Earlier this week, Metallica’s legendary tune, “Master Of Puppets,” got a significant bump from being featured in the “Stranger Things” season finale. The Eddie Munson character performs what he calls “the most metal concert ever” in the dark, alternate universe of the show as he tries to help his friends vanquish the show’s penultimate villain, Vecna. As a result of being the show, “Master Of Puppets” has climbed to No. 26 on Spotify’s Top 50 Global chart. Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo also revealed that his 17-year-old son, Tye, contributed “additional guitar tracks” to the version of the song that appears in “Stranger Things.” The song, which served as the title track for the band’s landmark 1986 album, has sold more than six million copies in the United States.
On Tuesday, Metallica issued a statement talking about “Stranger Things” creators Matt and Ross Duffer using the song in the show. “The way The Duffer Brothers have incorporated music into ‘Stranger Things’ has always been next level, so we were beyond psyched for them to not only include ‘Master Of Puppets’ in the show but to have such a pivotal scene built around it. We were all stoked to see the final result and when we did we were totally blown away… it’s so extremely well done, so much so, that some folks were able to guess the song just by seeing a few seconds of Joseph Quinn’s hands in the trailer!! How crazy cool is that? It’s an incredible honor to be such a big part of Eddie’s journey and to once again be keeping company with all of the other amazing artists featured in the show.”
Quinn, who plays Munson, told Entertainment Weekly about how he prepared for the role. “I listened to a lot of heavy metal. That was my … God, it’s impossible to not sound pretentious when you say it, but, yeah, that was my way in.” Quinn also said he started playing guitar after seeing Jack Black in the 2003 movie, “School of Rock.” “I’ve played since I was 7, and I’ve had huge breaks,” he said. “I wouldn’t consider myself a brilliant guitarist, but I can play it. That was very lucky because those scripts came out, I think, at some point in the pandemic. I did start practicing pretty furiously.”
Actor Jamie Campbell Bower, who plays season four’s demonic bad guy Vecna, told the “Kyle Meredith With …” podcast that he listened to a lot of Sunn O))) and Darkthrone to get into the darkness of the role. “When I was prepping for Vecna, to get into Vecna, I would use a lot of bands like Sunn O))), Carpathian Forest, Darkthrone, Mayhem. A lot of black metal kind of stuff that I just really latched onto and thought, ‘Wow, this is great.’ There’s also something about the sensitivity in the way black metal is made and their belief system which I really f*cking vibe with.”
As a result of being in the show, “Master Of Puppets” has climbed to No. 26 on Spotify’s Top 50 Global chart. It also got a big boost in the U.K. rising 10 places on the Official Singles Chart. The song could potentially reach the Official Top 40 which would mark Metallica’s 20th Top 40 hit in the U.K. and first in 14 years.
