Johnny Got His Gun is about a WWI soldier who loses his vision and limbs in an explosion and becomes a prisoner in his own body. In 1989, Metallica bought the rights to the film for it and used it in their music video for the song One
Johnny Got His Gun is about a WWI soldier who loses his vision and limbs in an explosion and becomes a prisoner in his own body. In 1989, Metallica bought the rights to the film for it and used it in their music video for the song One
by u/Mad_Season_1994 in OldSchoolCool
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Met’s first video and best video.
My introduction to the band
My favorite Metallica song
DARKNESS
IMPRISONING ME
ALL THAT I SEE
ABSOLUTE HORROR
This is such a sad song
This was huge when MTV played videos. Those were awesome times.
Started HS in ’76. Jesuit and quite liberal. My 9th grade English teacher was a Vietnam Vet and this was our first reading assignment for the year. It changed my entire world view.
What an incredible book. Worth a read if you haven’t.
Lars’ kick drum is insane in this
Top 10 video countdown on MTV at the time was a 5 O’Clock staple as this video, sometimes short-, sometimes long-format, owned the time slot for a while. My mother cooked dinner while I blasted this video, bless her heart.
Apparently, the story was that Metallica was in discussions to purchase rights to certain parts of the film for the video and in the end decided to just purchase the rights to the entire movie. In doing so, they removed it from the market/production. In 2003 or so I found an original copy online for sale in Belgium if I recall (I’m in the US) and I bought it. Shipped it to the US and had to convert it in order for me to be able to watch the movie.
The movie was very disturbing, not in a grotesque way but I think the mental mid f*ck was insane. It took me years to find it. Now I think it’s pretty easy to find
I know many were not alive then but this was a pivotal moment. Their sound had changed some and the electronics had gotten much better. Listening to this on a high end car stereo with 4 10”’s and the double bass drum. Magical.
Who the hell was running MTV and said “let’s stop doing music videos”? 100% of the people I’ve ever encountered wished that they still did music videos.
Absolutely frightening story. Can’t even imagine
I miss Metallica being this tight 👌
I saw them a number of times in the early days and saw them at a smallish venue in West Germany in 88. When they played One, the place went (even more) friggin’ nuts.
We watched the movie in high school. It’s rough.
You’d be shocked at how many metal drummers learned the proper way to do double bass from that quick shot of Lars heels.
S O S help!
Well spent money, Metallicats.
The author of the book was blacklisted in Hollywood for being a “communist sympathizer” he continued to work under a surname.
There was a movie about him starring Brian Cranston (Walter white)
I read this whole book in a day in high school. I checked it out of our school library, opened it in homeroom, and walked around with my nose buried in it, and not a single one of my teachers made me put it away. It’s a great book, and I was absolutely inspired to read it because of the song.
Pretty much a Black Mirror episode— with a killer soundtrack
The book that the film is based on, written by Dalton Trumbo (whose life story was recently portrayed in film by Bryan Cranston) is an absolute classic of American literature. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s a masterpiece.
I had an English teacher in like 10th grade that had us read Johnny Got His Gun. I remember telling him that Metallica had written a song based off the book. And that’s how I got to bring in my VHS copy and watched the One video with the whole class.
I was in college when this came out. Just chilling in a dorm room with some friends. Randomly they all had to step out for a couple of minutes to use the bathroom, grab some food, etc. They all left… and then this video came on. It was truly disturbing and it felt like a nightmare and not a music video. I couldn’t look away. A few moments after the video ended they all walked back in and I had a look of pure shock on my face. I tried to explain what I had just seen but the words wouldn’t come. They thought I was full of shit. Good times.
OP, it’s not only his vision that he lost. Re: the lyrics:
Landmine
Has taken my sight,
Taken my speech,
Taken my hearing,
Taken my arms,
Taken my legs,
Taken my soul,
And left me with life in Hell!
If you’re a fan of the song, check out Chris Cornell’s cover. He was searching for lyrics to U2’s “One” but found Metallica’s by accident. Didn’t realize his mistake until halfway through but it sounded cool so he added it to his live set
I love there’s a bunch of us that lived before internet and rememebr mtv and videos and all that good shit . Fuck yeah you guys rule
I remember my cousin showing this to video to me as a kid and it really freaked me out.
At the concert they showed pictures of soldiers looking happy in the beginning of the song, then it went to pictures of guys in gas masks and bayonets, artillery, human wave charges, explosions, men without legs & arms, they even had a brief clip of a guy with shell shock who couldn’t walk with wobbling over.
Incredible band
One is such a banger man..
My dad was an extra in this film. He was just a random solider who died in the background. I thought that was the coolest thing, and all these years later I still do!
He’s been gone since 1992, and I still miss him. He would’ve turned 74 this Saturday. Wild.
I was so excited when I found a vhs in the mid 90s that was a “making of” session about this video. It had interviews with how they got the idea and then, of course, the actual music video. I believe the tape had both the version with the movie scenes and the version without. I could finally watch my favorite Metallica video anytime I wanted!!! The time before YouTube was crazy and frustrating.
Then, a couple years later, I was even more excited when the book was assigned reading for my English class and I was allowed to bring the vhs in and play it for the class. One of my happiest high school moments.
Johnny Got his Gun by Dalton Trumbo is a horrifying anti-war book & got Trumbo on the Red Scare communist list here in the US. He’d been a Hollywood screenwriter & was blacklisted for years after. It’s a tough read but I highly recommend.
I’ve watched the movie several times. It’s a great commentary on how futile war is. Especially total war.
I’m in a nursing home and I’ve always likened this song to my roommate who was in a horrible car accident while in the army. He’s paralyzed on his left side with severe brain damage which makes it impossible for him to communicate effectively. I imagine since he can’t convey any of his emotions or discomforts,his body and hospital bed have become a prison for him. Although the guy in the One video seems to get some semblance of medical attention, my poor roommate John is neglected on a daily basis. I would imagine death would be a welcome change for him.
I think those clips add so much more to the song.
It was really cool seeing Metallica finally make a music video. It was not cool hearing that song multiple times a day, every day, fo what seemed like forever. I still have to skip it sometimes when I’m listening to Justice.
Johnny Got His Gun is BRUTAL. Such a powerful film. It was written and directed by Dalton Trumbo based on his novel. Trumbo was “one of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee’s investigation of alleged Communist influences in the motion picture industry.” -Wikipedia —Trumbo had game. He wrote many award-winning films, including Roman Holiday (1953), Exodus, Spartacus (both 1960), and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944). He’d be a leader against MAGA authoritarians today.
Some other context for this…
This was Metallica’s fourth album. Prior to this, at arguably the height of MTVs powers, the band had steadfastly refused to do music videos despite EVERY other metal band doing them. They finally relented, but not to create a “look at us, aren’t we awesome” video, but rather to give greater context to their song.
This was also the first album after the death of their original bassist Cliff Burton.
This was a watershed moment for the band, for better or worse.