Metallica: Fade To Black Meaning

Song Released: 1984

Fade To Black Lyrics

Life it seems, will fade away
Drifting further every day
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters no one else
I have lost the will to live
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free

Things not...

1. snpragent009

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   Jan 19th 2009 !⃝

   Well, I believe that the incident where they get all of there equipment stolen may have inspired the song, or had a big part in the song being made, but I belive that the meaning of the lyrics are on a much bigger scale. He/the band goes through life feeling empty, even with all of thier tours and fame, and everything in their life seems a bit more trivial to them, and nothing else matters because they don't deeply care for anything (at that stage in their life, anyways.) Basically, they reach the thought "why do we live here, and go on through life..."
   Thats my opinion of what this song is explaining, anyway...
2. BiGSal

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   Dec 20th 2008 !⃝

   Your all retards this song was written when james hetfield and lars ulrich where thinking about death, and how afraid of it. espesially lars, fears death big time.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
3. fastfordfocus

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   Dec 16th 2008 !⃝

   This song is about having a split personality, or two seperate identities. Not necessarily because you are schizophrenic, but because you're torn between the life you were truly born to live and the life that you feel forced to live. Society puts so much pressure on a man to be good and pure and raise a family. Yet, modern man yearns to break his chains and run free. Deep inside, we all want to bring down a beast with our teeth and consume it's raw flesh as it dies. This conflict is a common unspoken theme in todays world. We all feel it, though most of us choose not to define it. Such is the dilemma of the voice of this song. He's losing his will to live because he can't be free and fulfill his destiny as an animal.
4. anonymous

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   Oct 13th 2008 !⃝

   "James and either Lars or Jason was Obsessed with death and suicide. Fade to Black expressed their feelings, after their equip being stolen"
   
   Jason wasn't in Metallica for another 2 or 3 years after this song was written, so the mention of him is irrelevant.
5. anonymous

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   Jul 21st 2008 !⃝

   James and either Lars or Jason was Obsessed with death and suicide. Fade to Black expressed their feelings, after their equip being stolen
6. anonymous

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   Feb 21st 2008 !⃝

   Fade to Black is about Metallica's equipment getting stolen.
7. YourFan

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   Jul 19th 2007 !⃝

   This song is about suicide.
   
   Yeah, this song was written after almost all of Metallica's equipment was stolen, especially a rare amplifier that James's mom gave to him just before she died.
8. anonymous

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   Apr 19th 2007 !⃝

   Yes it's about hopelessness and thinking of death...I have seen the interview with James Heitfield in MTV Icon.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
9. anonymous

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   Mar 6th 2007 !⃝

   Yeah, this song is definitely about suicide. I saw an interview with james and lars about it.
10. anonymous

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    Dec 19th 2006 !⃝

    This song is about the thought of suicide, its never carried out in the song. It conveys the feeling of hopelessness, like there is no other option. It's more about feeling like killing yourself rather than actually doing it.
11. dupuis_j

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    Jun 30th 2006 !⃝

    Everybody that wrote something above is somewhat right and they all have a level of truth to them.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
12. anonymous

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    Jun 4th 2006 !⃝

    This is one of my favorite songs because it has a great meaning and has a very beautiful guitar, I just relize when I hear it and I know it's a simple guitar it's still great, I love this song.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
13. anonymous

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    May 30th 2006 !⃝

    I believe this song is a song you can listen to any time you feel depressed about any thing... I agree with the above people it was written after metallicas gear was stolen... my boyfriend died and this is a song I listen to whenever I feel down... It's an awsome song with great lyrics which are deep and meaningful...
    METALLICA ROX!!!!!!!!! and lars ulrich is a hottie hehehe

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
14. anonymous

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    Apr 21st 2006 !⃝

    This song holds two meanings:
    
    During a tour most of Metallica's Gear was stolen. This included James Hetfield's fist amplifier. Not only was this his favourite amp but held personal memories. After that Metallica, and most importantly Hetfield, were deciding weather or not to go on. Hetfield was feeling like he was at the end of his career.
    
    If you notice there is a linedruring the song which basically says - summed up - the only person that I can save is me and it`s too late for that.
15. anonymous

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    Apr 17th 2006 !⃝

    James Hetfield's favorite amp was stolen, after this happened he became very depressed. He wrote this song thinking he was going to give up on Metallica and life in general. After leaving this depressed stage, the bend was going through his journal and found that this would make a good song. And there you have it. Fade to Black.

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