Is 'Nothing Else Matters' a Glam Power Ballad?
The fact of the matter is, none of us can clearly define metal. What is metal to me, isn't metal to you and vice versa. As time marches on, the classification of what is metal changes but what was once metal usually remains in the category. Proof? Def Leppard started as metal, but they are not the same band today. Metallica started as aggressive thrash and now they are radio friendly. Quiet Riot was a metal band but most people lump them in the Glam category because of their roots to the Sunset Strip. The crux of the matter is that no one really knows what is up or down because it's all too complicated. Reporters like to pigeonhole bands by a certain sound and we all buy into it - usually to chaos. I write about a band like, say, Drowning Pool once in awhile because they are touring with a Glam band (like Motley Crue), and it panics readers. So, ok. I think about this from time to time but today I was wondering...is it possible that Metallica created a true Glam power ballad in "Nothing Else Matters?"
Featured on Metallica's 1991 self-titled album, "Nothing Else Matters" was maybe the most played song at every dance through my entire Jr./Sr. high school career. The song was an official single around 1992, but just had amazing staying power throughout the 90s and beyond. I never considered the song Glam at the time, but now I do think the song utilizes some of the same hallmarks of the traditional power ballad: guitar interludes, themes that can be taken many ways and a video that phases between the highs and lows of a rockstar's life. Seems pretty Glam to me - then again, past Master of Puppets, Metallica was never really a heavy band anyway. What do you think?