Written and first recorded by Bob Seger (1973).
Also recorded by Bob Seger (1976).
Hit versions by Jon English (AUS #20 1974), Metallica (US #102/US Rock #1/CAN #5/AUS #11/NZ #22/NOR #11/FIN #7 1994).
From the wiki: “‘Turn the Page’ was first written and by Bob Seger in 1972 and released on his Back in ’72 album in 1973. It was not released as a single at that time. But, a live version of the song on the 1976 Live Bullet album was released in Germany and the UK with no apparent chart impact.
“Seger says he wrote the song in a hotel room in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Drummer David Teegarden recalls:
“We’d been traveling all night from the Detroit area to make this gig, driving in this blinding snowstorm. It was probably 3 in the morning. Mike decided it was time to get gas. He was slowing down to exit the interstate and spied a truck stop. We all had very long hair back then – it was the hippie era – but Skip, Mike and Bob had all stuffed their hair up in their hats. You had to be careful out on the road like that, because you’d get ostracized. When I walked in, there was this gauntlet of truckers making comments – ‘Is that a girl or man?’ I was seething; those guys were laughing their asses off, a big funny joke. That next night, after we played our gig – I think it was Mitchell, S.D. – Seger says, ‘Hey, I’ve been working on this song for a bit, I’ve got this new line for it. He played it on acoustic guitar, and there was that line: ‘Oh, the same old cliches / ‘Is that a woman or a man?” It was ‘Turn the Page.'”
“Australian singer Jon English released a version of the song in 1974 as the lead single from his second studio album, It’s All a Game. The song peaked at #20 on the Kent Music Report.
“But, perhaps the most popular cover version is by Metallica, who released it as the first single from their 1998 Garage Inc. album, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for 11 consecutive weeks, the highest number of weeks Metallica has ever spent at the top; the song also reached #2 on the Billboard ‘Bubbling Under’ Hot 100. It charted Top-10 in Canada and Finland.”
Jon English, “Turn the Page” (1974):
Bob Seger, “Turn the Page” live (1976):
Metallica, “Turn the Page” (1994):