Listen to Weezer Cover Metallica’s ‘Enter Sandman’
Weezer have unveiled their cover of Metallica's 1991 classic "Enter Sandman."
The song arrives as the latest installment from the upcoming Metallica Blacklist covers album, due for release on Sept. 10. The LP will include a total of 53 artists performing their favorite Metallica songs. The campaign launched last month with Colombian singer Juanes' version of "Enter Sandman," as well as three different covers of "Sad but True" by Jason Isbell, St. Vincent and Sam Fender.
The connection may not be immediately clear, but Metallica's influence on Weezer has been there from the start. When frontman Rivers Cuomo sat down to write one of his first Weezer tracks in 1991, "Undone (The Sweater Song)," he found himself inadvertently taking a page out of Metallica's playbook.
“I just picked up that acoustic guitar, and the first thing I played was that riff," Cuomo told Rolling Stone in 2009. "And it just feels so classic to me, even now when the band starts to play it, it just takes over the energy in the room and you’re just transported into the world of Weezer. It wasn’t until years after I wrote it that I realized it’s almost a complete rip-off of ['Welcome Home (Sanitarium)'] by Metallica."
Metallica have also unveiled a previously unreleased live version of "Through the Never" recorded at a concert in Sacramento in 1992, just a year after the song's release on the Black Album. That track will be included on the upcoming Black Album reissue box set, along with multiple other live recordings, demos and more. The collection will also arrive on Sept. 10.
You can hear both new songs below.
Hear Weezer Cover Metallica's 'Enter Sandman'
Hear Metallica Perform 'Through the Never' Live in 1992