“Fade to Black” by Metallica

Metallica's "Fade to Black" came off Ride the Lightning, the band's second album, in 1984, and it was a first on two counts: their first power ballad, and the first promotional single pulled from the record. It proved they could ease off the throttle without losing an ounce of weight.

The gloom was real. Lars Ulrich has recalled that he and James Hetfield were fixated on death back then, and Hetfield has said a break-in at the band's gear truck, which cost him his favorite Marshall amp, fed the mood as well. The words wrestle with suicidal despair, sung by Hetfield, and the music is credited to him, Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton. The band produced it, with Flemming Rasmussen engineering. Guitar World readers later rated its solo the 24th best of all time, and Rolling Stone put it at 35 on its 2023 list of the greatest heavy metal songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.