Metallica respond to ‘Stranger Things’ using “Master of Puppets”: “We were totally blown away”

Lis Sinatra

Kate Bush isn't the only artist with an '80s classic having a resurgence thanks to use in Stranger Things. Metallica's "Master of Puppets" has re-entered the charts (and topped the iTunes rock chart) after Stranger Things' Eddie Munson (played by Joseph Quinn) played guitar along to the song during a scene in the fourth season's finale.

"It was another one of those ‘it has to be this song,’ moments," music supervisor Nora Felder told Variety. "This part of the story was anticipated to be a pivotal and especially hair-raising scene in which Eddie heroically stood tall for the fight of his life. I believe the Duffer Brothers felt that playing ‘Master of Puppets’ throughout the extended scene was the clear choice. No other song was discussed further, and we jumped in to clear it straight away."

As for clearing the song, Nora adds, "I got in touch with Metallica’s management office and carefully went over the scene and what the intent would be. I knew the clearance would be taken seriously as we had used one of their songs (‘The Four Horseman’) in season 2 and had learned at that time that they were fans of the show. ‘Master of Puppets’ is a pretty significant song in their catalog, and I think it’s considered a favorite in their live shows. I wanted to be respectful in making sure that Metallica fully understood what context the song was being used in, plus how integral it was to the scene and for this exciting new character, Eddie Munson, who no one had met yet in previous seasons."

Metallica also responded to the song being used, writing:

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. 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.

Watch the scene: