"Hardwired" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica from their tenth studio album, Hardwired... to Self Destruct (2016). It was released as the album's lead single on August 18, 2016.

Several years after releasing their previous studio album, Death Magnetic (2008),^[1] Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich confirmed in 2014 that the band was writing material for their next album, having been working on it "off and on" for about a year by that point.^[2] In February 2016, James Hetfield stated that the album was nearing completion, and Ulrich said that it would likely release later that year,^[3] which he restated in April.^[4] When the album was almost done and the band was going through the final product, they realized that it didn't have a proper opening track.^[5] They consequentially decided to record "one more fast, little crazy song"^[6] to assist with the flow of the record.^[5] The song, which was written and recorded in about four days,^[5] eventually became "Hardwired".^[5][6]

The album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, was formally announced on August 18, and released on November 18. "Hardwired" is the album's opening track.^[7] The album was produced by Greg Fidelman alongside Hetfield and Ulrich^[7] and published through the band's own record label, Blackened Recordings.^[8] The announcement in August coincided with the release of "Hardwired" as the album's lead single.^[7] Three days later, the song was debuted live for the first time at the bands performance in Minneapolis.^[6] The song was later utilized as an opener for the band's WorldWired Tour,^[9][10] and was later played during some performances of their later M72 World Tour.^[11]

"Hardwired"'s release as a single coincided with the release of a music video on the same day. The music video was directed by Colin Hakes and "The Artist",^[12] and filmed at the San Rafael High School in San Ragael, California.^[13] The clip, which is presented in black-and-white, features the band performing the song in the dark under rapidly flashing strobe lights, with the camera continuously rotating around the band members and rapidly cutting between different shots.^[13]

"Hardwired" is a thrash metal song.^[14] At 3 minutes and 11 seconds long,^[15] it is one of the bands shortest songs.^[5] The track's style is largely similar to the bands earlier work from the 1980s,^[15][16] featuring what Joe DiVita of Loudwire described as "breakneck pace" and "fleet-fingered guitar fills".^[16] Dom Lawson of The Guardian described the songs riffs as "sharp and brutal".^[17] Another writer of Loudwire, Chuck Armstrong, compared the song to the bands previous songs "Motorbreath", "Fight Fire With Fire", and "Damage, Inc."^[15]

The song's lyrics focus on the idea of a civilization consumed by paranoia, pain and insanity.^[5][15] The song's lyrics reference ideas like righteous pain, a burning planet, and a "great destroyer",^[15] and the chorus of the track explicitly states "We're so fucked / Shit out of luck / Hardwired to self-destruct".^[15][18] The pessimistic themes established within the track continue throughout most of the album,^[5] and some found "Hardwired" to be a statement on the geopolitical state of the world at the time,^[18] particularly due to the outcome of the 2016 United States presidential election.^[19] Ulrich stated that the songs intended meaning was the belief that the choices a person makes are part of who they are, and that some people are destined to make mistakes as a result. However, he also stated that the meaning of the lyrics was intended to be ambiguous, and people could interpret it however they wanted.^[18]

"Hardwired" was well received by critics.^[16][15][17] Armstrong stated that the song was a "perfect re-introduction" for the band that set high expectations for the rest of the album,^[15] and Lawson described it as the best track that the band had released in a long time, as well as a song that resolved many of the problems people felt their work over the past 25 years had.^[17] The editorial team of Spin ranked it as the 66th best song to release in 2016, with Taylor Berman stating that the song was "everything you’d hope to hear in a Metallica song, without any of the bloat dragging down their late period".^[20]

Several critics praised the songs composition and speed. Armstrong wrote that the song had a "near-perfect mix of heavy guitars, bass and drums, with a snare that snaps as hard as the song itself",^[15] while Lawson described the songs arrangement as "neatly to-the-point" and each of the band members' individual performances as "unfussy and precise".^[17] DiVita praised the song as "[cramming] a lot of action into just three minutes".^[16] Similarly, Vulture's Craig Jenkins and Stephen Dalton of Louder described "Hardwired" as three minutes of "blistering speed" and a "blast of machine-gun punk-metal" respectively.^[21] Adrien Begrand of PopMatters felt that it was a "glorious return to the thrash metal sound the band helped create", highlighting Ulrich’s "loose-but-steady double-time beats" and Hetfield’s "trademark muscular rhythm riffs".^[22]

The songs lyrics were mostly viewed positively,^[23][24] with some likening it to represent the state of the world at the time;^[19][22] Begrand described it as "unfortunately relevant" due to "tumultuous year" that he felt the world had endured.^[22] The "aggression" present within the lyrics was praised, with NME describing "Hardwired" as "[grabbing] [the listener] by the throat with James Hetfield’s frenetic Master Of Puppets-era thrash barks".^[23] Tom Wakenell wrote that the song was a "flurry of impactful yet explicit" lyrics that displayed a tone of aggression that he felt recent Metallica songs were lacking.^[24] Lawson felt that the lyrics were effected by the "clumsy angst and faux rebellion" that had impacted Metallica's work since Load (1996), though believed that the composition made up for it.^[17]

Some felt that the song wasn't representative of other songs on the record.^[25][26] A writer of Metal Injection felt that the song was uncharacteristic of the rest of the album due to its speed, making it give off what they described as a "gimmicky vibe". They also felt that the song was "rudimentary".^[26] Jenkins described "Hardwired" as a "beautiful fake-out" that hinted towards a full return to the bands earlier work, only to "inch it away with each slow, heavy, rude number that follows".^[25] Similarly, Brandon Stosuy of Spin believed that the "energy" present on "Hardwired" could have also been used on the rest of the album.^[27]

In the United States, "Hardwired" reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart,^[28] #9 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs,^[29] and #13 on Rock Airplay.^[29] It also appeared at #19 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 chart,^[30] and #39 on the Digital Song Sales chart.^[31] On the year-end charts for Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Mainstream Rock, "Hardwired" appeared at #65 and #26 respectively.^[32][33] In the United Kingdom, the song appeared at #3 on the Rock & Metal chart,^[34] #72 on both Singles Downloads and Singles Sales,^[35][36] and #186 on the country's standard singles chart.^[37]

Elsewhere, "Hardwired" reached #7 on the Heatseekers chart in New Zealand,^[38] #17 on both Canada Rock and Finland Download,^[39][40] and #34 on the Mexico Ingles Airplay chart.^[41] It also reached #37 in Hungary,^[42] #70 in Australia,^[43] #72 in Sweden,^[44] #87 in Slovakia,^[45] and #99 in the Czech Republic.^[46] "Hardwired" has been certified gold by both the Australian Recording Industry Association and Pro-Música Brasil.^[47][48]

Credits taken from the digital liner notes.^[49]

Metallica

• James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitar, producer
• Lars Ulrich – drums, producer
• Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
• Robert Trujillo – bass

Technicals

• Greg Fidelman – producer, mixing engineer, recording engineer
• Dave Collins – mastering engineer
• Dan Monti – editing engineer
• Jason Gossman – editing engineer
• Jim Monti – editing engineer
• Kent Matcke – assistant engineer
• Mike Gillies – recording technician