King Nothing

King Nothing

"King Nothing" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica from their 1996 album Load, released on January 7, 1997. The song was written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett. The song starts on a bass riff which develops into the main riff of the song. A single of "King Nothing" was released in the United States. It included a live version of the song "Ain't My Bitch", which is also on the album Load. A music video also accompanied the song. The guitars and bass are both tuned to Eb. At the end of the song, the words "Off to never-never land" can be heard. This is a nod to one of Metallica's most famous songs, "Enter Sandman", which also features these words. The song also features a similar structure. "King Nothing" was featured as background music in the ninth episode of the second season of The Sopranos, "From Where to Eternity", in a scene in which Tony Soprano is speaking with Paulie Gualtieri in the Bada Bing strip club. On the US charts, the song reached number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100, while peaking at number six on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. The song circles around the theme of "be careful what you wish for". The lyrics depict a man who just wants to play the king and doesn't care about anything else. This ultimately leads to his downfall, as shown in "And it all crashes down, and you break your crown".

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