Songfacts®:

• This song is written from the perspective of the Devil. He tempts people with sin and waits as they die and enter hell, which is where they "jump in the fire." >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Bertrand - Paris, France
• One of the earliest Metallica songs, this was the second single they released, after "Whiplash." Dave Mustaine, who left the band in 1983, helped write the song, earning one of his four composer credits in Metallica.
• The song was included on Metallica's debut album, Kill 'Em All, and reflects the band's New Wave influences; drummer Lars Ulrich was quoted as saying that the song was inspired by Iron Maiden, whose hit "Run To The Hills" had been the most popular song on the radio at the time. Lars claimed that "Jump in the Fire" was Metallica's response to "Run to the Hills," and was intended to be their breakthrough single. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Chris - San Diego, CA
• Dave Mustaine recalled to Paste in 2016 how his mother's devotion to the Jehovah's Witness movement had a profound impact on his view of the world. "I think probably as a kid who wrote my first lyric for 'Mechanix' when I was very, very young, and then 'Jump In The Fire' around the same time, those were the writings of a young male who was not quite 21 yet and had been severely religiously abused from my mom's religion," he said. "She was a Jehovah's Witness and I don't believe in it. My opinion is that it's a cult, and my family's still in that religion, and it's a bummer."
  
  "You grow up learning certain things like you can't do the pledge of allegiance, you can't have a birthday party, or any of that," Mustaine added, "and that kind of stuff really affected my myopic view of the world and the prism that I saw it through."