In the grand season 4 finale of Stranger Things, Metallica could be heard as Eddie (Joseph Quinn) caught the attention of monstrous Upside Down bats by playing the iconic metal band’s classic song Master of Puppets. It turns out that the band are fans and gave the okay for the song’s usage, as reported by Variety.
Nora Felder, the music supervisor for the Netflix series, got in touch with management for the band. She gave them the details of what was to be expected for full context. Besides Metallica being fans of Stranger Things, they liked the pitch enough to approve of the usage of Master of Puppets.
Using ‘Master of Puppets’ in Stranger Things
Using Metallica in Stranger Things, especially this song, had to be specified. The Duffer Brothers had written it into the script. The song was essential for this scene of Eddie distracting creatures and the rest of the crew in action in their attempt to defeat Vecna.
The song was written about addiction. It could be interpreted in many other ways as people controlling others, like the powers of Vecna. It also spoke to Eddie’s arc and identity of being a metalhead Dungeons & Dragons player who has been an outcast his whole life and became framed for the murder of Chrissy (Grace Van Dien). Now, he got to end his life as a hero to save his friends.
Joseph Quinn Played Metallica in Stranger Things Season 4
The most striking thing was not that Metallica approved Stranger Things using one of their most popular songs but that the actor playing Eddie learned the riffs to give authenticity to the scene. The scene’s framing ensured the audience knew, as some shots showed the actor playing his guitar while creatures flew around him and Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo).
This past Friday (July 1st) was the release of the final two episodes of the sci-fi horror series. The show has now set up its endgame with its final fifth season, which begins writing this August. With so many recognizable needle drops, seeing what pops up next will be interesting. Maybe more Metallica in Stranger Things or some other classics.
