King Nothing

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"King Nothing"
Single by Metallica
from the album Load
B-side	"Ain't My Bitch (live)"
Released	January 7, 1997[1]
Recorded	May 1995 – February 1996 at The Plant Studios, in Sausalito, California
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	5:28
Label	Elektra
Composer(s)	James Hetfield Lars Ulrich Kirk Hammett
Lyricist(s)	James Hetfield
Producer(s)	Bob Rock James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Metallica singles chronology
"Mama Said" (1996) "King Nothing" (1997) "Bleeding Me" (1997)
Music video
"King Nothing" on YouTube
Audio sample
King Nothing file help

"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.

The words "Off to never-never land", heard at the end of the song, are a nod to the song "Enter Sandman", from Metallica's preceding album, which also contains these words. Both songs have a similar structure.

"King Nothing" appeared 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 does not care about anything else. This ultimately leads to his downfall, as shown in "And it all crashes down, and you break your crown".