"King Nothing" is a song by American heavy metal band

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. The band was formed in 1981 in Los Angeles by vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

from their 1996 album '' Load,'' released on January 7, 1997. The song was written by

James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder and a main songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his intricate rhythm playing, but occasionall ...

Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician best known as the drummer and co-founder of American heavy metal band Metallica. The son and grandson respectively of tennis players Torben and Einer Ulrich, he played tennis in his ...

, and

Kirk Hammett Kirk Lee Hammett (born November 18, 1962) is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist and a contributing songwriter for heavy metal band Metallica since 1983. Before joining Metallica, he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, ...

. The song starts on a bass riff which develops into the main riff of the song. A single of "King Nothing" was released in the United States. It included a live version of the song "

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", which is also on the album ''Load''. A music video also accompanied the song. The guitars and bass are both tuned to Eb. The words ''"Off to never-never land"'', heard at the end of the song, are a nod to one of the song "

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", from Metallica's preceding album, which also contains these words. Both songs have a similar structure. "King Nothing" appeared as background music in the ninth episode of the second season of ''

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'', "

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", in a scene in which

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is speaking with

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in the

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strip club. On the US charts, the song reached number 90 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, while peaking at number six on the

Mainstream Rock Tracks Mainstream Rock is a music chart in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States, a category that combines the formats of active rock and heritage rock. The chart was launched in Ma ...

chart. The song circles around the theme of "be careful what you wish for". The lyrics depict a man who just wants to play the king and doesn't care about anything else. This ultimately leads to his downfall, as shown in "And it all crashes down, and you break your crown".

Music video

In the music video, "King Nothing" is seen wandering around a snowy wasteland, throwing away his crown, and then putting another one on. He does this so much, by the end of the video, there are crowns everywhere. At the very end, hundreds of other King Nothings surround him. The music video, directed by

Matt Mahurin Matthew S. Mahurin (born January 31, 1959) is an American illustrator, photographer and film director. Mahurin's illustrations appear in ''Time'', ''Newsweek'', '' Mother Jones'', ''Rolling Stone'', ''Esquire'', ''Forbes'', and ''The New York Tim ...

, was filmed in

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

, Utah, in December 1996.

Demo

The demo of "King Nothing" was called "Load" (hence the title of the album on which it is featured) and was recorded in

's home studio 'Dungeon' by

and Ulrich on November 30, 1994.

Track listing

;Canada and US single #"King Nothing" – 5:28 #"Ain't My Bitch" (Live –

Irvine Meadows Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre (formerly known as Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre) was an amphitheater operating from 1981-2016 in Irvine, California. The venue was built in 1980 funded by four local private investors under the Irvine Meadows Partners ...

, California, 4 August 1996) – 6:00 ;US promo Single #"King Nothing" (edited version) – 4:59 #"King Nothing" (full version) – 5:28

Charts

References

1996 songs 1997 singles Metallica songs Songs written by James Hetfield Songs written by Kirk Hammett Songs written by Lars Ulrich Song recordings produced by Bob Rock {{1990s-rock-single-stub