ANALYZING THE LYRICS: METALLICA – “Moth Into Flame”

American thrash metal act, METALLICA, shocked the music world earlier this year when they shared the stage at the Grammys in collaboration with pop star, Lady Gaga. The ‘mic fail’ incident as it has now come to be known as, goes down as perhaps the biggest technical blunder in front of a worldwide audience in the history of TV. 26 million of us scratched our heads while Gaga gyrated and Hetfield sang like an idiot into a dead microphone. Nonetheless, Lars Ulrich still plans to do more music with the singer. What that means exactly, only time will tell. We all had a good laugh with the fake news of her actually joining METALLICA on their next record entitled “The White Album” this past April Fools. But is there a deeper connection going on between the band and the pop star then we are all being lead to believe?

Today, TMD is going to analyze the lyrics to the song these two giants performed together that upon deeper examination will hopefully help all of us to understand how a downfall of such an important rock band could happen.

Hetfield himself went on the record about the lyrics for this tune, stating it was written about the tragic life of one of the biggest pop stars ever, the late Amy Winehouse.

“The song was somewhat inspired by the Amy Winehouse documentary, ‘Amy’, said Hetfield. When I watched it, it really made me sad that a talented person like that fell for the fame part of it.”

Fell for the fame, huh? And what do you call what your band is doing, James? Didn’t you and Lars succumb to the ‘fame game’ way back in the nineties? Remember when you cut off all of your hair and stopped playing thrash metal music? Thank Christ that a band like PANTERA did not do the same thing and always stayed true to the fans who put them on top.

Where would metal music be today had all the other bands turned on their heritage like your band did?

Guess what? There would be no more metal music!

“Like a moth into flame… all of the fame could be gone with the snap of a finger.” – Anonymous

“Moth Into Flame”

By James Hetfield

Blacked out
Pop queen, amphetamine
The screams crashed into silence

THE METAL DEN: Seems eerily strange wording to start a song this way when you ultimately performed the song with the queen of pop. Was this ‘somewhat’ about Amy or is it actually written for Gaga? Tell the truth.

The singer once admitted to US radio station Z100 that only a handful of years ago she was struggling to get to a place where she doesn’t have to use drugs to be creative. Cocaine and weed being her main demons. “I do put that pressure on myself; I have to be high to be creative. I need that, that’s an error in my life that happened for over 10 years… Can I be brilliant without it? I know that I can be and I have to be because I want to live, and I want my fans to want to live.”

So was the collaboration all planned from the start? Was there more going on between these two camps that we don’t know about?

Is Lady Gaga actually an unannounced new member of METALLICA?

Tapped out
Doused in the gasoline
The high times going timeless

Decadence
Death of the innocence
The pathway starts to spiral

THE METAL DEN: Yes, the spiral has certainly begun. But why? Is it all over greed and this all consuming addiction to fame? Hmmm…

Infamy
All for publicity
Destruction going viral

Light it up
Ah, light it up
Another hit erases all the pain
Bulletproof
Ah, kill the truth
You’re falling, but you think you’re flying high
High again

THE METAL DEN: Going viral is exactly what this song did when your band performed it for the first time with Gaga. The mic fail itself seemed planned far in advance to create ‘infamy’.. doing it ‘All for publicity’.

Is this just a coincidence or a premonition of what was to indeed come?

‘Kill the truth’. Isn’t that what was done when explaining how the mic failed? You blamed a stagehand, backup dancers, etc…

When in truth, the mic fail was totally staged to add controversy to the performance so it would be a huge viral sensation and not ignored like it most likely would have been. The band has a new album out and is getting ready to head out on a world tour for the first time in many years.

Sold your soul
Built a higher wall
Yesterday
Now you’re thrown away

Same rise and fall
Who cares at all?
Seduced by fame
A moth into the flame

THE METAL DEN: Yes, many of us agree Lars and James sold their souls decades ago. Funny about building a higher ‘wall’ when Lars doesn’t think the US needs a border wall at all, yet he lives with one surrounding his million dollar mansion. And who cares at all, right? Lars doesn’t seem to give a shit about the safety of Americans, that we know for sure.

Twisted
Backstabbing wicked
The delusion absolution

Perjurer
Fame is the murderer
Seduce you into ruin

THE METAL DEN: Yes, the delusion in this band is seriously strong and ‘absolute’. Are you talking about your band now, James?

Light it up
Ah, light it up
Another hit erases all the pain
Bulletproof
Ah, tell the truth
You’re falling, but you think you’re flying high
High again

Sold your soul
Built the higher wall
Yesterday
Now you’re thrown away

Same rise and fall
Who cares at all?
Seduced by fame
A moth into the flame
Burn

Guarantee your name, you go and kill yourself
The vultures feast around you still
Overdose on shame and insecurity
If one won’t do that fistful will

THE METAL DEN: ‘Overdose on shame and insecurity’. Sounds like a perfect description of ‘Some Kind of Monster’.

Death scene
Black hearse the limousine
A grave filled with seduction

Vaccine
Fame does the murdering
She builds up for destruction

So light it up
Ah, light it up
Another hit erases all the pain
Bulletproof
Ah, no excuse
You’re falling, but you think you’re flying high
High again

Sold your soul
Built the higher wall
Yesterday
Now you’re thrown away

Same rise and fall
Who cares at all?
Seduced by fame
A moth into the flame

Addicted to the
Fame

THE METAL DEN: The final line is so telling, isn’t it? ‘Addicted to the fame’. That is the very problem METALLICA suffers from today, isn’t it?

https://metallica.com/