Metallica： No Leaf Clover - Metallica： No Leaf Clover

What this video is

Released November 8, 1999, 'No Leaf Clover' emerged at a transitional cultural moment: the millennial threshold, when mainstream rock was fragmenting into nu-metal and post-grunge while legacy acts sought reinvention. Metallica's S&M collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony — conducted by Michael Kamen — was an audacious attempt to fuse metal's aggression with the prestige of orchestral music. The song was one…

Why it matters

One of the most prominent examples of the metal-orchestral crossover genre in the music video format. The production documents a singular cultural artifact — a band at peak arena-metal status willingly subordinating its sonic identity to a symphony orchestra — and the video's fast-cut concert-film…

The director

Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958, Vinita, Oklahoma) is an American film and music video director who has helmed over 150 music videos since the 1980s. He attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, and cites David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes' as his…