"Hero of the Day" is a power ballad by Metallica on their 1996 album Load. The song was first recorded on December 13, 1995, and was the first song on Load to be recorded. The song was also Metallica's second single release from the album. A promotional video for the track was also filmed. It became their second consecutive number-one hit on the US Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. It is one of the few Metallica songs written primarily in a major key.
According to article in Kerrang around time of Load release, the demo for the song is entitled "Mouldy" due to the main riff reminding James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich of a typical Bob Mould sound. The demo was recorded on December 10, 1994, one of the earliest demo recordings for the Load sessions (the first demo to be recorded was for Wasting My Hate on November 28, 1994).
The song was last played live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Michael Kamen), which is recorded on the album S&M In 1999.
This single is notable for including four Motörhead cover songs, recorded live direct to two-track at The Plant Studios during a rehearsal for Lemmy's 50th Birthday Party at the Whiskey A Go-Go, Los Angeles. These b-sides were later released on the second CD of the Garage Inc. compilation in 1998.
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Famous quotes containing the words hero of, hero and/or day:
“... what a strange time it was! Who knew his neighbor? Who was a traitor and who a patriot? The hero of to-day was the suspected of to-morrow.... There were traitors in the most secret council-chambers. Generals, senators, and secretaries looked at each other with suspicious eyes.... It is a great wonder that the city of Washington was not betrayed, burned, destroyed a half-dozen times.”
—M. E. W. Sherwood (1826–1903)
“We are independent of the change we detect. The longer the lever, the less perceptible its motion. It is the slowest pulsation which is the most vital. The hero then will know how to wait, as well as to make haste. All good abides with him who waiteth wisely; we shall sooner overtake the dawn by remaining here than by hurrying over the hills of the west.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Travelling, gentlemen, is medieval, today we have means of communication, not to speak of tomorrow and the day after, means of communication that bring the world into our homes, to travel from one place to another is atavistic.”
—Max Frisch (1911–1991)