Which band originally recorded “So What,” the Japanese bonus track on Metallica's The Black Album?

Anti-Nowhere League originally recorded “So What,” which appeared as a Japanese bonus track on Metallica's The Black Album.

Metallica's version is a cover of the English punk band's song. On the Japanese edition, “So What” was added as track 13 after the album's twelve-song standard sequence. The bonus track runs for 3 minutes and 8 seconds, bringing that edition's total length to 65:39.

The standard international album was built around twelve original Metallica tracks, including “Enter Sandman,” “Sad but True,” “The Unforgiven,” and “Nothing Else Matters.” “So What” is therefore not one of the album's core twelve songs, and it is not a Metallica original despite appearing on some versions of the release.

Metallica had a long history of recording covers, including “Am I Evil?” and “Blitzkrieg” on earlier releases and “Stone Cold Crazy” as the B-side to “Enter Sandman.” The “So What” recording belongs to that broader cover tradition, while the Japanese bonus-track placement made it a regional edition detail rather than part of the original standard sequence.