After the first part of its fourth season brought Kate Bush back into the pop culture limelight for her track “Running Up That Hill,’ Stranger Things got a bit heavier with its musical influences in its monster-sized finale. One of the most memorable sequences from the episode (or the whole season, really) involved Joseph Quinn’s insta-fave Eddie Munson drawing a bunch of demo-bats his way with an epic rooftop solo performance of the Metallica classic “Master of Puppets.” Now, the Grammy-winning rockers have responded to the Netflix hit honoring their riff-heavy track, even as some fans are questioning the legitimacy of Eddie’s know-how.
Following the release of Stranger Things’ final two Season 4 episodes, the Internet has been awash with fans’ takes on everything that went down, with Eddie’s big finale sacrifice front and center in a lot of those opinions. But while many are bemoaning his loss after only getting one season to entertain the show’s fans, Metallica celebrated the show using “Master of Puppets” to drive that scene home, sharing this on Instagram:
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 clear that hard rock’s most successful quartet found a lot to enjoy in the scene, considering that whole realm-crossing sequence was as stressful and pulse-pounding as Stranger Things gets. Not just because of Eddie, but also because of Max’s mental battle with Vecna and the return of her douchebag step-brother Billy. Having said that, I bet Billy would have even been impressed by Eddie.
Metallica’s post continued, and once again gave props to the show itself, as well as the rest of the musical offerings that Stranger Things has delivered in its four seasons so far.
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.
As awesome as Eddie’s scene was, though, it’s technically one of the season’s most baffling scenes by way of practical logic. And I’m not even talking about the Upside Down or Vecna or monster creatures, but rather Eddie’s musical abilities. Consider this: Metallica’s Master of Puppets album was released on March 3, 1986, while the main narrative of Season 4 kicks off on March 21, and only spans a little over a week or so.
And so, realistically speaking, Eddie would have needed to learn the entirety of “Master of Puppets,” so included, solely by ear, since there wasn’t any clear way of him attaining tabs or sheet music at that point. And don’t forget that Eddie was technically on the run for most of Season 4 following Chrissy’s murder, at which point he definitely wasn’t busying himself with song-learning, since jamming out so hard would have obviously drawn the attention of Hawkins’ witch-hunters.
So I guess we can honor Eddie not only for his selfless act, but for being a fucking guitar warlock. Sure, El’s powers are cool and all, but can she shred? Doubt it.
Metallica wasn’t the only hard rock band who gave Stranger Things a shout-out for the on-screen recognition. Check out how Iron Maiden responded to Eddie’s praise:
We're with you, Eddie!#IronMaiden #StrangerThings pic.twitter.com/5FCy5A2I4pJuly 5, 2022
Am I already afraid that Stranger Things and/or its potential spinoff(s) will go into the ‘90s and bring similar amounts of decades-later attention to acts and artists that probably aren’t worth the memories? You better believe it. But until then, the clearest route to take in Season 5 is to have Metallica’s “One” serve as Vecna’s central theme. Nothing else makes sense.
Stranger Things is available to stream for anyone with a Netflix subscription, as we now wait for Season 5 to come around. While anticipating updates, be sure to check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows are on the way.
