“So What” was added as the Japanese bonus track on Metallica's The Black Album.
The song is a cover of “So What,” originally associated with the English punk band Anti-Nowhere League. It appears after the album's 12-song standard sequence in the Japanese edition, making that version a 13-track release.
The bonus track is separate from the album's principal songwriting. The standard songs were written primarily by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, with Kirk Hammett and Jason Newsted receiving additional credits on selected tracks. “So What” instead carries songwriting credits for members of Anti-Nowhere League.
Metallica had a long history of recording cover songs, including material connected to punk and British heavy metal. The Japanese bonus-track practice was common in the international record market, where an extra song could encourage local purchases without changing the main edition's track list.