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“Stranger Things” has had its best season in terms of music. The season four finale featured a 3-minute action-packed scene where Eddie Munson, one of our heroes, plays one of Metallica’s greatest songs in the Upside Down. Aside from providing the soundtrack to one of the episode’s most stressful and pivotal moments, the sequence was also a great character beat for Munson, who helped saved the world and looked amazing while doing it.
The scene quickly went viral and was discussed by Joseph Quinn, who plays Munson. Metallica also took a moment to give the show their stamp of approval, sharing how happy they were to be involved.
In an interview with the LA Times, Quinn discussed the scene, why it works so well, and why it represents exactly what “Stranger Things” does best. “It’s insane,” he said. “It’s doing so many things. I think this is the only world in which something like that can happen and it doesn’t feel like a pastiche. It doesn’t feel forced. And hilariously, it doesn’t feel melodramatic. It just feels right. And more than anything, it just feels fun. It’s that energy through that whole kind of ridiculous sequence that brings all of these storylines together. That crescendo was just so inventive and ultimately so entertaining.”
The song that Munson plays is Metallica’s “Master of Puppets,” released in 1986, the year in which “Stranger Things 4” is set. And while Quinn did his research and learned how to play the guitar for the sequence, the showrunners wanted to make sure their scene was as badass as possible, recruiting some expert help. They brought onboard Tye Trujillo, son of Metallica’s bassist Rob Trujillo, who recorded the guitar solo alongside Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist of the band.
Metallica shared the scene on their Instagram and shared the reasons why they were so stoked with the final product. “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?” they wrote. “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.”
We’ll be watching and rewatching Eddie Munson shred in the Upside Down until “Stranger Things” fifth and final season is released in the near future.