| "The Memory Remains" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Metallica | ||||
| from the album Reload | ||||
| B-side |
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| Released | November 11, 1997 | |||
| Genre | Hard rock[1] | |||
| Length | 4:38 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Composer(s) | ||||
| Lyricist(s) | James Hetfield | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| Metallica singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "The Memory Remains" on YouTube | ||||
"The Memory Remains" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, with British singer Marianne Faithfull on backing vocals.
The lead single from Metallica's seventh studio album, Reload, released in 1997, it was first performed live in a "jam" version on July 2, 1996.[2] Faithfull was brought in, as James Hetfield felt her "weathered, smellin'-the-cigarettes-on-the-CD voice" fit what he described as "the whole eeriness of the Sunset Boulevard-feel of the song", given the lyrics tell the story of a faded artist who goes insane from losing her fame.[3] The spoken words "Say yes, at least say hello", during the outro, are a reference to The Misfits, the last complete movie in which Marilyn Monroe starred.[4]
The song was written by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. It can be heard playing in the strip club Bada Bing! in the episode of The Sopranos, "The Knight in White Satin Armor". It is also used as one of the theme songs for WrestleMania XXVIII.
Asked if he would have bought Reload, bassist Jason Newsted said, "Not if I heard 'The Memory Remains' first."[5]
- ^ "If You Still Hate Metallica For 'Load' And 'Reload,' Here's Why You Need To Reconsider". August 3, 2015.
- ^ The Memory Remains EncycMet.com. Retrieved March 21, 2008.
- ^ "CMJ New Music Monthly". CMJ Network, Inc. February 1, 1998 – via Google Books.
- ^ Dome, Malcolm; Wall, Mick (2013). Metallica: The Music and the Mayhem. Omnibus Press. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-85712-721-1.
- ^ "2001: A Rock Odyssey". Classic Rock #36. January 2002. p. 40.