It’s a suicide song, and we got a lot of flak for it, as if kids were killing themselves because of the song. I was pretty depressed at the time because our gear had just been stolen, and we had been thrown out of our manager’s house for breaking shit and drinking his liquor cabinet dry. I wrote the song at a friend’s house in New Jersey. You could hear every squeak, so I had to be careful.

It was pretty much our first ballad, so we knew it would freak people out… Recording that song, I learned how frustrating acoustic guitar can be. James Hetfield (lead vocalist/guitarist in Metallica) commented on the song in a interview with Guitar World in 1991: “That song was a big step for us. The tracks tell the story of a man who wants to commit suicide. “Fade to Black” was written and produced by all members of Metallica, as well as producer Flemming Rasmussen helping with the production. “Fade to Black” is the fourth track from American heavy metal band Metallica and their 1984 album “Ride the Lightning”.

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