Tag: Metallica

Metallica is one of the most popular heavy metal bands of all time, and they continue to sell out stadiums. While Metallica has ruled the heavy metal space for decades, they’ve also made an impact on the film world with their music. Throughout the years, the band’s music has made their way into a bevy of feature films and enhanced the movie space.

Metallica doesn’t just play music, it detonates emotion. Decades after the first thrash riffs shook suburban basements and parental patience alike, the band continues to speak to something raw, loud and defiantly human.

At first glance, it’s easy to dismiss Metallica as the soundtrack for people who like to smash air guitar. But behind the hair-whipping fun is a pulse that beats in perfect time with human frustration, resilience and the desperate need to feel alive. Metallica is not merely a band, it’s a mood, a movement and, for many, a form of therapy with better lighting.

What makes Metallica so magnetic is its emotional duality. Songs like “Enter Sandman” and “Master of Puppets” explode with thunderous riffs that dare listeners to let go of every social filter. Yet the band’s quieter moments, “Nothing Else Matters,” “Fade to Black,” “The Unforgiven,” whisper to the parts of the heart that ache quietly, the ones that don’t get Instagram captions. There’s catharsis in the noise, but there’s poetry too.

It’s hard to resist Metallica’s heavy riffs and grandiose themes, so it makes sense that movie houses would love their music. Without Metallica, some of our favorite movies just wouldn’t be the same. So, let’s look at a handful of movies there were enhanced, in a big way, by Metallica’s sounds.

Metallica doesn’t just dominate arenas, it occasionally hijacks Hollywood soundtracks too. Their music has swaggered, shredded and stormed its way into some of the most unexpected films, proving that the band’s signature blend of fury and finesse can elevate even the quirkiest of scenes. Whether it’s a motorcycle entrance, a Wall Street meltdown or a midlife frat party, Metallica brings the thunder every time.

When Daddy’s Home 2 hit theaters, audiences expected family-friendly chaos, not a crash course in how to make a grand entrance. The film, a sequel to the 2015 comedy starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, continues the saga of two mismatched dads trying to perfect the art of co-parenting. Ferrell’s character brings the awkward charm, Wahlberg delivers the tough-guy swagger, and just when you think things have settled into wholesome harmony, John Cena arrives to blow the roof off.

It’s part parody, part power move, a wink to every metal fan who knows exactly how a well-placed riff can turn an entrance into an event. In a movie about dads competing for cool points, Metallica’s presence settles the score instantly. There’s no topping that.

Of all the films that could feature Metallica, a financial drama about the 2008 housing crisis doesn’t exactly scream “mosh pit.” Yet The Big Short, Adam McKay’s fast-talking, fourth-wall-breaking exploration of economic disaster, manages to weave in a surprising streak of metal-fueled rebellion.

Christian Bale’s character is a genius with a passion for financial data and heavy metal. As he sifts through mortgage bonds and spreadsheets, his soundtrack of choice isn’t the gentle hum of classical music, it’s Metallica. The film features both “Master of Puppets” and “Eye of the Beholder,” the latter blasting during a scene that captures Burry’s defiant brilliance.

When the rest of Wall Street scoffs at his prediction of the impending crash, Burry refuses to budge. The guitars snarl, the drums thunder, and Metallica’s fierce rhythm mirrors his stubborn determination. It’s a perfect pairing, a man fighting against the system underscored by a band that’s been doing the same since the 1980s.

In a story about greed and chaos, Metallica’s sound becomes the musical embodiment of defiance. Because when the world’s about to collapse, what else would you want blaring in your headphones? Definitely Metallica.

Before he was directing billion-dollar blockbusters, Todd Phillips was introducing audiences to the wild world of Old School, a 2003 comedy that turned midlife crises into frat party legends. Starring Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson, the film follows three men trying to recapture their youth by starting their own off-campus fraternity.

It’s such an absurd show, and it’s perfect for Metallica’s “Master of Puppets.” During one of the film’s most iconic scenes, the trio drives around in a van, rounding up their pledges, rocking out to “Master of Puppets,” and it’s totally perfect. The song’s ferocity injects the scene with adrenaline, giving it the kind of unhinged energy only Metallica can truly deliver. This movie wouldn’t be the same without Metallica.

What makes Metallica so magnetic is its emotional duality. Songs like “Enter Sandman” and “Master of Puppets” explode with thunderous riffs that dare listeners to let go of every social filter. Yet the band’s quieter moments, “Nothing Else Matters,” “Fade to Black,” “The Unforgiven,” whisper to the parts of the heart that ache quietly, the ones that don’t get Instagram captions. There’s catharsis in the noise, but there’s poetry too.

And let’s be honest, there’s something deliciously rebellious about that. In a culture obsessed with being calm, curated and perpetually “chill,” Metallica offers a glorious counterpunch. The band doesn’t whisper affirmations, it roars defiance.

Metallica speaks to the heart because it sounds like the heart, rhythmic, unpredictable and occasionally on fire. And in a world that often demands silence, the band’s message remains gloriously clear: turn it up, feel everything and let the noise set you free.

So, there you have it with a roster of delightful, and oh-so heavy, Metallica songs that have made an impact on the movie world. Metallica aren’t slowing down, either, so this is a taste of what’s to come as this band continues to churn out new music and tour the globe.

Metal bands aren’t often considered radio bands, because their music is usually too extreme for most radio formats. But, there are exceptions, and it’s absolutely commonplace to hear Metallica cranked out of classic and active rock radio stations morning, noon and night.

One of the ways that Metallica got so big was through their mainstream metal singles that earned spots in radioland. While the band’s underground thrash sound is exceptional, it’s not for everyone, and Metallica’s melodic metal singles earned them much more name recognition around the world. Of course, go listen to their pure thrash stuff, too, because it’s fantastic. But, when it comes to Metallica’s radio hits, they’re more melodic and mainstream-sounding.

Metallica’s style has evolved over the years, but they always define themselves as heavy metal. Initially, Metallica started out as pure thrash and grew a huge underground following, but fairly quickly, they changed their sound to a more melodic metal style. While that change really came out on The Black Album, it’s easy to even hear some of those more melodic styles on Master of Puppets.

Metallica’s story begins with their first concert on March 14, 1982, at Radio City in Anaheim, CA, and today, the band is still selling out arenas everywhere. It’s certainly an accomplishment, because not many metal bands, or musicians of any genre, can say that they can sell out arenas and stadiums decades after they first formed. But, Metallica can.

Let’s dive into the Metallica songs that made them household names around the world. These are songs that have a special place in both the hearts of metalheads everywhere and even those who don’t usually listen to metal.

It’s the riff. You know it. Your neighbor knows it. Your grandparents know it. When “Enter Sandman” dropped in 1991, it didn’t just climb the charts, it rewired what heavy music could sound like on radio. The first single off The Black Album roared into the Top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, yes the main chart, and hasn’t left classic-rock rotation since. The song’s clean, polished production gave Metallica’s menace a shiny new armor. It’s heavy, but it’s not chaos. It’s sleek. It’s mean. It’s the sound of a nightmare with perfect radio timing.

The track’s success wasn’t just luck. That haunting guitar intro, the whispered “prayer” and James Hetfield’s barked chorus gave DJs something powerful and programmable, three chords of menace, all wrapped up in stadium-ready hooks. No wonder it’s topped a billion streams on Spotify. It rocks.

Cue the gasps. Metallica went tender. “Nothing Else Matters” wasn’t just a song, it was a statement that heavy bands could show a little heart and still hit hard. With strings, a clean guitar melody and Hetfield actually singing with a lovely voice, the track cracked radio playlists that had never dared touch a metal act before.

It’s since joined the billion-stream club, proving that softness rocks, too. The emotional weight of the song made it a crossover darling, showing up on rock, adult contemporary and even pop-leaning stations. Fans who wanted thrash got melody instead, but here’s the twist, nobody cared. Because it worked. “Nothing Else Matters” became the introduction to heavy guitars for listeners who might never have head-banged in their lives.

If “Enter Sandman” was the punch and “Nothing Else Matters” was the hug, “The Unforgiven” was the statement. Another powerhouse from The Black Album, it was Metallica saying, “We can do dark and dynamic.”

The song flips the script, quiet verses, explosive choruses, all anchored by a haunting Western-tinged melody. It’s moody, cinematic and painfully human. Radio loved it because it had tension, soft enough to lure listeners in, heavy enough to remind them this was still Metallica.

And let’s be real, those lyrics are special: “What I’ve felt, what I’ve known…” Yeah, we’ve all screamed that line in the car. It became a template for the band’s later “Unforgiven” sequels and proof that a song could sound personal and massive at the same time.

Turn it up, and the floor shakes. “Sad But True” isn’t fast. It doesn’t need to be. It’s pure swagger, the sound of an engine revving in slow motion. The riff alone feels like it should come with a warning label.

Released as a single in 1993, it proved that slowing down could hit harder than speeding up. The song’s deep, tuned-down guitars and stomping beat were irresistible to radio programmers looking for something heavy but not chaotic.

This is where Metallica stopped being “metal outsiders” and became the band everyone could agree on. It’s dark, it’s massive, and it grooves like thunder. That balance of accessibility and aggression made it a rock-radio staple, from gym playlists to drive-time slots.

“72 Seasons” doesn’t chase trends. It’s classic Metallica with a modern finish, relentless rhythm, tight production and a hook sharp enough to cut glass. It proves the band still knows exactly how to make radio rock quake, even in an era ruled by algorithms in every way.

What makes it work? It’s familiar yet fresh. It gives longtime fans the riffs they crave and new listeners a reason to turn the volume up. That’s the same recipe that’s fueled every one of their radio hits for more than three decades.

Decades after “Enter Sandman” first crawled out of the speakers, Metallica remain the rare band that can headline festivals and top mainstream radio charts. Their sound evolved without losing its core, proof that heavy music doesn’t have to stay underground to stay real. They’re not scared to save an EDM music festival or go totally wacky and do something like LuLu.

They didn’t tone down the metal, they just made it sound better. And that’s why these five songs still dominate playlists, airwaves and hearts.

Because when Metallica goes mainstream, they don’t compromise, they conquer. Long live Metallica, and long live heavy metal music.

Metallica is one of the biggest metal bands in the world, and while they’re known for their melodic metal gems that get generations of listeners singing their songs, don’t forget that they started out as a die-hard, underground thrash metal band.

Before Metallica was a massive metal band that sold out stadiums and arenas around the world, they were just some regular guys with the dream of making music. The story of Metallica begins on Oct. 28, 1981, when drummer Lars Ulrich and guitar player and vocalist James Hetfield got together after finding each other through Ulrich’s L.A. Recycler newspaper ad. I know what you’re thinking. They found each other through a newspaper ad? That doesn’t sound very metal. But, remember, these were the days before the Internet and modern technology, so band members connected through newspaper ads and print media.

After first getting together, Ulrich and Hetfield brought on Ron McGovney to play bass and Dave Mustaine to play lead guitar decided on the metal-heavy moniker Metallica following a suggestion from Bay Area metal scene friend named Ron Quintana. From there, Metallica was born. And it was amazing.

“Their ascent was to be relatively quick, driven by sheer work-rate, effort, and a rare musical chemistry,” Metallica’s official website states of their first forming, adding that “after hitting the opener’s circuit in LA (where they supported the likes of Saxon), they recorded their first-ever demo, No Life ‘Til Leather. The tape-trading circuit went wild for it, and after repeatedly well-received shows in the Bay Area, Metallica found themselves relocating there after convincing bassist Cliff Burton to leave his band Trauma and replace McGovney.”

Here’s where we get to talk about Metallica’s thrash edge. Metallica started really turning heads with their thrash sound, and underground metalheads loved it. Albums such as Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets were among the best in thrash to come out of the early days of the genre. But, then, of course, Metallica released Enter Sandman in 1991, and it showed this very new side of the band. The track, of course, came off the band’s controversial Black Album, with that controversy simply being that they were much less thrash and underground and more commercial-sounding on this set.

“‘Enter Sandman’ remains one of their signature anthems, and even though it’s a ballad, it’s not acoustic. But, it marked that first foray into something softer, and “while their first full foray into something more balladic, ‘Nothing Else Matters,’ empathized with the heartstrings of millions,” Metallica says in a post on their official website. So, Metallica went “mainstream,” but it’s okay, because those who missed their thrash roots could go back to the earlier albums. So, let’s talk about Metallica songs from the 1980s that defined thrash metal, shall we?

Metallica’s earliest work, of course, is very thrash metal. Metallica’s debut Kill ’Em All was the very first thrash metal album, and “Whiplash” is the defining songs from that album. Heck, “Whiplash” really defined what thrash metal was supposed to be, and it’s hard to think about the genre without it. The song was super fast at 200 beats per minute. It packed fury, force and might.

“For Whom the Bell Tolls” (1984)

“For Whom the Bell Tolls” proves that thrash metal doesn’t have to be fast, even though it is often very fast. Most of the songs from Metallica’s early days were fast and furious, but “For Whom the Bell Tolls” slows things down a bit. It’s intense but not in-your-face wild. It shows pure metal power in the form of a power ballad.

“[Cliff Burton] used to carry around an acoustic classical guitar that he detuned so that he could bend the strings,” guitarist Kirk Hammett once said, according to Rolling Stone Australia. “When he would play that riff, I would think, ‘That’s such a weird, atonal riff that isn’t really heavy at all.’ I remember him playing it for James [Hetfield], and James adding that accent to it and all of a sudden, it changed.”

“Master of Puppets” (1986)

“Master of Puppets” is really the song that truly defines Metallica. The title track from the celebrated album is one of the all-time greatest heavy metal songs of all time, without question. There are only a few Metallica songs that are as popular and stand up to it. Perhaps “Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters” equal it, but “Master of Puppets” stands on its own.

All four members of the band’s classic line-up wrote this song: Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton and Hammett. It’s very complex and a difficult song to play. It’s still one of the band’s most celebrated anthems.

“Trying to obtain the unobtainable is not for the foolhardy, and it will drain you into a husk if you’re lucky,” Pitchfork says in their review of the album. That’s what Hetfield tried to warn you about on Puppets by yelling at you about chopped breakfasts on mirrors: control is a deathwish that keeps you alive.”

“. Not for them is the tra-la-la music of escapism; they never promote the notion that rock itself is some sort of method for salvation or transcendence. Rather, their fiery chomp-chomp-chomp provides the aural analogue to the terrors their lyrics define,” Rolling Stone added of the album.

“Battery” opens Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” with a song that, well, sounds like a hard-charging battery. It starts slowly and mysteriously but then launches into a wild assault of sound in the best possible way. This song is pure speed and fire, and that’s what makes it such a defining song of the thrash metal genre.

“‘Battery,’ is like a wake-up call, speed, speed, and more speed, but with dynamics,” Audio Ink notes in their album review. “‘Master of Puppets’ (the song) deals with control and manipulation (not just external but internal), and ‘Disposable Heroes’ takes the theme of war, sacrifice, and disillusionment to a personal level.”

Metallica played their very first concert on March 14, 1982, at Radio City in Anaheim, CA, and today, they’re showing now signs of slowing down. Long live Metallica. Reach out to me with your thoughts.