Metallica Fuel

“Fuel”
Single by Metallica from the album ReLoad
B-side	Sad But True (live)/Nothing Else Matters (live) Wherever I May Roam (live)/One (live) Until it Sleeps (live)/Fuel (live)/Fuel (demo)
Released	March 1998
Format	CD single
Recorded	1996-1997
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	4:29
Label	Elektra Records
Writer	Kirk Hammett James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Producer	Bob Rock
Metallica singles chronology
"The Unforgiven II" (1998) "Fuel" (1998) "Better Than You" (1998)

"Fuel" is the opening song from Metallica's ReLoad album. It stems from the thrill of fast driving and street racing. The song could also be applied to the fact that people like to drive their lives (like their cars) too fast. It is one of James Hetfield's favorite songs as he later said before a concert played at an Oakland Raiders game,"We have to play Fuel...'cause it gets me pumped up." (taped on Some Kind of Monster)

Another interpretation of this song, which reflects the external struggles of the band members themselves as well as the personal lyric style James Hetfield adopted beginning with The Black Album, suggests that the song is about addiction. Specifically the addiction may be Hetfield's alcoholism, but it could be a reference to any sort of addiction. It is a reference to whatever it may be that fuels a person. Further, it may reflect Hetfield's decision to substitute his love of cars and racing for his love of alcohol. This is evidenced throughout the entire song and survives interpretation; the song may get the band and the crowd "pumped up," but it is by no means as simple a song as it appears.

The song was written by Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett, and was the third single from the album. It is now a permanent fixture at their live shows, and was performed on their S&M album. "Fuel" was also covered by Avril Lavigne on their edition of the tribute show, MTV Icon, in 2003. Another group, Iron Horse, covered the song as well.

"Fuel" was the theme song used for NASCAR broadcasts on NBC and TNT from mid-2001 to the 2003 seasons. (It was also used for the 2004 coverage of the Daytona 500, but not as the theme song.) However, during portions of the 2001 season, the opening scream used in the opening was removed because of its close association with terrorists in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. The pre-release version of the song entitled "Fuel For Fire" (with different lyrics) appears on the NASCAR Full Throttle CD. The lyric "Fuck 'em, man" was left uncensored on all U.S. rock stations until 2004 as well as the Avril Lavigne performance on MTV. A censored version of the lyric began appearing on the single soon after the FCC cracked down on indecency after the Janet Jackson Super Bowl fiasco. It is unknown whether the rock stations volunteered to edit the song or were forced to do so.

"Fuel" was the featured song on the game Hot Wheels Turbo Racing for the Playstation game system and the game Test Drive Off-Road: Wide Open for the Playstation 2 and Xbox systems. Recently, the song was announced to be included in a downloadable, metal-based song pack for the music video game Rock Band.