This just in: The STW Daily News Round Up featuring all the news that’s (digitally) fit to print for Monday, July 4th, 2022. Happy Fourth of July! Was that Master of Puppets in Stranger Things?
Master of Puppets on Stranger Things: Master of Music
After introducing younger generations of Americans to 1980’s UK songstress Kate Bush via using her iconic chart-topper “Running Up That Hill” as a significant plot point throughout Season 4, the nostalgia wizards over at Stranger Things are back with another music lesson from 1980’s pop culture history.
In Part 2 of Season 4 which dropped on Friday, July 1st, the Duffer brothers once again put a 1980’s jam front and center of the plot, and again, they chose a song/artist that was popular in its time in certain circles, but off the beaten path of the mainstream.
The needle drop in question takes place early in the feature-length final episode “The Piggyback.” Without spoiling details, suffice to say that the Hawkins heroes have a plan to defeat Vecna–the Freddie Krueger of the Upside Down–before he can drag Max into his dream web forever, opening a mega gate that would turn Hawkins into a Hellscape.
To help carry out this plan, metalhead Eddie Munson (Joe Quinn) and his young protege Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) must distract Vecna’s protectors, an army of hell bats. Cue the music. Eddie grabs his guitar and amp and gives the bats of the Upside Down one hell of a show.
With Dustin headbanging beside him, Eddie rips into Metallica’s “Master of Puppets” from the top of his RV. The song choice is natural given Eddie’s metal bona fides. Eddie is loud and proud metalhead who serves as Dungeon Master for the The Hellfire Club, exemplifying how heavily intertwined the worlds of metal and fantasy were back in the actual ’80’s.
The relationship between fantasy and metal is one of the reasons that fans of metal music were targets of the Satanic Panic in real life and why the fictional Eddie finds himself under suspicion in the show.
In real life as in the show, small townsfolk tend not to respond well to things they don’t understand, and the esoteric world of D&D can be hard for even players to grasp. Thus Eddie becomes the scapegoat for much of the rage and blame in Hawkins.
Perhaps the association with “Satan” is why even the poppier metal acts like Metallica never went full mainstream back in the day. But now that time and common sense have proven just how innocuous D&D (and much of metal music) is, could Metallica be poised for the same Billboard Chart bump that Kate Bush received courtesy of Stranger Things?
Possibly. The “Master of Puppets” scene is irrefutably a rocking good time as confirmed by Dustin when he labels the performance “Most metal everrrrrr!” But perhaps not.
With the inclusion of Bush, an artist a bit more off the beaten path for Americans, new listeners likely felt they were discovering a brand new artist for the first time. This perception is aided by the fact that Bush’s work is both futuristic and timeless, both fresh and classic all at once.
Metallica on the other hand lacks the “could’ve been recorded yesterday” quality. That being said, Eddie’s performance rocked out not one but two dimensions, knocking more than one bat outta hell. It had a power that viewers of all ages are sure to respond to.
So anything truly is possible with the power of Stranger Things. But hearing Master of Puppets was great.
That’s Some Damn Good Casting
There’s a series based on the popular video game Fallout in the works over at Prime Video, and the project just added some major star wattage to brighten up the nuclear wasteland.
Variety reports that Twin Peaks and Portlandia star Kyle MacLachlan will be joining Walton Goggins (Justified, The Unicorn) and Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets, Sweetbitter) in the desolate world of Fallout as a series regular. The series will also star Xelia Mendes-Jones and Aaron Moten.
The first Fallout video game was released in 1997. The Fallout universe includes four titles in the main series, two spinoffs (New Vegas and 76), and a small collection of side-shoots. The game is known for its dangerous missions in a future post-apocalyptic nuclear wasteland accompanied by stunning visuals that provide a one-of-a-kind aesthetic that combines 1940’s kitsch with wild atompunk mayhem.
Production on the Fallout series is expected to begin later this year, but not much is known about the precise plot of the series or what characters these actors might portray.
For those looking to catch MacLachlan streaming right now, there’s always old Portlandia episodes on Netflix as well as Joe vs. Carol where MacLachlan shows up as Carole Baskin’s husband, streaming now on Peacock. And of course, the actor can be seen drinking some damn fine coffee on Twin Peaks streaming on Showtime and Paramount+.