| "Frantic" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Metallica | ||||
| from the album St. Anger | ||||
| B-side | "Blackened" (live) "Harvester of Sorrow" (live) "No Remorse" (live) "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (live) "Frantic" (Remix by U.N.K.L.E.) |
|||
| Released | September 15, 2003 | |||
| Format | CD single, Vinyl | |||
| Recorded | May, 2002-April, 2003 | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 5:51 4:58 (radio edit) |
|||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Writer(s) | James Hetfield Lars Ulrich Kirk Hammett Bob Rock |
|||
| Producer | Bob Rock | |||
| Metallica singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Frantic" is the opening track and second single by heavy metal band Metallica off their 2003 album St. Anger. This song, like many others on St. Anger, is about the band's past struggles with addictions, particularly lead singer James Hetfield's alcohol problem, for which he spent many months in rehab. The lyrics also draw on zen axioms, most notably the Buddhist concept of dukkha brought up by Kirk Hammett: "Birth is pain. Life is pain. Death is pain." These lines may also be a reference to the Samhain song "Macabre" from their Initium album, as the band are fans of Glenn Danzig, Samhain frontman.
During a concert in Orlando in 2003 James Hetfield introduced the song with the words "This song's about life. Like right fucking now." This show is available as a free download on livemetallica.com. In the DVD "Some Kind of Monster" Lars reveals he wanted to name the band's then untitled album "Frantic". In the end, the album was named St. Anger.
The song was played live at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, and debuted in May of that year at the MTV Icon ceremony.
"Frantic" is one of four songs to be played after the "Madly In Anger With The World Tour". The other three are "All Within My Hands," "Dirty Window," and "St. Anger". In this song, Kirk Hammett sings this part "Birth is pain, Life is pain, Death is pain, It's all the same".
The song was used in the third season premiere of Smallville, "Exile", during a scene where Clark Kent robs a bank.
A music video, directed by Wayne Isham, was made to go along with Frantic's release as a single. The video, featuring a shortened version of the song, depicts a man looking back on his life (in which he is constantly drinking, having sex, and smoking) at the instant that he crashes his rotisserie delivery pickup truck into an RV at an intersection. At the end of the video, and although the man's vehicle is upside-down, he finds himself still alive, and laughs loudly until a 4x4 car that goes towards the car crashes it in the window where he is located. The video was shot in Montreal, Canada.
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 16 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 21 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks | 22 |
·