10 Classic Songs That Weren't Supposed To Be Hits
4. Nothing Else Matters - Metallica
Even with years of hindsight to its name, it seems like Metallica fans still haven't made up their minds about what to do about Nothing Else Matters.
Whereas some people see this as one of the biggest cases of sellout in the group's history, others tend to see it as one of their greatest ballads, enticing people who wouldn't have even gave metal a chance. Throughout all the discourse, many people forget that it was blind luck that actually brought it into existence.
When working on the Black Album, there was no real need for this kind of ballad on the track listing, given that they already had a softer song of sorts on the record with the Unforgiven.
However, when looking through the demos of certain songs, Lars Ulrich ended up taking a liking to this guitar figure James Hetfield had been fiddling around with while playing the open strings on his guitar. By the time they started to arrange the thing, producer Bob Rock envisioned something much bigger, with an orchestra being brought in to score the rest of the piece.
Not wanting to break anyone's hearts, Metallica tried to conceal it on the back half of the record, only for it to pick up steam on the airwaves after the rest of the record blew up. While some people might still call this a sell out moment, if it's good enough to be performed with a live orchestra in concert, it's at least doing a few things right.