Until It Sleeps

"Until It Sleeps" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on May 20, 1996, as the lead single from their sixth studio album Load. "Until It Sleeps" reached number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 making it Metallica's highest charting single and only top ten hit in the United States. The song was also their first number-one on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, peaked in the top five in the United Kingdom, and reached number-one in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, and Sweden. The song's music video, directed by Samuel Bayer and inspired by the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, won the Best Hard Rock Video award at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards.

"Until It Sleeps"
Single by Metallica
from the album Load
B-side	"Overkill"
Released	May 20, 1996 (1996-5-20)[1]
Recorded	1995
Genre	Alternative rock[2]
Length	4:30
Label	Elektra Vertigo
Composer(s)	James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Lyricist(s)	James Hetfield
Producer(s)	Bob Rock James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Metallica singles chronology
"Sad but True" (1993) "Until It Sleeps" (1996) "Hero of the Day" (1996)
Music video
"Until It Sleeps" on YouTube

Versions

An early demo version of this song was entitled "F.O.B.D." (recorded on December 8, 1995) because it reminded the band members of the Soundgarden song "Fell on Black Days", in that the "It grips you...It stains you..." refrain is in the same 6/4 time signature that "Fell on Black Days" is in. The band can be heard saying "Fell on Black Days" on the fanclub-only Fancan 1 CD just prior to jamming on a portion of "Until It Sleeps". The 10-inch vinyl version of the single is red in color. Moby, credited as "Herman Melville", did an industrial-sounding remix used as a B-side.^[3]

"Until It Sleeps" became the first "officially" pirated MP3 when it was released by Compress 'Da Audio (a piracy group and spinoff of the Warez scene) via an Internet Relay Chat network on August 10, 1996. An EFnet member on the #mpeg3 IRC channel named Coyote666 was responsible for creating the first mp3 ripping software.^[4]

Moby produced a remix of the song, titled "Until It Sleeps (Herman Melville Mix)". The song was performed with orchestral accompaniment on the album S&M.

Lyrics

The lyrics of the song, written by Hetfield, address his mother's battle with cancer, to which the "it" in the title refers. They can be seen as either describing the emotional pain he feels for the loss, or the physical pain his mother was feeling while she was ill. Both of his parents were Christian Scientists, and did not believe in medicine. The lyrics are also interpreted as dealing with anger issues. Hetfield's father, Virgil, died in late 1996, during Metallica's Load tour.

Music video

The song also has a music video directed by Samuel Bayer (Nirvana, Green Day, The Smashing Pumpkins). It was shot in various locations around Los Angeles on May 6 and 7 in 1996. It was premiered by MTV on May 21.^[5] The video depicts surreal concepts dealing with the fall of man, taken from various paintings by Hieronymus Bosch. Apart from the general forms inspired from Bosch's paintings, the prominent figures in the video are the human-eating monster from The Garden of Earthly Delights, the fall of Adam and Eve from Haywain and Christ in the Crucifige Eum (Crucify Him) scene of Ecce Homo. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video in 1996.^[6]

Awards

The song won a 1996 Metal Edge Readers' Choice Award for Song of the Year.^[7]

Track listings

US CD single^[8]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Until It Sleeps"	4:33
2.	"Overkill"	4:07

UK and European CD1^[9]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Until It Sleeps"	4:33
2.	"2 X 4" (live at Castle Donington, England)	6:06
3.	"F.O.B.D." (aka Until It Sleeps – early 'writing in progress' version)	4:56

UK and European CD2^[10]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Until It Sleeps"
2.	"Kill/Ride Medley" (live at Castle Donington, England)
3.	"Until It Sleeps" (Herman Melville mix)

Japanese EP^[11]

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Until It Sleeps"
2.	"Until It Sleeps" (Herman Melville Mix)
3.	"Kill/Ride Medley" (live at Castle Donington, England)
4.	"2 X 4" (live at Castle Donington, England)
5.	"Overkill" (live at the Plant Studios in Sausalito, California)
6.	"F.O.B.D." (aka Until It Sleeps – early 'writing in progress' version)

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.^[12]

• James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitar
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
• Jason Newsted – bass
• Lars Ulrich – drums

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1996) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[13] 1 Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[14] 12 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[15] 8 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[16] 16 Benelux Airplay (Music & Media)[17] 3 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[18] 5 Canada Rock/Alternative (RPM)[19] 6 Czech Republic (IFPI CR)[20] 3 Denmark (IFPI)[20] 1 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[21] 4 European Hit Radio Top 40 (Music & Media)[22] 16 European Alternative Rock Radio Top 25 (Music & Media)[23] 11 Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[24] 1 France (SNEP)[25] 10 Germany (GfK)[26] 15 Holland (Music & Media)[27] 5 Hungary (Mahasz)[28] 1 Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[29] 4 Ireland (IRMA)[30] 3 Italy (Musica e dischi)[31] 7 Latvia (Latvijas Top 40)[32] 5 Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[33] 9 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[34] 5 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[35] 11 Norway (VG-lista)[36] 2 Quebec (ADISQ)[37] 6 Poland Airplay (ZPAV Airplay)[38] 2 Scotland (OCC)[39] 3 Spain (AFYVE)[40] 16 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[41] 1 Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[42] 22 UK Singles (OCC)[43] 5 UK Network Singles (Music & Media)[44] 2 UK Rock & Metal (OCC)[45] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[46] 10 US Alternative Airplay (Billboard)[47] 27 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[48] 1

Year-end charts Chart (1996) Position Australia (ARIA)[49] 44 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[50] 71 Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[51] 76 Canada Top Singles (RPM)[52] 61 Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)[53] 68 Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)[54] 47 Netherlands (Single Top 100)[55] 83 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[56] 23 US Billboard Hot 100[57] 92 US Mainstream Rock (Billboard)[58] 3

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[59]	Platinum	70,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[60]	Gold	5,000*
Norway (IFPI Norway)[61]	Gold
Sweden (GLF)[62]	Gold	25,000^
United States (RIAA)[63]	Gold	500,000[64]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label(s)	Ref.
United Kingdom	May 20, 1996	10-inch vinyl CD	Vertigo	[1]
United States	May 21, 1996	CD cassette	Elektra	[65]
Japan	July 3, 1996	CD	Sony	[66]