Metallica’s Black Album has sold more than 16 million copies in the United States alone and is the band’s most commercially successful album. There are classic tunes and setlist staples all over the record, but the album’s lead track, “Enter Sandman,” is arguably Metallica’s most well-known song.
In a recent “Masterclass” interview with frontman James Hetfield, the singer revealed that the tune almost didn’t happen.
Hetfield said an early version of the song wasn’t all that great until producer Bob Rock and drummer Lars Ulrich told him to re-work it.
“I didn’t think ‘Enter Sandman’ was such great song,” he said. “I think Lars Ulrich and Bob Rock said, ‘Go back. I challenge you to go back and work on it.’ And I did.”
The song’s catchphrase line, “We’re off to never, neverland,” also proved to be relatable, according to the singer.
“What happens in our sleep? Why do we have nightmares?’ – a lot of people could identify with that,” Hetfield said. “Everyone has nightmares. What do you do with them? Why do they show up?”
Guitarist Kirk Hammett previously told Howard Stern that Ulrich’s suggestion for the main riff is what fans now know and love about the song in its finished form.
“There’s a thing that we do with riffs where sometimes we’ll structure it where there will be a repeating pattern for three times and then an answering part [a tail]. And, basically, he was just morphing it into a workable form,” Hammett said.
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