"Moth into Flame" is a song by heavy metal band Metallica and the second single from their tenth studio album, '' Hardwired... to Self-Destruct''. The song debuted during the band's appearance on ''

The Howard Stern Show ''The Howard Stern Show'' is an American radio show hosted by Howard Stern that gained wide recognition when it was nationally syndicated on terrestrial radio from WXRK in New York City, between 1986 and 2005. The show has aired on Howard 100 a ...

'' on September 26, 2016, with the official music video being uploaded to the band's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

page hours later. The song made its live debut at

Webster Hall Webster Hall is a nightclub and concert venue located at 125 East 11th Street, between Third and Fourth Avenues, near Astor Place, in the East Village of Manhattan, New York City. It is one of New York City's most historically significant ...

on September 27, 2016, the 30th anniversary of former bassist

Cliff Burton Clifford Lee Burton (February 10, 1962 – September 27, 1986) was an American musician who was the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica from 1982 until his death in 1986. He performed on ''Kill 'Em All'' (1983), ''Ride the Lightning'' (1984) ...

's death. The song was used as the official theme song for American television company TBS's ''

ELeague ''ELeague'', shortened as ''EL'', and stylized as ''ΞLEAGUE'' is an esports league and American television show that airs on TBS. It was announced in September 2015 as a partnership between Turner Broadcasting and talent agency WME/IMG. ...

'', for both the second season of the program and the ELeague ''Counter-Strike'' Major. Metallica performed the song with

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

at the 59th Annual Grammy Awards on February 12, 2017, which was fraught with difficulties as Hetfield's microphone was not functional for almost half of the performance. Hetfield threw down his guitar in anger as the band left the stage. With permission from the Grammys and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

, both artists were allowed to upload the rehearsal performance, which did not include any technical difficulties, as well as a "fixed" version of the original performance, which included the soundboard recording mixed in with the broadcast version.

Background

James Hetfield stated that

Amy Winehouse Amy Jade Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011) was an English singer and songwriter. She was known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues and jazz. A membe ...

had served as inspiration for the song after he had watched the 2015

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

'' Amy''. "The song was somewhat inspired by the Amy Winehouse documentary, 'Amy'. When I watched it, it really made me sad that a talented person like that fell for the fame part of it. But, to some degree, I see that mentality reflected in daily lives".

Personnel

* James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar *

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, ...

– lead guitar *

Robert Trujillo Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz (; born October 23, 1964) is an American musician, best known as the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica since 2003. He first rose to prominence as the bassist of crossover thrash ban ...

– bass * Lars Ulrich – drums

Charts

References

{{authority control 2016 songs Metallica songs 2016 singles Songs written by James Hetfield Songs written by Lars Ulrich