Songfacts®:

• A tribute to Metallica's headbanging fans, this song captures the feeling of thrashing to the music in concert. Whiplash is a pretty serious medical condition, and enough headbanging can bring it on, causing injuries similar to those sustained in a car accident. Known as "Metal Neck," it can afflict both fans and band members. Slipknot drummer Chris Fehn has suffered from it.
• Metallica frontman James Hetfield wrote the song with their drummer, Lars Ulrich. They were heartened by some shows they performed in San Francisco, which unlike their Los Angeles stomping grounds, really appreciated metal and loved Metallica. In LA, it was often more about the scene than the music, and hair bands like Mötley Crüe and Ratt were getting a lot of heat. But the San Francisco fans were fully engaged, headbanging throughout the shows.
  
  Metallica hadn't released any material by this point, but they circulated a demo tape that made its way up I-5 and were getting a lot of attention in the Bay Area metal fanzines. These were the kind of metal diehards that inspired the song.
• The band was about a year old when they started performing "Whiplash" in October 1982. By the time they released it on their first album, Kill 'Em All, in 1983, they had swapped out half their lineup, with Cliff Burton replacing Ron McGovney on bass and Kirk Hammett in for Dave Mustaine on guitar.
• This was covered by Motorhead for the Metallic Attack: The Ultimate Tribute album. The British rockers won the 2005 Best Metal Performance Grammy for their version.