Metallica - Fuel

What this video is

Released in 1998 as the third single from Reload, 'Fuel' emerged during Metallica's sustained commercial dominance following the self-titled 'Black Album' (1991). The song and video reflect a late-1990s arena-rock ethos that fused American car culture with metal aggression — thematically rooted in speed, adrenaline, and masculine excess. Filmed in Tokyo, the video's international production context reflects…

Why it matters

A canonical example of late-1990s heavy metal music video production, 'Fuel' demonstrates the genre's full adoption of rapid-cut editing as a formal convention. The video's integration of motorsport imagery with arena-scale performance footage codified visual tropes that would persist in rock and…

The director

Wayne Isham (born December 2, 1958, Vinita, Oklahoma) is an American music video and film director with over 150 credits since the 1980s. A UC Santa Barbara alumnus, he was inspired by David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes' video. He received the Music Video…