Metallica Unforgiven

“The Unforgiven”
Single by Metallica from the album Metallica
B-side	Killing Time/So What?/The Unforgiven (Demo)
Released	1991
Format	CD single
Recorded	October 1990 - June 1991 One On One studios Los Angeles, California
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	6:27
Label	Elektra Records
Writer(s)	James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Producer	Bob Rock
Metallica singles chronology
"Don't Tread On Me" (1991) "The Unforgiven" (1991) "Nothing Else Matters" (1992)

"The Unforgiven" is one of the slower songs on the self-titled album, Metallica (also known as the Black Album). It also has a sequel, in the form of "The Unforgiven II", from the album ReLoad.

Drummer Lars Ulrich explained that the band wanted to try something new with the idea of a ballad - instead of the standard melodic verse and heavy chorus (as evidenced on their previous ballads "Fade to Black", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "One"), the band opted to reverse the dichotomy, with heavy, distorted verses and a softer, melodic chorus, played with classical guitars and James Hetfield's new-found singing voice crooning "So I dub thee unforgiven".

The horn intro was essentially taken from a Western movie and then reversed so its source would be hidden, as Hetfield later explained on "Classic Albums: Metallica - The Black Album". While Metallica has never disclosed what movie the horn was taken from, it is believed to be from a piece of music called "The Showdown", which was composed by Ennio Morricone for the 1965 Clint Eastwood "spaghetti western" film, For a Few Dollars More.

"The Unforgiven" was played live as part of Metallica's Nowhere Else To Roam world tour which lasted from 1991-1993, in support of the Black Album. It was played again on the Madly in Anger with the World world tour in 2003-2004 and the Escape from the Studio '06 tour. It has most recently been played as part of the 'Sick of the Studio' tour.

The live version of the song includes a second solo near the end of the song, something the original recording did not have.

Legacy

Interestingly enough, similar riffs to the rhythm guitar riff of "The Unforgiven" was used in "Fade to Black" from the album Ride the Lightning as the riff of verses one and two (starting at 0:56) and another similar riff was used in "To Live Is to Die" (...And Justice for All) beginning at 4:56. There are also similarities in the bass riffs in "Fade to Black" and in this song.

Cover versions

The song was covered by Doug Pinnick, Vernon Reid, Frankie Banali, and Tony Franklin for "Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica".

The song has also been covered in other styles of music, notably in bluegrass style by Iron Horse on the album "Fade to Bluegrass: The Bluegrass Tribute to Metallica". A Gregorian chant cover by Gregorian also appeared on "Masters of Chant Chapter V", and a classical instrumental version by Finnish cello ensemble Apocalyptica appeared on their release "Plays Metallica by Four Cellos".