1989 single by Metallica
"
One
" is a song by American
heavy metal
band
Metallica
,
[2]
released as the third and final single from the band's fourth studio album,
...And Justice for All
(1988). Written by band members
James Hetfield
and
Lars Ulrich
, the song portrays a
World War I
soldier who is severely wounded?arms, legs and jaw blown off by a landmine, blind and unable to speak or move?begging God to take his life. In the music video, attempting to communicate with the hospital staff he jolts in his bed, spelling
SOS
in
Morse code
.
[3]
Production of the song was done by the band alongside
Flemming Rasmussen
. The song was the band's first to chart in the U.S., reaching number 35 on the
Billboard
Hot 100
. It was also a number one hit in Finland.
A video for the song was introduced in January 1989 on
MTV
. Shot in
black and white
by director
Michael Salomon
, the video's story is intercut with scenes taken from the 1971 anti-war film
Johnny Got His Gun
. Due to routinely being required to pay
royalty fees
to continue showing the music video, Metallica bought the rights to the film. The video was ranked at number one on MTV soon after its introduction.
[4]
Metallica performed "One" for the
31st Annual Grammy Awards
show broadcast from Los Angeles in 1989. The
next year
, the song won a
Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance
, the first ever to win in that category.
[4]
The band also performed the song alongside pianist
Lang Lang
at the
56th Annual Grammy Awards
in 2014. The song is one of the band's most popular pieces and has remained a staple at live shows since the release of the album, and is the most performed song from
...And Justice for All
. In March 2023,
Rolling Stone
ranked "One" at number 11 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list.
[5]
Recording and composition
[
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]
"One" was written in November 1987 by Metallica's principal composers
James Hetfield
and
Lars Ulrich
. The song was released in 1988 as the third and final single of the album. For the first 20 seconds of the song there are a series of
sound effects
with a battle theme, an artillery barrage and helicopter are heard and continues slightly over a clean tone guitar intro by Hetfield before
Kirk Hammett
comes in over the top with a clean-toned solo. Ulrich's drums come in and continues until each chorus, when the guitars become heavy and distorted before returning to clean. There is a second solo by Hammett halfway through the song, before lyrics cut out and the song gradually gets more heavy and distorted until the "machine gun" guitar build up (played alongside double bass drums) before the next, often highly praised, guitar solo by Hammett, and a final dual solo by Hammett and Hetfield. The song begins in
4
4
time, and later
3
4
as well as
2
4
.
In 1991,
James Hetfield
told
Guitar World
that he wrote the song's opening Bm-G chord change based on an idea prompted by the
Venom
song "Buried Alive" from their second studio album,
Black Metal
.
I had been fiddling around with that B-G modulation for a long time. The idea for the opening came from a Venom song called "Buried Alive". The kick drum machine-gun part near the end wasn't written with the war lyrics in mind, it just came out that way. We started that album with
Mike Clink
as producer. He didn't work out so well, so we got
Flemming
to come over and save our asses.
The song starts off in a soft melodic setting, but it develops through multiple sections into heavier and faster
speed metal
sounds,
[6]
leading up to a
tapping
solo by
Kirk Hammett
,
[7]
and a dual guitar section by Hammett and
James Hetfield
.
[2]
Concept
[
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]
The song is based on the idea of a soldier losing all of his limbs and jaw and being unable to hear, speak, or see, set to a World War I backdrop. In an interview in New Zealand in 1989, Ulrich describes the 1971 film
Johnny Got His Gun
(based on the 1939 book
Johnny Got His Gun
by Dalton Trumbo, who also directed the 1971 film) as having a similar theme, and this was the reason it was incorporated into the video.
[8]
Music video
[
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]
"One" was the first Metallica song for which a
music video
was created. The music video, directed by
Bill Pope
and
Michael Salomon
, debuted on
MTV
on January 20, 1989. The video, shot in
Long Beach, California
on December 7, 1988, is almost entirely in
black and white
, and features the band performing the song in a warehouse. It features
dialogue
and several scenes from the 1971 film adaptation of
Johnny Got His Gun
.
Timothy Bottoms
can be seen starring as Joe Bonham, the main character in
the novel
(written by
Dalton Trumbo
and published in September 1939; the basis for the 1971 film).
Three versions of the "One" music video were made; the first (the longest, album version) contained scenes of both the band and scenes from the movie. The second was simply a shortened version of the first, and the third, often known as the "jammin' version", lacked scenes from the movie (the song and video fades at the last bridge in the third version).
Like many other music videos from Metallica, "One" puts great emphasis on the performances of the band members as musicians, with many shots of Hetfield,
Jason Newsted
and Hammett's hands picking and fretting. The video features the band members in a typical early Metallica fashion: playing (as if in rehearsal) in some sort of warehouse, in tight formation around
Lars Ulrich
's
drum kit
, and dressed in casual street clothes and with long untamed hair.
In the music video, both Hetfield and Hammett play
ESP guitars
; Newsted is on a 5-string
Wal
bass. Newsted plays bass with his fingers at the start of the song, and later switches to a
pick
.
Two of the three versions of the "One" music video appear on
2 of One
, a VHS released on July 1, 1990, and both would again be featured on the band's 2006
music video compilation DVD
.
The music video was ranked at number 38 on
Rock on the Net: MTV: 100 Greatest Music Videos
and number one on
Fuse
's
No. 1 Countdown: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Special Edition
. As of October 6, 2023, the video has over 300 million views on
YouTube
.
Live performance
[
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]
"One" is a fixture of the band's live performances. When played live, the song is usually played with guitars tuned down by one
semitone
(a permanent fixture of their studio and live work since 1995, save for
Death Magnetic
and
Hardwired... to Self-Destruct
in the case of the former) and is preceded by
pyrotechnics
and the same sounds of war such as machine guns, and bombs exploding as heard on the recorded version. The song also features heavy strobe lighting during the heavier half of the song, namely before the Hammett solo.
The song was also featured on
S&M
and
S&M2
, Metallica's albums of live performances in collaboration with the
San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
, conducted by
Michael Kamen
, and
Michael Tilson Thomas
respectively. Another notable performance was at the
Grammy Awards 2014
, when pianist
Lang Lang
accompanied the band on an acoustic grand piano.
[9]
Track listing
[
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]
"One" single
[
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]
US 7" single
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One"
| 7:24
|
---|
2.
| "The Prince" (
Diamond Head
cover)
| 4:27
|
---|
CD single and international 12" single
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One"
| 7:24
|
---|
2.
| "
For Whom the Bell Tolls
" (live)
| 4:48
|
---|
3.
| "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (live)
| 6:06
|
---|
International 7" single and international 10" picture disc
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One"
| 7:24
|
---|
2.
| "
Seek & Destroy
" (live)
| 8:42
|
---|
12" Gatefold
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One" (demo version)
| 7:03
|
---|
2.
| "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (live)
| 4:48
|
---|
3.
| "
Creeping Death
" (live)
| 8:00
|
---|
Japanese EP
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One"
| 7:24
|
---|
2.
| "
Breadfan
" (
Budgie
cover)
| 5:43
|
---|
3.
| "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (live)
| 4:48
|
---|
4.
| "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (live)
| 6:06
|
---|
5.
| "One" (demo version)
| 7:04
|
---|
|
"One" (live) single
[
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]
CD single and 12" picture disc
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One"
| 7:27
|
---|
2.
| "One" (demo)
| 7:03
|
---|
3.
| "One" (live)
| 9:38
|
---|
Cardsleeve
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One" (edit)
| 4:59
|
---|
2.
| "One" (live)
| 9:38
|
---|
Digipak
Title
|
---|
1.
| "One" (live)
| 9:49
|
---|
2.
| "
Whiplash
" (live)
| 4:46
|
---|
3.
| "For Whom the Bell Tolls" (live)
| 5:50
|
---|
4.
| "
Last Caress
" (live)
| 2:25
|
---|
|
Personnel
[
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]
Personnel adapted from
...And Justice For All
liner notes
[10]
- Metallica
- Technical Personnel
Charts
[
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]
Weekly charts
[
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]
Year-end charts
[
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]
Chart (1994)
|
Position
|
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)
[29]
|
76
|
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)
[30]
|
15
|
Netherlands (Single Top 100)
[31]
|
21
|
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)
[32]
|
28
|
Certifications
[
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]
Honors
[
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]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
- ^
"…And Justice for All (Remastered Deluxe Box Set)"
.
spotify.com
.
- ^
a
b
Prown, Pete; Newquist, Harvey P. (1997).
Legends of Rock Guitar: The Essential Reference of Rock's Greatest Guitarists
. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 226.
ISBN
9780793540426
.
- ^
Corwin, Joanna (2009).
"Trapped in Myself: 'One' and the Mind-Body Problem"
. In Irwin, William (ed.).
Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery
. Hoboken, New Jersey:
John Wiley & Sons
. p. 180.
ISBN
9781405182089
.
- ^
a
b
Crouse, Richard (2012).
Who Wrote The Book Of Love?
. Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
Doubleday Canada
. p. 156.
ISBN
9780385674423
.
- ^
"The 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time"
.
Rolling Stone
. March 13, 2023.
Archived
from the original on March 13, 2023
. Retrieved
March 13,
2023
.
- ^
Doughton, K. J. (2008).
Metallica Unbound
. Grand Central Publishing. p. 96.
ISBN
9780446554589
.
- ^
Pillsbury, Glenn (2013).
Damage Incorporated: Metallica and the Production of Musical Identity
. Routledge. p. 54.
ISBN
9781136091148
.
- ^
Metallica - Interview with Lars, New Zealand 1989
on
YouTube
- ^
"News | Grammy Awards Performance"
. Metallica.com. January 7, 2014. Archived from
the original
on January 7, 2014
. Retrieved
December 18,
2016
.
- ^
...And Justice for All
liner notes
.
Vertigo Records
. 1988.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
.
ARIA Top 50 Singles
.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One (Live)"
.
ARIA Top 50 Singles
. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
(in Dutch).
Ultratop 50
.
- ^
"Top 10 Sales in Europe"
(PDF)
.
Music & Media
. Vol. 11, no. 21. May 21, 1994. p. 24
. Retrieved
April 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Eurochart Hot 100 Singles"
(PDF)
.
Music & Media
. Vol. 11, no. 22. May 28, 1994. p. 17
. Retrieved
April 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Billboard Hits of the World - Continued"
.
Billboard
. May 21, 1994. p. 43
. Retrieved
January 17,
2012
.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
(in German).
GfK Entertainment charts
. Retrieved May 28, 2019.
- ^
"
The Irish Charts ? Search Results ? Metallica"
.
Irish Singles Chart
. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
- ^
"
Nederlandse Top 40 ? Metallica"
(in Dutch).
Dutch Top 40
.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
(in Dutch).
Single Top 100
. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
.
Top 40 Singles
.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
.
VG-lista
.
- ^
Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005).
Solo exitos: ano a ano, 1959?2002
(1st ed.). Spain: Fundacion Autor-SGAE.
ISBN
84-8048-639-2
.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
.
Singles Top 100
.
- ^
"
Metallica ? One"
.
Swiss Singles Chart
.
- ^
"Metallica: Artist Chart History"
.
Official Charts Company
. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
- ^
"Metallica Chart History (Hot 100)"
.
Billboard
. Retrieved December 18, 2016.
- ^
"Metallica Chart History (Mainstream Rock)"
.
Billboard
.
- ^
"1994 in Review ? Sales Charts"
(PDF)
.
Music & Media
. Vol. 11, no. 52. December 24, 1994. p. 24 (of PDF)
. Retrieved
April 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1994"
. Dutch Top 40
. Retrieved
August 18,
2021
.
- ^
"Jaaroverzichten ? Single 1994"
(in Dutch).
MegaCharts
. Retrieved
April 10,
2020
.
- ^
"Arlista Singlar, 1994"
.
Sverigetopplistan
(in Swedish)
. Retrieved
May 23,
2019
.
- ^
"ARIA Charts ? Accreditations ? 2024 Singles"
(PDF)
.
Australian Recording Industry Association
. Retrieved
March 8,
2024
.
- ^
"Danish single certifications ? Metallica ? One"
.
IFPI Danmark
. Retrieved
November 28,
2023
.
- ^
"British single certifications ? Metallica ? One"
.
British Phonographic Industry
. Retrieved
July 20,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
"American single certifications ? Metallica ? One"
.
Recording Industry Association of America
. Retrieved
July 20,
2021
.
- ^
"100 Greatest Guitar Solos"
Archived
November 18, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
.
About.com
. Retrieved December 8, 2005.
- ^
"Full Top 50 Metal Songs List"
. Archived from
the original
on October 28, 2016
. Retrieved
December 20,
2017
.
- ^
"Rock 1000 Countdown 2009"
. The Rock 1000. Retrieved September 11, 2009.
- ^
MacDonald, Patrick (January 12, 1990).
"Soundgarden Nomination: The Growth of Local Rock"
.
The Seattle Times
. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
External links
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Studio albums
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Cover albums
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Extended plays
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Collaboration projects
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Live albums
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Box sets
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Singles
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Promotional singles
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Other songs
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Video albums
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Tours
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Related articles
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