Master Of Puppets: Stranger Things Season 4

The fourth season of Stranger Things has officially ended, and y’all, ’twas a ride. An awesome, intense, ridiculous ride.

Still, the most ~badass~ use of music this season came in the very last episode, when fan-favorite Eddie Munson ventured into the Upside Down to help his friends create an epic distraction.

During a recent interview with Variety, the show’s music supervisor, Nora Felder, revealed that the Duffer Brothers had planned to use the song in the season as early as script pre-production.

“It was another one of those ‘it has to be this song,’ moments. This part of the story was anticipated to be a pivotal and especially hair-raising scene in which Eddie heroically stood tall for the fight of his life,” she said. “I believe the Duffer Brothers felt that playing ‘Master of Puppets’ throughout the extended scene was the clear choice.”

“No other song was discussed further, and we jumped in to clear it straight away. The track was a perfect match for Eddie since it not only amplified the episode’s most thrilling scene, but, in some ways, aligns with Eddie’s seemingly arrogant and edgy in-your-face public persona,” she said. “The Talisman-like qualities of Eddie’s guitar and punk metal music help him reconnect to his closely-guarded traits of love, care, and courage.”

As far as how they got the okay to use the song, well, it’s quite simple: Similar to Kate Bush, Metallica are long-time fans of the show!

“I got in touch with Metallica’s management office and carefully went over the scene and what the intent would be. I knew the clearance would be taken seriously as we had used one of their songs (‘The Four Horseman’) in Season 2 and had learned at that time that they were fans of the show,” she said. “‘Master of Puppets’ is a pretty significant song in their catalog, and I think it’s considered a favorite in their live shows. I wanted to be respectful in making sure that Metallica fully understood what context the song was being used in, plus how integral it was to the scene and for this exciting new character, Eddie Munson, who no one had met yet in previous seasons.”

Also, just in case you were skeptical, Felder confirmed that actor Joseph Quinn did, in fact, learn the entire riff and was actually playing along while they filmed!

“Yes, Joseph did take time to learn the guitar riff and was actually playing along to a guide track. Everyone thought he did a great job.”