Metallica: 'Nothing Else Matters' turns 30

The Vienna Boys Choir covered it. So did the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Motörhead frontman Lemmy.

US folk-rock singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers was one of several artists, such as pop star Miley Cyrus — supported by Elton John on piano and Yo-Yo Ma on cello — as well as Darius Rucker and the US band My Morning Jacket who covered the song in 2021 for the 30th anniversary of Metallica's "Metallica" album.  

Metallica's defining power ballad "Nothing Else Matters" has been interpreted live about a thousand times, and more than 110 covers have been recorded. 

"I think of Metallica as being a pop band,” Bridgers told Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich in 2020. "A lot of metal is just metal to be metal — but Metallica write real songs."

Hetfield hesitant to play song about a girl

Written by singer and guitarist James Hetfield in 1990, "Nothing Else Matters" was was an epoch-making song.

But the Metallica frontman never believed that it should be recorded in the first place. "At first, I didn't even want to play it for the guys," he told Mojo music magazine in 2008.

"It's absolutely crazy: That was the song that I thought was least Metallica, least likely to ever be played by us, the last song anyone would really want to hear," he told the Village Voice weekly a few years later. 

The frontman had to be persuaded to include the song on the 1991 album "Metallica," also known as "The Black Album" because of its packaging. "Nothing Else Matters" was then released as a single on April 20, 1992.

"It was a song for myself in my room on tour when I was bumming out about being away from home," he said. "It's quite amazing; it's a true testament to honesty and exposing yourself, putting your real self out there, and taking the risk."

'One of the best songs ever written'

Carried by an acoustic guitar, the slow ballad would certainly have surprised fans of one of the world's biggest metal bands. But it's melodic appeal also exposed the band to a much broader audience, and was one of the first power metal ballads to get commercial radio airplay.

That appeal was summed up by pianist and pop music legend Elton John when passing judgment on the band during an interview on the Howard Stern talk show last year.

"It's a song that never gets old," John said about performing on the covers album "The Metallica Blacklist" with Miley Cyrus.

"And playing on this track, I just couldn't wait," he said. "The chord structure, the melodies, the time changes — it's got drama written all over it."

Hetfield and his Metallica co-founder and collaborator for 40 years, Ulrich, were on hand to receive the praise. 

"You can't really define them," John said. 

"They're not a heavy metal band," he added. "They're a musical band. Their songs aren't just heavy metal. They're beautiful songs."

This article was originally written in German.