Crank it up to 11. Metallica and the San Francisco Symphony team up for this morning’s CarTune, “Fuel.”
Fairly early in the game, it became evident that despite their apparent differences, symphonic music is an effective partner to hard rock. Back in 1972, Procol Harum Live In Concert with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra established the form, and Metallica circled back in 1999 for the live album S&M, recorded with the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Kamen.
Rolling Stone magazine described the wall-to-wall sonics of S&M as “supersizing.” Backed with strings and horns, Metallica’s thundering riffs were infused with even greater bombast, and the album went five times platinum.
This song from the live performance DVD of S&M will be very familiar to NASCAR fans, as “Fire” was the NBC race broadcast theme from 2001 to 2003, where it was known as “Fuel for Fire.” This version opens with Kirk Hammett on slide guitar running up through the gears—always a good time.
Well, that’ll surely wake you up on a sleepy Saturday morning…
An alternate version if you prefer to not make your ears bleed.
Sigh. Wrong one posted above. Stupid computer. Try this one;
Bluegrass Metallica covers are proof of American exceptionalism.
Yes sir they are. Not that I dislike Metallica, I just happen to like bluegrass, in all it’s variations.
Everything sounds good in bluegrass. Even hair metal.
I spent my formative years listening to Metallica, and don’t know anything about bluegrass. But I’ve heard some of these versions before, and they are awesome, often better than the original. They even sound like that’s the way the songs were meant to be played – that’s a real credit to these Iron Horse fellas.