“Whiplash” is the sixth track and first single from Kill ‘Em All. It is credited to Hetfield and Ulrich. The song is mostly about the feeling one gets from headbanging. “Bang your head against the stage”, “Make it ring, make it bleed, make it really sore” and “You’re thrashing all around…acting like a maniac” are examples of this.

Often in concert, Hetfield changes the original lyric from “But we’ll never stop, we’ll never quit, ’cause we’re Metallica” to “But we’ll never stop, we’ll never quit, ’cause you’re Metallica” emphasizing that it is the fans who’ve made Metallica what they are. In live performances, Jason Newsted often sang for part or all of the song, notably in recorded footage in San Diego, California. He also sang it without Hetfield on the stage July 12, 2000, at Mile High Stadium in Denver as well as July 14, 2000 in 3Com Park San Francisco. Hetfield was icing down a recently injured back while Hammett, Newsted and Ulrich performed.[9]

A number of covers of this song have been performed. In 2005, Motörhead won their first Grammy for the cover of this song on a Metallica tribute album. “Whiplash” is also on Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 and Guitar Hero: Metallica. It was also covered by Billy Milano, Scott Ian, Phil Soussan, and Vinny Appice for Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica, while Pantera, using the joke name “Pantallica”, performed the song live with Newsted on bass, and members Dimebag Darrell (guitar) and Philip Anselmo (vocals) switching instruments.[10]

During the Live version of this song, Hetfield counted off random numbers to start the song. Instead of saying “1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 4″, he said “1, 2, 4, 3, 2 and a half!”.[11]

Writer(s):Hetfield, Ulrich

Duration : 0:0:0


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