Metallica first found commercial success with the release of its third album, Master of Puppets (1986), which is cited as one of the heaviest metal albums and the band's best work. The band's next album, ...And Justice for All (1988), gave Metallica its first Grammy Award nomination. Its self-titled fifth album, Metallica (1991), was the band's first not to root predominantly in thrash metal; it appealed to a more mainstream audience, achieving substantial commercial success and selling over 16 million copies in the United States to date, making it the best-selling album of the SoundScan era. After experimenting with different genres and directions in subsequent releases, Metallica returned to its thrash metal roots with the release of its ninth album, Death Magnetic (2008), which drew similar praise to that of the band's earlier albums. This was followed by the band's 10th studio album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (2016), with its 11th album, 72 Seasons, releasing in 2023.
In 2000, Metallica led the case against the peer-to-peer file sharing service Napster, in which the band and several other artists filed lawsuits against the service for sharing their copyright-protected material without consent, eventually reaching a settlement. Metallica was the subject of the acclaimed 2004 documentary film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, which documented the troubled production of the band's eighth album, St. Anger (2003), and the internal struggles within the band at the time. In 2009, Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The band co-wrote the screenplay for and starred alongside Dane DeHaan in the 2013 concert film Metallica: Through the Never, in which the band performed live against a fictional thriller storyline.
Metallica has released 10 studio albums, four live albums (including two performances with the San Francisco Symphony), 12 video albums, a cover album, two extended plays, 37 singles and 39 music videos. The band has won nine Grammy Awards from 23 nominations, and its last six studio albums (beginning with Metallica) have consecutively debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. Metallica ranks as one of the most commercially successful bands of all time, having sold over 125 million albums worldwide as of 2018. Metallica has been listed as one of the greatest artists of all time by magazines such as Rolling Stone, which ranked the band No. 61 on its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list. As of 2017, Metallica is the third-best-selling music artist since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991, selling a total of 58 million albums in the United States.
Full Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metallica
Studio albums
Kill 'Em All (1983)
Ride the Lightning (1984)
Master of Puppets (1986)
...And Justice for All (1988)
Metallica (1991)
Load (1996)
Reload (1997)
St. Anger (2003)
Death Magnetic (2008)
Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (2016)
72 Seasons (2023)
Stone Dead Forever
Metallica Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Think you see me
In the glass
Think you hear me
Better listen fast
Think I see you
Gone to seed
Is your guilt and greed
You're out there on your own
Your face turned to stone
What ever happened to your life?
Stone dead forever
All right
You're a financial wizard
Yeah a top tycoon
You're a sweet long lizard
With a silver spoon
You know you've never had it
Quite so good
And you didn't know
That you even could
Your time has come to own
Your touch turned to gold
What ever happened to your life?
Stone dead forever
All right
It's been a long time
It's been a long long wait
And you caught your fingers
In the pearly gates
You better leave your number
And we'll call you
You know your problem
Ain't exactly new
Your time has come today
Your face has turned to hey
What ever happened to your life?
Stone dead forever
That's right
The lyrics of “Stone Dead Forever” by Metallica portray a story of a person who is obsessed with material possessions and achievement, but has lost sight of the meaning and value of life. The song begins with a message for the listener to “get on,” and the singer is introduced as being trapped in the confines of society, where their actions are driven by guilt and greed. This guilt and greed have caused them to turn their face to stone, and they have lost touch with reality, symbolically represented as being “stone dead forever.”
The chorus of the song speaks to the irony of the situation, as the singer is described as being a “financial wizard” and a “top tycoon,” yet they have missed out on the essential things in life. They are compared to being a “sweet long lizard with a silver spoon,” meaning that they are pampered and have always had everything handed to them on a platter without ever really experiencing the struggle of life. The singer realizes that they have never had it as good as they think they have.
In the final verse, the singer is begging for help, and they have finally realized that their time has come, as they have caught their fingers in the pearly gates. They are urged to leave their number so that they can be contacted later, as their problem, which is their desperate state of seeking satisfaction in materialistic things, is not new. The ending chorus repeats the message that the singer's life has ended, and they are now “stone dead forever.”
Line by Line Meaning
Get on
Let's get started
Think you see me
In the glass
You think you know who I am, but you're only looking at a reflection of me
Think you hear me
Better listen fast
I have something important to say, so pay close attention
Think I see you
Gone to seed
I think I've noticed that you've lost your potential and are no longer thriving
Think your reason
Is your guilt and greed
Your justification for certain actions stems from selfishness and a desire for personal gain
You're out there on your own
Your face turned to stone
What ever happened to your life?
Stone dead forever
All right
You're living a cold and empty life with no purpose or fulfillment, ultimately leading to your demise
You're a financial wizard
Yeah a top tycoon
You're a sweet long lizard
With a silver spoon
You know you've never had it
Quite so good
And you didn't know
That you even could
You're wealthy and successful beyond your wildest dreams, but you fail to realize it or appreciate your good fortune
Your time has come to own
Your touch turned to gold
What ever happened to your life?
Stone dead forever
All right
You've achieved great things but at the cost of losing yourself and becoming consumed by materialism
It's been a long time
It's been a long long wait
And you caught your fingers
In the pearly gates
You better leave your number
And we'll call you
You know your problem
Ain't exactly new
You've been waiting for something your whole life, but when you finally get the chance, you sabotage yourself and miss out
Your time has come today
Your face has turned to hey
What ever happened to your life?
Stone dead forever
That's right
You're running out of time to make something of yourself, yet you remain stuck in a meaningless existence
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Edward Alan Clarke, Ian Kilmister, Philip John Taylor
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Nino Amora
on No Remorse
im a dieharn fan of metalica