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Metallica’s Stranger Things sync came after “we started saying yes to everything”, says Lars Ulrich
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 30 November 2022
How do you get Metallica to agree to have one of their songs synced in you TV show? Just ask, apparently. Or so says drummer Lars Ulrich. They’ll agree to any old nonsense.
Earlier this year we heard from ‘Stranger Things’ music supervisor Nora Felder about the meticulous and protracted operation that was put in place to convince Kate Bush to allow ‘Running Up That Hill’ to be used in the latest series of the show. Getting Metallica on board was seemingly not quite so difficult – but only because the request came at the right time.
“It used to be, with Metallica, we were always the ‘no’ guys”, Ulrich tells Howard Stern. “‘Hey can we have this song for this? Can we have that song for that?’ It was just ‘no, no, no, no, no’”.
“A few years ago we kind of reversed it”, he goes on. “We did a 180. We just said, ‘You know what? This is stupid. Why are we hanging onto these songs like they’re so important, like they’re the crown jewels? Let’s share our music with the world’. So a couple of years ago we started saying ‘yes’ to everything”.
Of course, their song ‘Master Of Puppets’ ended up soundtracking a pivotal scene in that latest series of ‘Stranger Things’ and brought a whole new audience to the song and the band. Which is nice.
“It was such a mindfuck to see how that became a phenomenon, and we were so proud”, says Ulrich. “I mean, who would’ve thought 40 years later that these songs could still have that impact? So we were psyched to be part of it, absolutely. It was just so unexpected”.
Now, to capitalise on that new fanbase they’ve found themselves with, Metallica have just announced that they will release a new album, ‘72 Seasons’, in April next year. It’s a concept album about how our childhood experiences affect us in adulthood. Which almost sounds like a pitch for a new ‘Stranger Things’ series.
