Metallica released the single “The Memory Remains” on November 11, 1997, one week before ReLoad. The lead single paired James Hetfield’s voice with Marianne Faithfull’s rough-edged, wordless refrain. That guest part grew from a melody Hetfield had sung while he was still working out the song.
The idea of leaving that melody without lyrics came from engineer Randy Staub. In his release-era interview with writer Gary Graff, later published by Ultimate Classic Rock, Hetfield recalled that Staub encouraged him to preserve the temporary vocal. Hetfield wanted an older woman’s voice for the song’s character, a lost soul struggling to remember a melody. “With me singing, it just didn’t take it as far as we wanted,” he explained. Producer Bob Rock suggested Faithfull and played Hetfield her live album 20th Century Blues. Her voice gave him a clear idea of who should sing the part.
Faithfull had her own understanding of that character. In a 2009 interview with Classic Rock, she remembered being surprised when Lars Ulrich called to ask her to work with Metallica. She was living in Ireland, and Hetfield and Ulrich flew to Dublin to meet her for the recording. She understood the damaged figure they wanted her to portray, while resisting the assumption that the role described her. “Of course, I was never really as wounded as everybody thought,” she said. Her account makes a useful distinction between the character she was asked to sing and the woman doing the singing.
That willingness to reconsider a song also shaped the larger Load and ReLoad project. Speaking to Guitar World for its December 1997 issue, Hetfield explained that the two albums were intended as companions, but some songs hadn’t been completed in time for Load. Kirk Hammett said the band had considered a double album before deciding against the extra studio time and the amount of music listeners would have to absorb at once. Returning to the unfinished material gave them a chance to rethink it. Hetfield said they replaced some guitar recordings after living with the songs and developing different ideas about their arrangements.
The single gave listeners a way to hear some of that work in progress. Its first international edition paired the finished recording with the “Memory” demo and “Fuel for Fire,” an early version with different lyrics. The US single had a different companion track: the Haven’t Heard It Yet Mix of “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” The international edition’s demo offered an earlier stage of the title song alongside the recording featuring Faithfull.
Faithfull also appeared in the music video, filmed in Van Nuys, California, in October 1997. She then joined Metallica to perform “The Memory Remains” on Saturday Night Live on December 6, 1997, taking the studio collaboration onto television.
They returned to the song together on December 7, 2011, at The Fillmore in San Francisco. It was the second night of Metallica’s four-show 30th anniversary celebration, and Faithfull sang her part with the band again.
