The Unforgiven (song)
| "The Unforgiven" | ||||||||||||||
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| Single by Metallica | ||||||||||||||
| from the album Metallica | ||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Killing Time", "So What?", "The Unforgiven (Demo)" | |||||||||||||
| Released | October 28, 1991 | |||||||||||||
| Format | CD single, cassette, vinyl | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | October 6, 1990 – July 16, 1991 at One on One studios, Los Angeles, California | |||||||||||||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||||||||||||
| Length | 6:27 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Elektra | |||||||||||||
| Writer(s) |
James Hetfield Kirk Hammett Lars Ulrich |
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| Producer(s) |
Bob Rock James Hetfield Lars Ulrich |
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| Metallica singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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| "The Unforgiven II" | ||||||||
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| Single by Metallica | ||||||||
| from the album ReLoad | ||||||||
| B-side | Helpless (live)/The Four Horsemen (live)/Of Wolf and Man (live) The Thing That Should Not Be (live)/The Memory Remains (live)/King Nothing (live) No Remorse (live)/Am I Evil? (live)/The Unforgiven II (Demo) |
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| Released | February 23, 1998 | |||||||
| Format | CD single, Cassette | |||||||
| Recorded | 1996, at The Plant Studios, Sausalito, California | |||||||
| Length | 6:36 | |||||||
| Label | Elektra | |||||||
| Producer(s) | Bob Rock James Hetfield Lars Ulrich |
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| "The Unforgiven III" | |
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| Song by Metallica from the album Death Magnetic | |
| Released | September 12, 2008 |
| Genre | Heavy metal |
| Length | 7:47 |
| Label | Warner Bros. |
| Writer(s) | James Hetfield Kirk Hammett Lars Ulrich Robert Trujillo |
| Producer(s) | Rick Rubin |
| Death Magnetic track listing | |
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"The Unforgiven" is a power ballad by American thrash metal band Metallica. It was released as the second single from their eponymous fifth album Metallica. Though one of the slower tracks on the album, its chord progression is distinctly one of the heavier. The song deals with the theme of the struggle of the individual against the efforts of those who would subjugate him.
The song has since spawned two sequels (both in name proper as well as thematically, albeit not musically), in the form of "The Unforgiven II", from the album ReLoad, and "The Unforgiven III", from the album Death Magnetic.
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 dynamic, with heavy, distorted verses and a softer, melodic chorus, played with classical guitars. The opening section contains percussive instruments performed by Ulrich, and also a small amount of keyboards.
The horn intro was essentially taken from The Unforgiven (a Western movie) and then reversed so its source would be hidden, as Hetfield later explained on Classic Albums: Metallica - Metallica.
"The Unforgiven" was played live as part of Metallica's "Wherever We May Roam" and Nowhere Else to Roam world tour which lasted from 1991 to 1993, in support of the Black Album. It was played again on the Madly in Anger with the World world tour in 2003 and 2004 and has been continued to be played during all of the bands' tours since.
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