"Frantic" is the opening track and second single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 by heavy metal

Heavy metal music

Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 band Metallica

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...

 off their 2003 album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 St. Anger

St. Anger

St. Anger is the eighth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on June 5, 2003 through Elektra Records. It was the band's last album released through Elektra. The album marked the end of the longest timespan between studio albums from Metallica, with nearly six...

. This song, like many others on St. Anger, is about the band's past struggles with addictions, particularly lead singer James Hetfield

James Hetfield

James Alan Hetfield is the rhythm guitarist, co-founder, main songwriter, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Metallica. Hetfield co-founded Metallica in October 1981 after answering a classified advertisement by drummer Lars Ulrich in the Los Angeles newspaper The Recycler,...

's alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 problem, for which he spent many months in rehab

Drug rehabilitation

Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...

. The lyrics also draw on zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 axioms, most notably the Buddhist concept of dukkha

Dukkha

Dukkha is a Pali term roughly corresponding to a number of terms in English including suffering, pain, discontent, unsatisfactoriness, unhappiness, sorrow, affliction, social alienation, anxiety,...

 brought up by Kirk Hammett: "Birth is pain. Life is pain. Death is pain." These lines may also be a reference to the Samhain song "Macabre" from their Initium

Initium

Initium is the 1984 debut album of Samhain, released on lead singer Glenn Danzig's independent record label, Plan 9. In various interviews Danzig states that the album's title, which translates from Latin to English as "beginning", represents his new start after disbanding his prior band, The...

 album, as the band are fans of Glenn Danzig

Glenn Danzig

Glenn Danzig Glenn Danzig Glenn Danzig (born Glenn Allen Anzalone; June 23, 1955 is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, entrepreneur, and a progenitor of the horror punk subgenre of music. He is a founder of bands the Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig...

, Samhain frontman.

During a concert in Orlando in 2003 James Hetfield introduced the song with the words "This song's about life. Like right fucking now." This show is available as a free download on livemetallica.com.
In the DVD "Some Kind of Monster

Some Kind of Monster (film)

Some Kind of Monster is a 2004 documentary film featuring the American heavy metal band Metallica. It shares its name with the song "Some Kind of Monster" from Metallica's 2003 album St. Anger....

" Lars reveals he wanted to name the band's then untitled album "Frantic". In the end, the album was named St. Anger.

The song was played live at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards

2003 MTV Video Music Awards

The 2003 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 28, 2003, honoring the best music videos from June 1, 2002, to June 9, 2003. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City...

, and debuted in May of that year at the MTV Icon

MTV Icon

MTV Icon was a series of annual television specials produced by MTV between 2001 and 2004, each paying homage to a musical artist or band selected as a cultural icon, in a format similar to the network's annual Video Music Awards and Movie Awards events...

 ceremony.

"Frantic" is one of three songs to be played after the "Madly In Anger With The World Tour

Madly in Anger with the World Tour

The Madly in Anger with the World Tour was a year-long concert tour by Metallica that took place in 2003 and 2004, in connection with their St. Anger album....

". The other two are "All Within My Hands" and "St. Anger

St. Anger (song)

"St. Anger" was the lead single from Metallica's eighth studio album with the same name. It won Best Metal Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards and was also nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park.This song provided the theme...

". In this song, Kirk Hammett

Kirk Hammett

Kirk Lee Hammett is the lead guitarist and a songwriter in the heavy metal band Metallica and has been a member of the band since 1983. Before joining Metallica he formed and named the band Exodus. In 2003, Hammett was ranked 11th on Rolling Stones list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time...

 sings this part "Birth is pain, Life is pain, Death is pain, It's all the same".

The song was used in the third season premiere of Smallville

Smallville

Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross...

, "Exile", during a scene where Clark Kent robs a bank.

Track listing

International Single Part 1

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "Blackened (Live - Download Festival)" - 6:37
3. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - Download Festival)" - 6:41
4. "Frantic (Video)"

• Live tracks recorded on June 1, 2003 at the Download Festival, Donington, UK

International Single Part 2

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "No Remorse (Live - Download Festival)" - 5:16
3. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
   Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
   "Welcome Home " is a song by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released as the third and final single from their third album, Master of Puppets...
   
    (Live - Download Festival)" - 6:40

• Live tracks recorded on June 1, 2003 at the Download Festival, Donington, UK

International 2-track Single

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "No Remorse (Live - Download Festival)" - 5:16

• Live tracks recorded on June 1, 2003 at the Download Festival, Donington, UK

Belgian Single

1. "Frantic"
2. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - Fields of Rock Festival)"
3. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Live - Werchter Festival)"
4. "No Remorse (Live - Werchter Festival)"

• "Harvester of Sorrow" recorded live on June 15, 2003 at the Fields of Rock Festival, Nijmegen, Netherlands
• "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" and "No Remorse" recorded live on June 28, 2003 at the Werchter Festival, Werchter, Belgium

Spanish Single

1. "Frantic"
2. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - Doctor Music Festival)"
3. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Live - Doctor Music Festival)"
4. "No Remorse (Live - Doctor Music Festival)"

• Live tracks recorded on June 21, 2003 at the Doctor Music Festival, Barcelona, Spain

Italian Single

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "Blackened (Live - Imola Jammin' Festival)" - 7:02
3. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - Imola Jammin' Festival)" - 6:33
4. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Live - Imola Jammin' Festival)" - 7:18
5. "No Remorse (Live - Imola Jammin' Festival)" - 5:29

• Live tracks recorded on June 13, 2003 at the Imola Jammin' Festival, Imola, Italy

Danish Single

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "Blackened (Live - Roskilde Festival)" - 8:02
3. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - Roskilde Festival)" - 7:06
4. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Live - Roskilde Festival)" - 6:49
5. "No Remorse (Live - Roskilde Festival) - 5:33

• Live tracks recorded on June 26, 2003 at the Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark

German Single

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - Rock Am Ring)" - 6:49
3. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Live - Rock Am Ring) - 6:58

• Live tracks recorded on June 8, 2003 at the Rock Am Ring Festival, Nurburgring, Germany

French Single

1. "Frantic"
2. "Blackened (Live - Le Bataclan)"
3. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - La Boule Noire)"
4. "Welcome Home (Saniatrium) (Live - La Boule Noire)"

• Recorded live on June 11, 2003 at Le Bataclan, Paris, France

Japanese EP

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "Blackened (Live - Download Festival)" - 6:37
3. "Harvester of Sorrow (Live - Download Festival)" - 6:41
4. "Welcome Home (Sanitarium) (Live - Download Festival)" - 6:40
5. "No Remorse (Live - Download Festival)" - 5:16

• Live tracks recorded on June 1, 2003 at the Download Festival, Donington, UK

International Vinyl Single

1. "Frantic" - 5:50
2. "Frantic (UNKLE Reconstruction - Artifical Confidence)" - 6:51

Music video

A music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

, directed by Wayne Isham

Wayne Isham

Wayne Isham is an American music video director who has directed music videos of many popular artists; such as Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Roxette, Mötley Crüe, Britney Spears, Kelly Clarkson, Whitesnake, David Cook, Simple Plan, Avenged Sevenfold, Pantera, *NSYNC, Backstreet Boys,...

, was made to go along with Frantics release as a single. The video, featuring a shortened version of the song, depicts a man looking back on his life (in which he is constantly drinking, having sex, and smoking) at the instant that he crashes his rotisserie delivery pickup truck into an RV at an intersection. At the end of the video, and although the man's vehicle is upside-down, he finds himself still alive, and laughs loudly until a 4x4 car that goes towards the car crashes it in the window where he is located. The video was shot in Montreal, Canada.

Charts

Chart (2003)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	16
U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks	21
U.S. Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks	22