the group.
Metallica is known for their hard Metal sounds, but this song shows the completely other side of the group. In addition, it is one of the few metal pieces that could anchor itself in pop music mainstream across genres as a standard song and cover versions of representatives of different styles learned. A version recorded live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra was also a great chart success as a single in the late 1990s.
From a historical perspective, Nothing Else Matters is a "random" composition. Metallica, which years before got a high reputation as one of the most famous bands of the US-american metalscene, lived currently at the beginning of the 90s a reorientation phase. The reason for that was the 1991 released album "Metallica", better known as the "black album". Nothing else matters was produced as an addition for this album.
The famous intro of the song was written by the singer James Hetfield, during a call, that's why it's also easy to play and only one hand is used.
Originally the song - the first version consisted only of Hetfield's voice and a guitar - shouldn't become a Metallica song, because Hetfield thought it was way too personally and kinda inappropriate for the band.
Hetfield later in an interview: "I thought I was making myself vulnerable. I showed my heart in the song and was scared that people would trample on it."
Finally after Lars Ulrich, the drummer, heard the song on a demo tape, he persuaded Hetfield, however, to further develop it and make it available to the band.
Reading the lyrics, it gets clear the Nothing else matters is a lovestory adressed to an unknown person. The individual verses include various adversities and disappointments that currently followed the singer of the song. The chorus conters with the statement "nothing else matters" to show the unconditional trust.
The ballad was very unusual for the Metal band, that's why they also lost some fans when they released the song - but new ones came to it.
After many gold and platinum awards, the group received a Grammy for the best Metal Performance. Also the Black Album, on which Nothing else matters is the eighth song, became an overwhelming commercial success and has now sold more than 35 million copies. In addition, Nothing else matters was the first Metallica song to receive regular radio airplay outside of the Metal section.
Lyrics:
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
I 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 say
Never cared for games they play
Never cared for what they do
Never cared for what they know
And I know, yeah!
So close, no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
No, nothing else matters
