Listen: Colombia’s Juanes Covers Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”
Yesterday, I expressed concern that with Metallica having just announced their big 30th anniversary plans for The Black Album, that we’d have to hear about that record every day for the next 3 – 4 months.
It’s hard being right all the time, but, hey, that’s the sacrifice I make for you.
So: today sees the debut of an “Enter Sandman” cover by the Colombian singer/songwriter Juanes. Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that Juanes hasn’t made the track his own, turning the hard rock anthem into a sort of semi-retro indie rock/electro dance number. If we’re gonna listen to an endless parade of versions of songs we’ve all heard a bajillion times already, they should, at the very least, all have much personality as this.
You can listen below.
Juanes’ cover of “Enter Sandman” will appear on The Metallica Blacklist, the upcoming album that “celebrates the enduring influence of Metallica with an unprecedented 50+ artists spanning an unbelievably vast range of genres, generations, cultures, continents and more, each contributing a unique interpretation of their favorite Black Album cut.” Notable metal-oriented participants include Ghost (also “Enter Sandman”), Corey Taylor (“Holier Than Thou”), Volbeat (“Don’t Tread on Me”), and The Hu (“Through the Never”). The set will also include a cover of “Sad But True” by celebrity metalhead St. Vincent and Weezer doing — once more — “Enter Sandman.”
A long-fabled Miley Cyrus/Elton John /Yo-Yo Ma/Chad Smith take on “Nothing Else Matters,” which includes Robert Trujillo on bass, was released earlier this week.
The Metallica Blacklist comes out October 1. Pre-order it here. The tracklist, as typed out by your grandmother, is as follows:
- ALESSIA CARA & THE WARNING / ENTER SANDMAN
- MAC DEMARCO / ENTER SANDMAN
- GHOST / ENTER SANDMAN
- JUANES / ENTER SANDMAN
- RINA SAWAYAMA / ENTER SANDMAN
- WEEZER / ENTER SANDMAN
- SAM FENDER / SAD BUT TRUE (LIVE)
- JASON ISBELL AND THE 400 UNIT / SAD BUT TRUE
- MEXICAN INSTITUTE OF SOUND FEAT. LA PERLA & GERA MX / SAD BUT TRUE
- ROYAL BLOOD / SAD BUT TRUE
- ST. VINCENT / SAD BUT TRUE
- WHITE REAPER / SAD BUT TRUE
- YB / SAD BUT TRUE
- BIFFY CLYRO / HOLIER THAN THOU
- THE CHATS / HOLIER THAN THOU
- OFF! / HOLIER THAN THOU
- PUP / HOLIER THAN THOU
- COREY TAYLOR / HOLIER THAN THOU
- CAGE THE ELEPHANT / THE UNFORGIVEN
- VISHAL DADLANI, DIVINE, SHOR POLICE / THE UNFORGIVEN
- DIET CIG / THE UNFORGIVEN
- FLATBUSH ZOMBIES FEAT. DJ SCRATCH / THE UNFORGIVEN
- HA*ASH / THE UNFORGIVEN
- JOSÉ MADERO / THE UNFORGIVEN
- MOSES SUMNEY / THE UNFORGIVEN
- J BALVIN / WHEREVER I MAY ROAM
- CHASE & STATUS FEAT. BACKROAD GEE / WHEREVER I MAY ROAM
- THE NEPTUNES / WHEREVER I MAY ROAM
- JON PARDI / WHEREVER I MAY ROAM
- SEBASTIAN / DON’T TREAD ON ELSE MATTERS
- PORTUGAL. THE MAN FEAT. AARON BEAM / DON’T TREAD ON ME
- VOLBEAT / DON’T TREAD ON ME
- THE HU / THROUGH THE NEVER
- TOMI OWÓ / THROUGH THE NEVER
- PHOEBE BRIDGERS / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- MILEY CYRUS FEAT. WATT, ELTON JOHN, YO-YO MA, ROBERT TRUJILLO, CHAD SMITH / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- DAVE GAHAN / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- MICKEY GUYTON / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- DERMOT KENNEDY / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- MON LAFERTE / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- IGOR LEVIT / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- MY MORNING JACKET / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- PG ROXETTE / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- DARIUS RUCKER / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- CHRIS STAPLETON / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- TRESOR / NOTHING ELSE MATTERS
- GOODNIGHT, TEXAS / OF WOLF AND MAN
- IDLES / THE GOD THAT FAILED
- IMELDA MAY / THE GOD THAT FAILED
- CHERRY GLAZERR / MY FRIEND OF MISERY
- IZÏA / MY FRIEND OF MISERY
- KAMASI WASHINGTON / MY FRIEND OF MISERY
- RODRIGO Y GABRIELA / THE STRUGGLE WITHIN
In addition to The Metallica Blacklist, Metallica will release a super-duper-extra-special deluxe reissue of The Black Album proper on September 10. It comes with 76 CDs, 184 vinyls, 34 DVDs, 15 cassette tapes, a baker’s dozen VHS tapes, lithographs, photographs, pictographs, infographs, guitar picks, tour laminates, a sample of James Hetfield’s pubic hairs as sweat off the dressing room floor of the Pontiac Silverdome in July of 1992, the results of Lars Ulrich’s most recent colonoscopy, a collection of Kirk Hammett’s favorite Arthur Rimbaud poems, a personalized belch from Jason Newsted, a rock signed by Bob Rock, and some other shit I may or may not have made up. That drops September 10. Pre-order it here.
A 1990 demo of — yup! — “Enter Sandman” from the set premiered yesterday.
And in case that wasn’t enough The Black Album blackness for you, the band will also release a new book of photos by Ross Halfin, The Black Album in Black and White, on October 19. That can be pre-ordered here.
Metallica will headline several American festivals this year, and several European festivals next year. Here are all the dates they have lined up thus far:
9/24/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
9/26/21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life at Highland Festival Grounds at KY Expo Center [tickets]
10/8/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
10/10/21 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock at Discovery Park [tickets]
11/12/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
11/14/21 – Daytona Beach, FL – Welcome to Rockville at the Daytona International Speedway [tickets]
6/15/22 – Copenhell – Copenhagen, Denmark [tickets]
6/17/22 – Firenze Rocks – Florence, Italy [tickets]
6/19/22 – Prague Rocks – Prague, Czech Republic [tickets]
6/22/22 – Rock Werchter – Werchter, Belgium [tickets]
7/1/22 – Mad Cool – Madrid, Spain [tickets]
7/6/22 – NOS Alive – Lisbon, Portugal [tickets]