OnettHansen
Member
Track 1: Frantic - "My lifestyle determines my death style"
This masterfully written lyric was the pick of the bunch out of other truly notable lines including "Fran-tic, tic, tic tic, tic, tock" and "You live it or lie it,"
There are many ways this can be interpreted, my personal interpretation is that James singing about his lifestyle determining his death style is a sign that Metallica have decided that they are choosing to carry out their business in a way that they enjoy, and that they are not concerned whether that results in the failure of their careers and to a lesser extent their lives as they know it, hence their lifestyles determining their death styles. This is very clear considering the very strong and controversial change in musical direction that took place during St. Anger.
Track 2: St. Anger - "I'm madly in anger with you"
This one is a bit simpler to tackle than the previously covered line in Frantic. As opposed to being madly in love with whoever makes his heart flutter, James instead puts all of his negative emotions into words, replacing love with anger. This could have been a snipe at all the Metallica 'fans' that streamed and downloaded their music through Napster, or turned their back on the band during the Load and Reload albums.
Track 3: Some Kind of Monster - "Ominous, I'm in us"
This lyric from probably the best track on the album is a commentary about the uneasy feelings that James and Lars had when Dave Mustaine was in the band. The ominously increasing danger in the stunts that Dave pulled before enough was finally enough was truly an ominous build up to one of the greatest and most borderline hateful rivalries to ever grace music. "I'm in us" refers to James and Lars' relief that they could finally move on from the fiasco after hiring Kirk, and that they were all in themselves together.
Track 4: Dirty Window - "Projector, Protector, Rejector, Infector, Projector, Rejector, Infector, Injector, Defector, Rejector"
It's no secret that James and Lars love a good rhyme in their lyrics. But this peculiar line cuts a lot deeper than that. The projector refers to James and Lars themselves, as they feel they are projecting their feelings quite often on Kirk and Robert Trujillo, as well as Newsted and Cliff beforehand. Not only them but the fans. At the same time they also see that they are protectors of the other band members, taking on the brunt of a lot of media and fan backlash. Rejector again refers to Dave's claims, and that James and Lars at the time refused to give those claims the time of day. Infector, Defector and Rejector also all refer to Dave through different periods of the build up to his leaving and the heights of their rivalry.
Track 5: Invisible Kid - "Invisible Kid, Never see what he did"
This line refers to how instead of practicing to play drums during the lead up to St. Anger, Lars felt like he was being isolated from the world, and therefore felt as though he was "Invisible" so to say. To attempt to rectify this, he would later cause many media stir ups, including the infamous Napster case.
Track 6: My World - "Mama, why's it rainin' in my room"
It is believed that this was one of the first true moments of bonding that happened between James and Lars. James walked in on Lars crying after he failed to become a professional tennis player. Lars, unaware that it was James who entered the room, asked "Mama, why's it rainin' in my room?" Tears dropping down his face, showing his clear disappointment in not making it as a professional tennis player.
Track 7: Shoot Me Again - "Stand silent in flames"
A subtle reference back to the infamous incident in which James suffered 3rd degree burns from the pyro at Metallica's Montreal show. Canadians are still angry about the pyro laws to this day,
Track 8: Sweet Amber - "Chase the rabbit, fetch the stick"
A throwback to the days when Metallica struggled through drug and alcohol addiction. James at one point was a slave to alcohol, and this was around the time that he was going through rehabilitation, which was a very tedious and painful struggle.
Track 9: Unnamed Feeling - "Lose myself in a crowded room"
Lars co-wrote this song with critically acclaimed video game director, head of Quantic Dream, David Cage. Fresh off the back of Indigo Prophecy Cage was looking for inspiration for his next game, he met Lars and they both worked together on Unnamed Feeling. The aforementioned lyric would turn out to be a huge story factor in Cage's next game "Heavy Rain"
Track 10: Purify - "I ain't dancing with your skeletons"
The band still have a hard time coming to terms with some of the losses that they have suffered during their career. They needed to remind themselves that they have to let things move on, and that no matter how much they dance with the remains, it will not change the past.
Track 11: All Within My Hands - "Hurry up and hate me now"
This lyric appears very late into the album. This is a message from the band to the fans that are still listening after sitting through the other ten tracks, and telling them with a tone of aggression that they should dislike the music as much as everyone else who has probably dropped the album by this point. It's a dig at all the fans that abandoned the change in style.
And thus ends my theories and conclusions about specific lines in St. Anger.
This masterfully written lyric was the pick of the bunch out of other truly notable lines including "Fran-tic, tic, tic tic, tic, tock" and "You live it or lie it,"
There are many ways this can be interpreted, my personal interpretation is that James singing about his lifestyle determining his death style is a sign that Metallica have decided that they are choosing to carry out their business in a way that they enjoy, and that they are not concerned whether that results in the failure of their careers and to a lesser extent their lives as they know it, hence their lifestyles determining their death styles. This is very clear considering the very strong and controversial change in musical direction that took place during St. Anger.
Track 2: St. Anger - "I'm madly in anger with you"
This one is a bit simpler to tackle than the previously covered line in Frantic. As opposed to being madly in love with whoever makes his heart flutter, James instead puts all of his negative emotions into words, replacing love with anger. This could have been a snipe at all the Metallica 'fans' that streamed and downloaded their music through Napster, or turned their back on the band during the Load and Reload albums.
Track 3: Some Kind of Monster - "Ominous, I'm in us"
This lyric from probably the best track on the album is a commentary about the uneasy feelings that James and Lars had when Dave Mustaine was in the band. The ominously increasing danger in the stunts that Dave pulled before enough was finally enough was truly an ominous build up to one of the greatest and most borderline hateful rivalries to ever grace music. "I'm in us" refers to James and Lars' relief that they could finally move on from the fiasco after hiring Kirk, and that they were all in themselves together.
Track 4: Dirty Window - "Projector, Protector, Rejector, Infector, Projector, Rejector, Infector, Injector, Defector, Rejector"
It's no secret that James and Lars love a good rhyme in their lyrics. But this peculiar line cuts a lot deeper than that. The projector refers to James and Lars themselves, as they feel they are projecting their feelings quite often on Kirk and Robert Trujillo, as well as Newsted and Cliff beforehand. Not only them but the fans. At the same time they also see that they are protectors of the other band members, taking on the brunt of a lot of media and fan backlash. Rejector again refers to Dave's claims, and that James and Lars at the time refused to give those claims the time of day. Infector, Defector and Rejector also all refer to Dave through different periods of the build up to his leaving and the heights of their rivalry.
Track 5: Invisible Kid - "Invisible Kid, Never see what he did"
This line refers to how instead of practicing to play drums during the lead up to St. Anger, Lars felt like he was being isolated from the world, and therefore felt as though he was "Invisible" so to say. To attempt to rectify this, he would later cause many media stir ups, including the infamous Napster case.
Track 6: My World - "Mama, why's it rainin' in my room"
It is believed that this was one of the first true moments of bonding that happened between James and Lars. James walked in on Lars crying after he failed to become a professional tennis player. Lars, unaware that it was James who entered the room, asked "Mama, why's it rainin' in my room?" Tears dropping down his face, showing his clear disappointment in not making it as a professional tennis player.
Track 7: Shoot Me Again - "Stand silent in flames"
A subtle reference back to the infamous incident in which James suffered 3rd degree burns from the pyro at Metallica's Montreal show. Canadians are still angry about the pyro laws to this day,
Track 8: Sweet Amber - "Chase the rabbit, fetch the stick"
A throwback to the days when Metallica struggled through drug and alcohol addiction. James at one point was a slave to alcohol, and this was around the time that he was going through rehabilitation, which was a very tedious and painful struggle.
Track 9: Unnamed Feeling - "Lose myself in a crowded room"
Lars co-wrote this song with critically acclaimed video game director, head of Quantic Dream, David Cage. Fresh off the back of Indigo Prophecy Cage was looking for inspiration for his next game, he met Lars and they both worked together on Unnamed Feeling. The aforementioned lyric would turn out to be a huge story factor in Cage's next game "Heavy Rain"
Track 10: Purify - "I ain't dancing with your skeletons"
The band still have a hard time coming to terms with some of the losses that they have suffered during their career. They needed to remind themselves that they have to let things move on, and that no matter how much they dance with the remains, it will not change the past.
Track 11: All Within My Hands - "Hurry up and hate me now"
This lyric appears very late into the album. This is a message from the band to the fans that are still listening after sitting through the other ten tracks, and telling them with a tone of aggression that they should dislike the music as much as everyone else who has probably dropped the album by this point. It's a dig at all the fans that abandoned the change in style.
And thus ends my theories and conclusions about specific lines in St. Anger.
