The Story Behind: "One" by Metallica

One is a song by American thrash metal band Metallica, which was released as a third single from their fourth studio effort, ...And Justice for All in January 1989.  

The Lyrics

The song was written by band members James Hetfield (Vocals, Rhythm Guitar) and Lars Ulrich (Drums) in late 1988. The lyrics in One are anti-war oriented, where they portray a soldier in World War I, whom is critically wounded. The solider has his arms and legs blown off by an artillery shell, leaving the soldier blind, deaf and unable to communicate with anybody. In his mind he begs God to take his life in order to stop his pain.   

In the lyrics, Hetfield chillingly portrays the mindset of the soldier with brilliant lines as: »Darkness imprisoning me All that I see Absolute horror, I cannot live, I cannot die, Trapped in myself, Body my holding cell« and »Fed through the tube that sticks in me, Just like a wartime novelty, Tied to machines that make me be, Cut this life off from me«, which really convey the message of the horror that is war.

Recording

After Ulrich and Hetfield wrote the song in November 1987, they introduced the song to the band in the One and One Studios in Los Angeles, California. The original song begins with an intro which are sound effects of explosions, rifles and helicopters, which was requested by Hetfield.

The song then transitions into a clean tone guitar intro played by Hetfield, followed by Hammett with a melodic solo. The song continues with the verses and choruses, a second solo by Hammet and into the epic bridge part that builds the song up with distorted guitars, which resemble a machinge gun firing (which is absolutely genius). The song ends with a another solo by Hammet and a dual guitar battle with Hammet and Hetfield.

The Music Video

The music video was the very first video made for a Metallica song, because the band wasn't very fond of music videos (the fans even complained that the band making the video was »selling out«). It was directed by Bill Pope and Michael Salomon and made a debut on MTV in 1989. The shooting took place in Long Beach in a warehouse, where the band peformed the song in a blueish black and white filter.

Besides the band playing, the video features clips of the 1971 anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun, though there were three versions of the video, where the video did not include the clips from the movie and one which had a shorter version of the song (made for the radio). The video has a big focus on the playing of the band members, because Metallica wanted the video to portrey them as musicians and not as actors. The video was later ranked number 38 on MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos and number one on the Fuse's Number 1 Countdown.