Hero of the Day (4:21)

“Hero of the Day” is a song by Metallica on their 1996 album Load. 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 off of 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.

The demo for the song is entitled “Mouldy” due to the main riff of this song being on a demo tape for many years. 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), which is recorded on the album S&M.