Advertisement
Metallica could get a dose of Stranger Things magic.
First, the Netflix series gave Kate Bush a boost when she recorded her song “Running Up that Hill (Deal With God)” in 1985 as an integral part of the Netflix series’ fourth season.
The song peaked at No. 1 on the UK Official Singles Chart, making Bush, 63, the record holder for the widest gap between No. 1 singles – having previously reached No. 1 with 1978’s ‘Wuthering Heights’.
During a pivotal scene in the season 4 finale, available on the streaming service July 1, the character of HellFire Club leader Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn) unleashes guitar-driven fury to destroy the demonic bats as part of the plan of the gang distract to kill Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower).
What riffs does he shred? Featuring in “Master of Puppets,” the title track of Metallica’s 1986 heavy metal masterpiece. Metallica fans were quick to identify the song, but many who may not have known took to the streaming services when it took to social media has been identified.
Now “Master of Puppets” holds #1 on the iTunes Top Rock chart and #2 on the iTunes Top 100 chart – right behind “Running Up That Hill”.
On Spotify, where “Master of Puppets” is Metallica’s third-most-streamed song, daily global streams increased 779% worldwide on Tuesday compared to the previous Tuesday, according to the music-streaming service.
Carlos Santana:Musician is ‘fine’ after being hospitalized for heat exhaustion and dehydration during the show.
Is ‘Stranger Things’ a rip-off?:The aspiring screenwriter is suing Netflix and the Duffer brothers over script similarities
Metallica — frontman James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo — are currently touring Europe and took the time to tell show creators Matt and Ross Duffer in an Instagram post on Tuesday to thank.
“The way The Duffer Brothers integrated music into Stranger Things has always been a new level, so we were overjoyed that they not only included ‘Master of Puppets’ in the show, but such a pivotal scene around it built around.” the post read.
“We were all thrilled to see the end result and when we saw it we were totally blown away… it’s so extremely well done, so much so that some people could guess the song just by seeing a few seconds of Joseph Quinns.” Hands in the trailer!! How insanely cool is that?”
Quinn plays guitar and told Entertainment Weekly that he learned the song so his character would be, well, in character.
“We had a backing track and I played along,” Quinn said. “I wouldn’t want to play around with what they already have, but being able to play along with the character was very useful. It’s quite a youthful fantasy to be a rock star, isn’t it? I felt like one for a night.”
What is everyone talking about?Sign up for our trendy newsletter to get the latest news of the day
The show’s music director, Nora Felder, told Variety that the show’s creators had the song in mind long before the scene was filmed. “It was one of those ‘it has to be that song’ moments again,” she said.
“This part of the story was going to be a pivotal and particularly hair-raising scene where Eddie heroically stood up for the fight of his life,” she said, adding that the extended scene was a clear choice. No other song was discussed further and we immediately jumped in to clarify it.”
“Master of Puppets” made sense because the song, she said, “in some ways resonates with Eddie’s seemingly arrogant and nervous public persona”.
Featuring: Naledi Ushe, USA TODAY.
Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @mikesnider.
