Released August 18, 2016 Length 3:11 | Format Digital download Label Blackened | |
Recorded June 2016 at HQ (San Rafael) Genre Thrash metal
speed metal | ||
"Hardwired" is a song by heavy metal band Metallica. It was released as the lead single from their tenth studio album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (2016), on August 18, 2016 as a digital download. The song was first played live at the end of the band's show at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on August 20, 2016. The song received a nomination for Best Rock Song at the 2017 Grammy Awards.
Contents
Background
The band detailed on the song's debut at The Howard Stern Show that it was a rather late addition to the album. Lars Ulrich explained that after finishing the other songs "we decided that we needed a short, fast opener", leading him and James Hetfield to compose "Hardwired" in about a week in June 2016.
Music video
The music video was released on August 18, 2016. Filmed in black-and-white, it features the band performing the song in the dark under strobe lights, as the camera continuously rotates around the band members.