"Hero of the Day" is a song by Metallica

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

 on their 1996 album Load

Load (album)

Load is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. Released on June 4, 1996 through Elektra Records, it sold 680,000 units in its first week and debuted at #1 on Billboard 200. The album has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and is certified 5x platinum by the RIAA...

. 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

Load (album)

Load is the sixth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. Released on June 4, 1996 through Elektra Records, it sold 680,000 units in its first week and debuted at #1 on Billboard 200. The album has sold over 5 million copies worldwide and is certified 5x platinum by the RIAA...

 release, the demo for the song is entitled "Mouldy" due to the main riff reminding James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich

Lars Ulrich

Lars Ulrich is a Danish drummer, and one of the founding members of the American thrash metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, Denmark to an upper-middle class family. A tennis player in his youth, Ulrich moved to Los Angeles, California at age sixteen to pursue his training; though rather...

 of a typical Bob Mould

Bob Mould

Robert Arthur "Bob" Mould is an American musician, principally known for his work as guitarist, vocalist and songwriter for alternative rock bands Hüsker Dü in the 1980s and Sugar in the 1990s.-Early life:...

 sound. The demo was recorded on December 8, 1994, one of the earliest demo recordings for the Load sessions.

The song was played live with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Michael Kamen

Michael Kamen

Michael Arnold Kamen was an American composer , orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician.-Background:...

), which is recorded on the album S&M

S&M (album)

-Video release:Metallica also filmed and released the concert in DVD and VHS with direction by Wayne Isham. The VHS set has only the concert video, while the double DVD set has 5.1 sound , 41 minute documentary about the concert, and two "No Leaf Clover" music videos: "Slice & Dice" version and the...

.

Music video

The music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for this song was directed by Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn

Anton Corbijn is a Dutch photographer, music video and film director. He is the creative director behind the visual output of Depeche Mode and U2, having handled the principal promotion and sleeve photography for both for more than a decade...

 and features a drug-addled youth watching a television, with every channel featuring Metallica in some way. A Western movie titled Load is featured, starring Newsted

Jason Newsted

Jason Curtis Newsted is an American bassist known for his work with Metallica, Voivod and Flotsam and Jetsam. Joining Metallica in 1986 after Cliff Burton's death, Newsted remained a member until 2001, making him the band's longest-serving bassist...

 and Hetfield

James Hetfield

James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...

, followed by a boxing match with Hetfield as coach, and Newsted and Kirk Hammett

Kirk Hammett

Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...

 as the fighters. After a drink called "Load" is advertised by Ulrich and Hetfield in matching suits, a game show called "Hero of the Day" is seen being played, hosted by Newsted with Hammett, Ulrich and Hetfield as contestants (with Hetfield eventually winning). Then, it cuts to the news with the anchorman played by Hammett and featuring a clip of Hetfield singing the lyrics to the song. At the end, the youth passes out and dreams of tiny robot creatures, rendered in stop motion

Stop motion

Stop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...

, emerging from his ear. He awakes from the dream and vomits into his toilet. http://www.mvdbase.com/video.php?id=18708

Track listing

US Single

1. "Hero of the Day"
2. "Kill/Ride Medley (Live)"

International Single Part 1

1. "Hero of the Day"
2. "Overkill"
3. "Damage Case"
4. "Hero of the Day (Outta B-Sides Mix)"

International Single Part 2

1. "Hero of the Day"
2. "Stone Dead Forever"
3. "Too Late Too Late"
4. "Mouldy (aka Hero of the Day - early demo version)"

International Single Part 3 - Motorheadache

1. "Hero of the Day"
2. "Overkill"
3. "Damage Case"
4. "Stone Dead Forever"
5. "Too Late Too Late"

Japanese EP

1. "Hero of the Day"
2. "Hero of the Day (Outta B-Sides Mix)"
3. "Mouldy (aka Hero of the Day - early demo version)"
4. "Stone Dead Forever"
5. "Damage Case"
6. "Too Late Too Late"

Charts

Chart (1996)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	17
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...	60
U.S. Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks	1