10 Metallica Songs That Have Been Played The Most Live
9. Fade To Black - 1,256 Times
Talk about a song of two halves.
Another first slide closer, Fade to Black apparently came from James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich's obsession with death, which is truly delightful.
Taken from the band's second album, Ride the Lightning, this song is the first time they attempted a power ballad, featuring an acoustic guitar of all things. An acoustic?! On a thrash album?! Sacrilege!
If this does actually offend you, firstly, take a long hard look at yourself, and secondly, don't worry! Because this thing goes hard in the second half.
Once all that finger picky nonsense is out of the way, the song becomes a hard rock banger, complete with a riff and melody so good that Metallica basically used it again for the song The Memory Remains many years later.
This killer combination means that Fade to Black is still popular all these decades on, having been played 1,256 times in Metallica's live sets since. Whilst the track fades out on the album, Kirk Hammett always delivers a phenomenal live ending in person, bringing his outstanding outro solo to a rapturous close.
Fade to Black is a great Metallica power ballad, but it's not the Metallica power ballad...