Invisible Kid

"Invisible Kid" is about a kid who's withdrawn from the world and hidden inside himself. He "floats" alone in his room with his feelings of apathy and angst. No one knows or cares about the pain and fear he carries inside. At least, that's how it feels to the kid. It's one of Metallica's least-liked songs. In message boards across the internet it gets a lot of hate from the band's hardcore fans. Criticisms are geared towards both the music and the lyrics, but the words seem to get the most scorn. Part of the problem might be that the song is more overtly sensitive than what Metallica fans expect. I hide inside, I hurt inside I hide inside but I'll show you...

Metallic recorded St. Anger at a time rife with inner and personal turmoil, particularly for frontman James Hetfield. This was the time when his alcoholism, anger, and controlling personality really caught up with him. He went into rehab during recording and spent a lot of time in introspection as he got clean. This time of coming to grips with himself may have inspired the softer feelings heard on "Invisible Kid." It's a song of compassion lacking the righteous anger that usually colors Metallica's music. The lyrics may come across a bit too obvious (and therefore sometimes corny) because they're not in his Hetfield's usual range. That's not really surprising, though, when we consider that he himself was living out of his usual range at that stage in his life.

The story in the song seems to flow into the track following it, "My World."