The Story Behind: "Enter Sandman"
Today we are going to take a look at the story behind one of Metallica's biggest hits – Enter Sandman. It was released as the first single off of their fifth self titled album, Metallica in 1991.
Where did the title/lyrics come from?
The song was one of the first songs to have been completed instrumentally, yet was one of the last ones to have been finished together with lyrics. The song is about a mythical character that puts people to sleep and brings good dreams by sprinkling magical sand onto the eyes of people while they sleep at night.
Hetfield thought that the title »Enter Sandman« sounded way to catchy, and didn't know what to write about. He tried to counter the catchy title with lyrics that were about "destroy[ing] the perfect family; a huge horrible secret in a family" and had refrences to crib death. Later Ulrich and producer Bob Rock told Hetfield that they thought that he could write lyrics that are better than that. Even though the lyrics were changed completely one time, the song was a foundation for the rest of the record.
Song Writting
The main riff of the song was written by guitarist Kirk Hammett, whom tried to replicate the attitude towards heavy riffs that are in Soungarden's song Louder Than Love. The guitarist was up at two o'clock in the morning recording the riff he had come up with. He brought it to the band practice and showed it to drummer Lars Ulrich, which told the guitarist to play the first part of the riff 4 times, to make it even more hooky. Later the band recorded all of their instrumental parts, and finished it with vocals and the interlude in the song which is Bob Rock's (the producer) son reciting a children's bedtime prayer »Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep«.
The Music Video
Enter Sandman music video was only the second music video from Metallica. It was recorded on July 3, 1991 in LA, and premiered on July 30, 1991. The music video is a direct connection to the songs lyrics. It portrays a child having nightmares of an old man (Sandman), where he is drowning falling of a building, being chased by a truck and being covered in snakes. When the child recites the famous prayer, he is being closely watched by the Sandman. The video won the Best Hard Rock Video award at the MTV Video Music Awards 1992 and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Editing.