Metallica has emerged from their extended hiatus with a hit album, Hardwired …to Self-Destruct — their first new album in eight years. The band has always been very candid and forthright about its direction and how to navigate the music business, and isn’t necessarily one to take the conventional path to success.
However, with a new album out, you have to get out there and promote it to the masses. They can’t buy it if they don’t know it exists, right? Following a Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon appearance where they played their classic Enter Sandman on children’s toys, the band once again took a left turn and ended up at Gelson’s market in Hollywood with Billy Eichner, who hosts a TV show called Billy On The Street.
Next stop, deli department. Band members Lars Ulrich, Robert Trujillo, James Hetfield, and Kirk Hammett entered the store hamming it up along with Eichner and came across a rather effusive store clerk who is without question a huge fan. In a move that will undoubtedly have him retelling this story for years to come, he had no problem screaming the signature Enter Sandman at an ear-splitting level.
Sandman’s iconic riffs have been heard in other unconventional venues as well. The tune was the longtime theme of ace Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who would stride to the Yankee Stadium pitching mound from the bullpen with the song wailing from the public address system. As a tribute to the retiring pitcher, the band performed the song live in the Yankee Stadium outfield as part of the team’s retirement ceremonies.
Give the band some credit — the artists are not taking themselves too seriously, which has been known to happen with heavy metal bands — and they found a unique way to get their message out, have some fun and plug their record, all the way to nevah-nevah land.
