Metallica and Stranger Things star Joseph Quinn finally met in person on Thursday ahead of the band’s headlining performance at Chicago, IL’s Lollapalooza.
The 29-year-old British actor, who plays metalhead Eddie Munson on the fourth season of the popular Netflix teen horror-drama, has been largely responsible for a recent surge in popularity for Metallica’s 1986 classic “Master of Puppets”. In a climactic scene in the show, Quinn’s Munson performs the track in the “Upside Down” to help stave off bat-like creatures while his friends attempt to slay Vecna, the “dark wizard” who serves as the season’s big bad.
In a video documenting the band’s introduction to Quinn at Lollapalooza, the actor hangs around at soundcheck before heading backstage to meet the band. After James Hetfield expressed his love for the show (“My kids and I, it’s been a bonding experience for us,”) Quinn explained of the “Master of Puppets” scene, “It’s all I was listening to for two years … I feel very connected to you guys.”
Quickly dispensing with the pleasantries, the quartet-turned-quintet headed to the “tuning room” to jam out on the intro to “Puppets”. “We’d like to make an announcement,” drummer Lars Ulrich said into the camera following the brief jam, “Metallica is now a five-piece.”
To close out the heartwarming meeting, the band presented Quinn with a red and black guitar similar to the one Eddie Munson played on the show. If you weren’t smiling yet, just wait until you see the actor’s face when the band offers to sign it.
The inclusion of “Master of Puppets” in Stranger Things has caused streams of the track to skyrocket, pushing it onto the U.K. Top 40 for the first time ever. The song also briefly entered the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at #40 on the chart dated 7/23/22 before falling to #50 the following week.
Metallica has fully embraced the Stranger Things effect. In addition to jumping on the viral craze with a new “Master of Puppets” lyric video featuring a number of visual homages to the supernatural, the band has been vocal about its delight over the show’s interpretation of the song, which features guitar work by Tye Trujillo, the teenage son of Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo.
As Metallica noted in an Instagram post upon the episode’s initial release, “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.”
“Master of Puppets” was the second song from the mid-’80s to enjoy a 2022 resurgence thanks to Stranger Things. Kate Bush‘s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill” has also experienced a seismic moment on the charts following its prominent inclusion in the show earlier this season. The song, which originally peaked at #30 on the Hot 100 back in 1985, re-entered the list at #8 on June 11th and has maintained a hold on the Top 10 ever since. It currently sits at its highest position yet, #3, on the chart dated 7/30/22.
Below, watch the video documenting the interaction between Metallica and Joseph Quinn at Lollapalooza 2022. Scroll down to view some photos of the “most metal meeting ever of The Hellfire Club.”
‘Stranger Things’ Star Joseph Quinn Meets Metallica At Lollapalooza
— Netflix (@netflix) July 29, 2022
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