Enter Sandman

"Enter Sandman"
Enter Sandman Single
Single by Metallica
From the album Metallica
Album released	August 1991
Genre	Heavy Metal
Song Length	5:29
Record label	Elektra Records
Producer	Bob Rock, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich
Track Number	Track 1

"Enter Sandman" is a song performed by the heavy metal band Metallica on their self-titled 1991 album (also known as The Black Album). The song is the band's most well-known track, with its single riff chorus that expands throughout the song, and the grim tale of a young child who fears falling asleep to avoid the nightmares to come. In the song's bridge, both vocalist James Hetfield and a young child recite the classic children's prayer, "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep."

The song is considered an anthem to fans of the heavy metal genre. The song has been covered by artists diverse as Motörhead and Pat Boone. It is also a popular crowd-inciting theme for sporting events - professional wrestler Jim Fullington went so far as to call his antihero character in Extreme Championship Wrestling The Sandman. The song was so popular in ECW that during his entrance, the fans would often sing along with the music as he walked to the ring. New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera also uses it as his entrance music when he comes into a game, as does New York Mets closer Billy Wagner, implying that the closer will put the opposing team to "sleep". The Cleveland Cavaliers also use the song for pre-game player introductions, and the Virginia Tech Hokies use it at their home football games. The Virginia Cavaliers use the same entrance as the Hokies. The NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs and the AHL's Toronto Marlies also use the main riff as intro music.

The song underwent many changes before it made it onto the album - namely, the lyrical content was changed from crib death to something more commercially marketable (like nightmares), the structure of the riff was changed, and the solo was altered from a more traditional fast heavy metal solo to something shorter and simpler. Moreover the band and producer Bob Rock initially wanted "Holier Than Thou" to be the first single off the album. Drummer Lars Ulrich worked to make "Enter Sandman" the first single though, believing it would market better than the more traditional-heavy metal sounding "Holier Than Thou" (all information found on the Classic Albums: The Black Album DVD).

Enter Sandman is placed 399 in Rolling Stone Magazine's List of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is Metallica's only song on that list. VH1 ranked it as the 22nd greatest metal song of all time.

The song has become a live staple at Metallica's live performances, and was played with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Michael Kamen) on the S&M album as the first encore.

Johnny Crass parodied the song as "Internet Sandman", referring to the whole Napster debacle. This parody is also known as "Enter Napster" or "Metallica vs Napster" in P2P circuits.

The main riff of Enter Sandman is largely similar to a song called "Get Stoned" by a Finnish metal band Stone. The song was released in 1988 and Stone's album containing this song was given to Metallica when they visited Finland. There is thus some speculation that the riff is not original to Metallica. Also, in 2003, ex-members of now-defunct Californian metal band Excel considered legal action against Metallica over Enter Sandman, which they claim borrows heavily from the Excel's song "Tapping Into The Emotional Void", originally included on "The Joke's On You" LP, released in 1989, two years before the release of Metallica's Black Album.

External links

• Enter Sandman Riff Video showing how to play Enter Sandman Riff.

List of Artists who have Covered this song

• Gob (As part of Mr. Sandman)
• Motorhead
• Pat Boone
• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
• Rob Zombie (live)
• Sum 41 (As seen on MTV Icon: Metallica)