Metallica have praised Stranger Things, expressing their joy at the inclusion of Master of Puppets in its season four finale.
In the episode, The Piggyback, one of the show’s main characters, Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn, Aidan Fisher as a body double for the guitar parts) plays the legendary metal track in a bona-fide hellscape in an act of heroism.
“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,” the band write in a new Instagram post.
“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.”
While the episode features the original version of Master of Puppets, earlier this week it was revealed that Rob Trujillo’s son Tye was tapped to add additional guitar parts for the version included in Stranger Things, and even received help from Kirk Hammett in order to do so.
In an Instagram post praising his son’s involvement in the project, Trujillo writes: “That’s my boy. Proud of ya Tye!”
Joseph Quinn recently described Master of Puppets as “the perfect song” for the show’s finale. While the actor plays guitar-wielding hero Eddie Munson, the Stranger Things team actually used a body double – heavy metal guitarist Aidan Fisher – for the scene, so the fingering would be believable to the more eagle-eyed viewers.
“I’ve been playing guitars since I was a kid, fortunately, but by no means have I kept it up the whole time,” Quinn says. “I’m an actor, not a heavy metal guitarist. So I let this brilliant guitarist, Aidan, take care of the more complex fingering.”
Stranger Things has been the source of a number of viral moments this season, including the resurgence of Kate Bush’s 1985 hit Running Up That Hill, which rocketed to the top of charts after its inclusion in episode four, Dear Billy.
To celebrate Running Up That Hill’s mainstream revival, we put together a list of some of the best guitar-led covers of the track, including renditions by Placebo, Biffy Clyro, Within Temptation and more.
