"Fuel" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Kirk Hammett, and was released as the third single from their seventh album, Reload (1997). Inspired by Hetfield's love of custom cars, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance in 1999 but lost to Jimmy Page and Robert Plant for the song "Most High". It was moderately successful on the music charts, peaking at number 2 in Australia, number three in Hungary, number 5 in Finland and number 6 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart.
Since its release, "Fuel" has remained a regular on Metallica's live setlists. It has featured on the live albums Cunning Stunts, S&M, Français Pour une Nuit, ', Live at Grimey's and '.
A demo version of the song called "Fuel for Fire" (with different lyrics) was used as the theme song for NASCAR on NBC from 2001 until the 2004 Daytona 500. The song was also featured in the video game Fortnite in the Chapter 5 Season 3 Trailer and in Fortnite Festival.
All live tracks were recorded on April 20, 1998, at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia.
Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
Metallica
Additional musician
The music video was directed by Wayne Isham and filmed in May 1998 in Tokyo, and premiered on May 14, 1998.