Footage of Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn practicing Metallica’s Master of Puppets – which played a pivotal role in the show’s season four finale – has emerged online.
Quinn, who played the part of lovable metalhead Eddie Munson in the show, can be seen strapped to his Stranger Things B.C. Rich Warlock electric guitar for the behind-the-scenes clip, and looks to be in the zone as he runs through the track’s opening riff.
Some of the verse chords and other rhythm parts are also tried on for size, with Quinn adopting an impressive power stance and playing through what looks to be a Silver Face Fender guitar amp.
The track’s identity in the show was the subject of intense debate for sometime prior to the release of Stranger Things 4 Volume 2, with many flocking to social media to hypothesize what track Munson was playing in the official trailer.
After it was revealed that Munson was indeed shredding Master of Puppets in the season finale, Quinn came out to say he had filmed the scene alongside a body double – guitarist Aidan Fisher – who stepped in to help make the more complex fingering parts look a bit more believable.
Quinn told the Radio Times that his background in guitar helped him as he attempted to record the scene.
“I was trying to be realistic with kind of what I could do,” Quinn said. “Like I've been playing [guitar] since I was a kid but I'm no virtuoso. So I had most of the song down, but for the solo, we had to fly someone, a black belt metal guitarist, in to help with that. The rest of it? I had a stab at it, yeah.”
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Much like Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill, Master of Puppets has found itself an entire new generation of fans – something the band say they are “stoked” about.
So much so, in fact, that they recently responded to a fan who attempted to call out “fake fans” of the band by saying, “Everyone is welcome in the Metallica Family. Whether you’ve been a fan for 40 hours or 40 years, we all share a bond through music.”
And, to further capitalize on the sudden increase in popularity their track is currently experiencing, the Metallica members decided to get in on the action and took to TikTok to duet with Quinn’s scene from the show.
Appropriately kitted out in Hellfire Club attire – the Dungeons & Dragons group that Quinn’s character leads – a lip-syncing James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett can be seen wielding their ESP Snakebyte and ESP Karloff Mummy guitars respectively to riff along to the scene.
@metallica ♬ original sound - Netflix
The whole band is involved, too, including drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo, the latter recently revealing that his son – Tye Trujillo – had been recruited to record additional guitar parts for the show.
“That’s my boy,” Robert wrote alongside a video of the credits list. “Proud of ya Tye! Stranger Things finale shredding it on Master of Puppets and big thanks to Kirk Hammett on helping.”
Reacting to the news, Hammett himself said on social media, “Very proud of my little bro Tye Trujillo who pulled off the lead to Master of Puppets for the Netflix show Stranger Things – and he’s not a guitar player but a bass player just like his pop!”
Since Stranger Things 4 Volume 2 aired, Master of Puppets has experienced a surge in popularity, rising to seventh spot in Spotify's Top 50 USA playlist, as per Digital Music News.
Of the response, Metallica wrote, “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.”
