A recent episode of Stranger Things featured the use of Metallica’s 1986 single “Master of Puppets.” The song was performed by character Eddie Munson, and Metallica offered a statement in support of the track placement.
“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,” they wrote.
“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,” the band added. The actual guitar solo performed on the episode was recorded by Tye Trujillo, son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo. Trujillo praised his son on Instagram: “That’s my boy! Proud of ya Tye!”
According to Pitchfork, Joseph Quinn, the actor who plays Munson, spoke with Entertainment Weekly about filming the sequence. “We had a backing track and I was playing along with it,” he said. “I wouldn’t wanna mess with what they’ve already got, but it was very useful to be able to play along character-wise. It’s a pretty adolescent fantasy to be a rock star, isn’t it? I felt like one for a night. It was great having Gaten [Matarazzo] up there with me. They really turned it up when they played ‘Master of Puppets’ and the whole crew were there. It was the first time that everyone felt like they were seeing live music—I say ‘live music’—since the pandemic. So it felt like a real celebration.”
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