Metallica: 10 Awesome Lyric Meanings You Totally Missed

After the colossal success of the Black Album, the 1995 followup Load was most likely the last thing fans were expecting. From the bluesier sound to the crime of cutting their hair, this album was definitely a different stripe of Metallica than many were comfortable with. The songs may not have hit as hard, but the actual words were much darker once you looked at them closely.

The tour for the Black Album had definitely taken its toll on the band, which led to them showing up to this next outing with a lot of pent-up feelings about their lives. While it was far from the heaviest offering they had made, "The House Jack Built" was one of the most transparent songs James Hetfield had written up until that point.

Coming down from the tour, Hetfield was becoming more honest with himself about his alcoholism, which had gotten seriously out of hand. The titular Jack is not a person but instead Jack Daniel's, which Hetfield acknowledges is a bit of mask he is able to hide behind while performing. Fans may not have been ready for Metallica talking about their personal lives, but "The House Jack Built" was the first hint of more intimate songs to come.