"Enter Sandman" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica, appearing as both the opening track and the lead single from their eponymous 1991 album Metallica. The song was produced by Bob Rock, and the music was written by Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich, and James Hetfield. Hetfield also wrote the lyrics, which deal with nightmares.

The song achieved gold status for more than 500,000 copies shipped in the US, in part due to the fact that the album in which it is featured sold over 15 million copies and helped propel Metallica to worldwide popularity. Acclaimed by critics, the song is featured in all of Metallica's live albums and DVDs released after 1991 and has been played live at award ceremonies and benefit concerts.

Writing and recording

"Enter Sandman" was the first song Metallica wrote for their 1991 self-titled album, Metallica.^[1] Metallica's songwriting method involved lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Jason Newsted submitting tapes of song ideas and concepts to rhythm guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, who then utilized the material in conjunction with their own ideas to write songs in Ulrich's house in Berkeley, California.^[1] "Enter Sandman" evolved from a guitar riff that Hammett wrote.^[1] Originally, the riff was just two bars in length, but Ulrich suggested that the first bar should be played three times.^[1] The song was quickly finished,^[2] but Hetfield did not come up with vocal melodies and lyrics for a long time. The song, in fact, was among the album's last to have lyrics,^[1] and the lyrics featured in the song are not the original; Hetfield felt that "Enter Sandman" sounded "catchy and kind of commercial" and so to contradict the sound, he wrote lyrics about "destroy[ing] the perfect family; a huge horrible secret in a family" that included references to crib death.^[3][4] For the first time in Metallica's history, however, Ulrich and producer Bob Rock told Hetfield that they felt he could write better lyrics.^[3] Nevertheless, according to Ulrich, the song was the "foundation, the guide to the whole record" even before it had lyrics.^[1] Template:Sound sample box align left

"Enter Sandman"'s original main riff

Sample of "Enter Sandman"'s main riff as it was originally written by Kirk Hammett and before Lars Ulrich suggested to repeat the first part. This sample was taken from the DVD documentary, Classic Albums: Metallica - The Black Album.

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Template:Sample box end An instrumental demo was recorded on September 13, 1990.^[5] The album Metallica was mostly recorded in Los Angeles between October 1990 and June 1991, although Ulrich, Hetfield, and Rock also recorded for a week in Vancouver, Canada between April and May 1991. As the first to be produced by Bob Rock, it was recorded differently than previous Metallica albums; Rock suggested that the band members record in the studio while playing together, rather than separately.^[6] "Enter Sandman" had what Hetfield described as a "wall of guitars"—three equal-rhythm guitar tracks played by Hetfield himself to create a "wall of sound".^[2] According to engineer Randy Staub, close to 50 takes of the drums were recorded because Ulrich did not record the song in its entirety, but rather recorded each section of the song separately.^[7] Because it was difficult to get in one take the "intensity" that the band wanted, numerous takes were selected and edited together.^[6] The producing team spent a lot of time in getting the best sound from each part of the room and used several combinations of 40 to 50 microphones in recording the drums and guitars to simulate the sound of a live concert.^[7] The bass guitar sound also gained importance with Rock; as Newsted states, Metallica's sound was previously "very guitar-oriented" and that "when he [Rock] came into the picture, bass frequencies also came into the picture."^[8] As the first single, "Enter Sandman" was also the first song to be mixed,^[6] a task that took roughly ten days because the band and Bob Rock had to create the sound for the entire album while mixing the song.^[6]

Music and lyrics

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"Enter Sandman"

Sample of "Enter Sandman" from Metallica's 1991 album Metallica. In this sample, the main riff of the song can be heard in the beginning followed by the verse and the pre-chorus. The whole song evolved from the main riff, written by guitarist Kirk Hammett.

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Template:Sample box end The simpler songs in the album Metallica,^[1] including "Enter Sandman", are a departure from the band's previous, more musically complex album ...And Justice for All.^[9][10] Lars Ulrich described "Enter Sandman" as a "one-riff song", in which all of its sections derive from the main riff that Kirk Hammett wrote.^[1]

"Enter Sandman" moves at 128 beats per minute and, at five minutes 32 seconds, runs slightly above the average song length of the album.^[11] It begins with a clean guitar intro similar to the main riff; tom-tom drums are then introduced heavily, followed by an e minor chord on a guitar using the wah-wah pedal. Distortion guitars then build up to the main riff, which starts 56 seconds into the song and utilizes variations of the E/B♭ tritone.^[12] The song then follows a common structure, playing two iterations of a verse, a pre-chorus, and a chorus. On the chorus and pre-chorus, the song modulates one whole tone, up to F#,^[13] and after the second chorus, Hammett plays a guitar solo with the main, pre-chorus, and chorus riffs in the background. Hammett makes use of the wah-wah pedal and a wide range of scales, including e minor pentatonic, b minor, f# minor, e minor, and the E dorian mode.^[13] After the solo, the breakdown starts, in which the clean guitar intro and the drums are heard together with an adult teaching a child the Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep bedtime prayer. After building again to a chorus, the song starts to fade out while the band plays the same riffs of the buildup intro in reverse.^[11]

Lyrically, the song is about "nightmares and all that come with them", according to Chris True of All Music Guide.^[10] He specifically praises the song's breakdown, which "brilliantly utilizes that 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep' bedtime prayer in such a way as to add to the scary movie aspect of the song."^[10] Tim Grierson of Blender magazine says that the lyrics "juxtapose childhood bedtime rituals and nightmarish imagery" and that the song has a "thick bottom end and propulsive riff".^[4] P. J. Howorth, in The Wah Wah book, criticized the main riff as "sinister",^[13] and Andrew Blackie of PopMatters, while reviewing The Videos 1989-2004, criticized the song's "sludgy riffs and James Hetfield’s twisted lullaby lyric".^[14] Robert Palmer of Rolling Stone describes the song as "possibly the first metal lullaby".^[15] The title is a reference to the sandman, a folklore character that makes children sleep.^[16]

Release and reception

Initially, "Holier Than Thou" was slated to be the opening track and first single from Metallica.^[1] In the documentary A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica, Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield are seen discussing the issue with Bob Rock who says that the album has "five or six songs that are going to be classics", not only with the fans but in the radio and that "the first song that should come out is 'Holier Than Thou'".^[17] According to Rock, Ulrich was the only band member that felt, even before recording, that "Enter Sandman" was the ideal song to be the first single.^[6] Ulrich has said that there was a "big argument" in which he explained his point of view to the rest of the band.^[1] "Enter Sandman" eventually became the opening track and first single of the album.

The single was released on 2 August 1991,^[18] 11 days before the release of Metallica.^[19] The album was a commercial success that debuted at #1 on US charts,^[19] and sold over 15 million copies worldwide,^[20] leading to "Enter Sandman" becoming "one of the most recognizable songs of all time (…) worldwide", according to All Music Guide reviewer Chris True.^[10] The single peaked at #16 on the US Hot 100 chart and at #5 on the UK Singles Chart. On 30 September 1991, it became Metallica's second single to achieve Gold status in the United States, for the shipment of more than 500,000 copies.^[21] Apart from the nominations the album in its entirety received, the song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1992 in the Best Rock Song category, but lost to Sting's "The Soul Cages".^[22][23]

"Enter Sandman" was acclaimed by critics: Chris True from All Music Guide declares it "one of Metallica’s best moments" and a "burst of stadium level metal that, once away from the buildup intro, never lets up". According to him, the song's breakdown "brilliantly utilizes that 'Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep' bedtime prayer in such a way as to add to the scary movie aspect of the song".^[10] In the All Music Guide review of Metallica, Steve Huey described it as one of the best songs, with "crushing, stripped-down grooves".^[24] For Rolling Stone magazine writer Robert Palmer, it "tell[s] the tale" of the album's "detail and dynamic, (…) song structures and impact of individual tracks" and it is "possibly the first metal lullaby".^[15] For Sid Smith from BBC, the ("psycho-dramatic") song's "terse motifs served notice that things were changing" with Metallica's new album.^[25] Blender's Tim Grierson says that the lyrics "juxtapose childhood bedtime rituals and nightmarish imagery" and that the song has a "thick bottom end and propulsive riff".^[4]

"Enter Sandman" has received many accolades. Rolling Stone magazine listed the song in the 399th place on their 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list and VH1 placed it at 22nd in their list of the "40 Greatest Metal Songs" and at 88th in their list of the "The 100 Greatest Songs from the Past 25 Years", which was released in 2003.^[26][27][28] Blender magazine included the song in their "The Greatest Songs Ever!" series of articles and placed it at 65th place in their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".^[4][29] Q magazine listed it at 81st in their list of "The 100 Songs That Changed The World" and at 55th in their list of "The 1001 Best Songs Ever".^[30][28] The song's riff was elected by Total Guitar magazine readers as the fifth greatest ever.^[31] Kerrang! has it in 4th in their list of the "100 Greatest Singles of All Time" and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame includes it in the list of the "500 Songs That Shaped Rock".^[28]

Music video

"Enter Sandman" was the first music video from the self-titled album, and only the second ever, to be released by Metallica. It was also the first of six Metallica music videos directed by Wayne Isham.^[32] Recorded on July 3, 1991 in Los Angeles, it premiered on July 30, 1991, two weeks before the release of the album.^[19] The plot of the music video directly relates to the theme of the song, combining images of a child having nightmares and images of an old man with shots of the band playing the song.^[14] The child dreams that he is drowning, falling from the top of a building, being chased by a truck, and finally falling from a mountain while escaping the truck. During the part of the song in which the child recites a prayer, he is being watched by the old man. The music video won Best Hard Rock Video at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Editing.^[22] Andrew Blackie of PopMatters has said the video's "narrative suits the sludgy riffs and James Hetfield’s twisted lullaby lyric".^[14]

Appearances and covers

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"Enter Sandman" (played by Apocalyptica)

Sample of "Enter Sandman" from Apocalyptica's 1996 debut album Plays Metallica by Four Cellos. At that time, Apocalyptica consisted of four cellists. All the songs on the album are instrumental covers of Metallica songs arranged and played on cellos.^[33]

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Template:Sample box end "Enter Sandman" has been played in almost every Metallica live performance since its release. The band released live versions of the song in the videos Live Shit: Binge & Purge, Cunning Stunts, and S&M where the band played with the San Francisco Symphony led by maestro Michael Kamen. The song is discussed in the videos A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica and Classic Albums: Metallica - The Black Album, and its video is available in The Videos 1989-2004. Metallica has played the song live at awards ceremonies and benefit concerts, such as the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards,^[34] the 1992 Grammy Awards,^[22] the The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert,^[35] and Live Earth.^[36] Following its UK terrestrial broadcast of Live Earth, the BBC received 413 complaints and apologized to Metallica fans for cutting the band's set before "Enter Sandman".^[37][38]

On tours after the release of their album Load, Metallica staged accidents at indoor shows while playing the song. Among other stunts, a light tower would come crushing down with electrical wires sparking, and a crew member would run onto the stage on fire;^[39][40] such scenes can be seen in the live video Cunning Stunts.

"Enter Sandman" has been covered by many artists, including Motörhead, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Richard Cheese, Pat Boone, and Apocalyptica.^[41] Motörhead's cover of the song was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 42nd Grammy Awards in 2000 but lost to Black Sabbath's "Iron Man".^[42] The song has been used as entrance music in sports, including baseball, college football, and wrestling, and it is specifically the entrance music for New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, New York Mets closer Billy Wagner, the Virginia Tech Hokies football team, and pro wrestler The Sandman.^[43][44][45] It is also a playable song in the video game Rock Band.^[46]

The song made headlines during the 2003 invasion of Iraq after it became known that uncooperative prisoners were exposed to the song for extended periods by American interrogators. According to United States Psychological Operations, the intention was to "break a prisoner's resistance [... by] playing music that was culturally offensive to them".^[47]

Credits and personnel

• James Hetfield: rhythm guitar, vocals
• Kirk Hammett: lead guitar
• Jason Newsted: bass guitar
• Lars Ulrich: drums
• Bob Rock: producer
• Randy Staub: audio engineer

Formats and track listing

US single

1. "Enter Sandman" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)
2. "Stone Cold Crazy" (Mercury, May, Taylor, Deacon)

UK 12" single

1. "Enter Sandman" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)
2. "Stone Cold Crazy" (Mercury, May, Taylor, Deacon)
3. "Holier Than Thou" (Work in Progress) (Hetfield, Ulrich)
4. "Enter Sandman" (Demo) (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)

UK single

1. "Enter Sandman" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)
2. "Stone Cold Crazy" (Mercury, May, Taylor, Deacon)
3. "Enter Sandman" (Demo) (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)

Chart positions

Notes and references

External links

• Metallica official website
• Information on Metallica (album) and lyrics from Metallica's official website