Metallica – The Unforgiven
About The Song
The original incarnation of the song came out in 1991 on Metallica, aka The Black Album. It wasn’t the band’s first heavy ballad; it followed in the sonic footsteps of “Fade to Black,” “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” and “One” — though fans noted that “The Unforgiven” flipped the dynamic switch with its full-on choruses and gentler chorus. And there were instrumental touches, such as subtle keyboards, additional percussion instruments played by Lars Ulrich and an altered horn during the intro that subtly referenced the 1960 Western feature film The Unforgiven, from which James Hetfield took the title.
But the recording’s most striking aspect was Hetfield’s performance, which he said was inspired by hearing Chris Isaak’s steamy and evocative hit “Wicked Game” two years earlier. “At this point, James wanted to sing,” producer Bob Rock told MusicRadar. “He had done a lot of screaming, but now he wanted to go somewhere else. In the past he had always doubled his vocals. He didn’t sing harmonies per se; he just sang the same thing on another track. …. I told James we should record his vocal, but instead of listening to himself on headphones, I wanted him to listen on speakers. The difference was amazing. He sang the song, and because he heard himself in a different way, there was a whole new dimension to his voice. It was big and deep and warm, and jumped out at you.”
Then there was the pain part. Hetfield acknowledged that the lyrics for “The Unforgiven” were inspired by his childhood, including his parents’ devoutly Christian beliefs (they insisted he leave during science classes in school), his anger over his father leaving the family when Hetfield was 13 and his mother’s ineffectiveness for Hetfield and his sister. “‘The Unforgiven’ was basically about alienation and, kind of, regret in life,” Hetfield explained to Maximum Guitar in 1998. “I lived my life for other people, trying to please everyone else except myself and at the end of the day blaming everyone else instead of yourself and not really taking responsibility for yourself.”
Those feelings certainly connected with an audience. The second single from the Black Album, “The Unforgiven” hit No. 10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Songs chart and No. 35 on the Hot 100, second only to its predecessor, “Enter Sandman,” at the time. It was certified gold as a single and has been a staple of Metallica’s live shows ever since.
