"Enter Sandman"
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 one of the band's most well-known tracks, 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." Metallica is an American heavy metal band, formed in October 1981. ... Metallica was the band Metallicas fifth album, released August 13, 1991 through Elektra Records. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Musical genres are categories which contain music which share a certain style or which have certain elements in common. ... Heavy metals, in chemistry, are chemical elements of a particular range of atomic weights. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, and today operates under Atlantic Records Group. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the performers, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Bob Rock press photo Robert Jens Rock (born 19 April 1954 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer. ... James Alan Hetfield is the main songwriter, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and a founding member of the band Metallica. ... Lars Ulrich (born December 26, 1963) is the drummer and founder of Metallica. ... Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1967 and 1974, mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the... Metallica is an American heavy metal band, formed in October 1981. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Metallica was the band Metallicas fifth album, released August 13, 1991 through Elektra Records. ... James Alan Hetfield is the main songwriter, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and a founding member of the band Metallica. ... Maria Magdalene in prayer. ... Now I lay me down to sleep is a classic childrens prayer from the 18th century. ...

The song has been covered by artists diverse as Motörhead and Pat Boone. ^[1][2] 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 Indians 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. Motörhead is a British heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy Kilmister (real name Ian Kilmister) after his ejection from space-rock icons Hawkwind. ... Pat Boone Charles Eugene Patrick Boone (known as Pat Boone) (born June 1, 1934) is a singer whose smooth style made him a popular performer of the 1950s. ... ... James (Jim) Fullington (born June 16, 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), better known as The Sandman, is an American professional wrestler, best known for his career with Extreme Championship Wrestling, where he was dubbed The Hardcore Icon. ... Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) was a ground-breaking and influential professional wrestling promotion that was founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1992 by Tod Gordon, and closed when his successor, Paul Heyman, declared bankruptcy in April 2001. ... Major league affiliations American League (1901-present) East Division (1969-present) Current uniform Ballpark Yankee Stadium (1923-present) Major league titles World Series titles (26) 2000 â€¢ 1999 â€¢ 1998 â€¢ 1996 1978 â€¢ 1977 â€¢ 1962 â€¢ 1961 1958 â€¢ 1956 â€¢ 1953 â€¢ 1952 1951 â€¢ 1950 â€¢ 1949 â€¢ 1947 1943 â€¢ 1941 â€¢ 1939 â€¢ 1938 1937 â€¢ 1936 â€¢ 1932 â€¢ 1928 1927... In baseball, a closer is a relief pitcher who specializes in closing games, i. ... Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969 in Panama City, Panama), nicknamed Mo (and less frequently, Sandman), is a relief pitcher for Major League Baseballs New York Yankees. ... In baseball, some players choose to have their appearance in a game be punctuated by a musical selection. ... Major league affiliations National League (1962-present) East Division (1969-present) Current uniform Ballpark Shea Stadium (1964-present) Major league titles World Series titles (2) 1986 â€¢ 1969 NL Pennants (4) 2000 â€¢ 1986 â€¢ 1973 â€¢ 1969 East Division titles (4) 1988 â€¢ 1986 â€¢ 1973 â€¢ 1969 Wild card berths (2) 2000 â€¢ 1999 The New... William Edward (Billy) Wagner (born July 25, 1971 in Tannersville, Virginia) is an American Major League Baseball relief pitcher for the New York Mets. ... Major league affiliations American League (1901-present) Central Division (1994-present) East Division (1969-1993) Major league titles World Series titles (2) 1948 â€¢ 1920 AL Pennants (5) 1997 â€¢ 1995 â€¢ 1954 â€¢ 1948 1920 Central Division titles (6) [1] 2001 â€¢ 1999 â€¢ 1998 â€¢ 1997 1996 â€¢ 1995 Wild card berths (0) None [1] - In... Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (also referred to as VPI&SU or more commonly Virginia Tech) is a research university in Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, in the New River Valley of southwestern Virginia near the Appalachian Mountains. ... Students support their Virginia Cavaliers at a Virginia basketball game in University Hall, January 2006. ... NHL can also be an abbreviation for National Historic Landmark or Non-Hodgkins lymphoma. ... The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ... AHL might be an acronym or abbreviation for: American Hockey League acylated homoserine lactones This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Toronto Marlies are an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. ...

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). Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), also known as cot death and crib death, is the term for the sudden and unexplained death of an apparently healthy infant aged one month to one year. ... This page is about a type of dream. ... In music, a riff is an ostinato figure: a repeated chord progression, pattern or melodic figure, often played by the rhythm section instruments, that forms the basis or accompaniment of a rock music or jazz composition. ... In music, solo means to play or sing alone. ... Bob Rock press photo Robert Jens Rock (born 19 April 1954 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) is a Canadian musician, sound engineer, and record producer. ... Lars Ulrich (born December 26, 1963) is the drummer and founder of Metallica. ...

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 ^[3]. In 2004, Rolling Stone listed the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time as polled by musicians, critics, and industry figures. ... VH1 (spelled VH-1 (Video Hits One) until 1994) is an American cable television channel that was created in January 1985 by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (at the time a division of Warner Communications and owners of MTV, which originally came up with the idea of the channel). ... This is the complete list of VH1s 40 Greatest Metal Songs shown on VH1 from May 1-4: 40. ...

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. The San Francisco Symphony is a major orchestra based in San Francisco, California. ... Michael Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, song writer, and session musician. ... The encore is an additional extra performance of a musical piece at the end of the regular concert, which is not listed in the event setlist. ...

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. Johnny Crass is a song parodist best known for the songs Internet Sandman and Bomb Osama. ... Second version (revised 2001) of Napster logo: Cat wearing headphones. ... A peer-to-peer (or P2P) computer network is a network that relies on the computing power and bandwidth of the participants in the network rather than concentrating it in a relatively few servers. ...

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. Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that emerged as a defined musical style in the 1970s, having its roots in hard rock bands which, between 1967 and 1974, mixed blues and rock to create a hybrid with a thick, heavy, guitar-and-drums-centered sound, characterised by the... Stone were a heavy metal band who formed in Helsinki, Finland in the mid-80s. ... Excel was a thrash metal from Venice, California. ...

Notes

September 10 is the 253rd day of the year (254th in leap years). ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Covers

Artists who have covered this song:

• Beatallica (Mixed with The Beatles' Taxman to make Sandman)
• Gob (As part of Mr. Sandman)
• Motörhead
• Pat Boone
• Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine
• Rob Zombie (live)
• Sum 41 (As seen on MTV Icon: Metallica)
• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones on the Where'd You Go? EP (This is the Ska version of the song)
• Apocalyptica
• Weird Al Yankovic parodied under the name Internet Sandman.

The logo of Beatallica. ... The Beatles (1958-1970) were an English music group from Liverpool who were the most critically acclaimed, commercially successful artists of their time[1][2]. They continue to be held in the highest esteem for their artistic achievements, their huge commercial success, their groundbreaking role in the history of popular... The word taxman is used to personify tax collection agencies such as the Inland Revenue in the United Kingdom or the Internal Revenue Service in the United States. ... Beatallica, is the second E.P. from Beatallica. ... Gob are a punk rock band formed in Vancouver in 1996. ... Mr. ... Motörhead is a British heavy metal band formed in 1975 by bassist, singer and songwriter Lemmy Kilmister (real name Ian Kilmister) after his ejection from space-rock icons Hawkwind. ... Pat Boone Charles Eugene Patrick Boone (known as Pat Boone) (born June 1, 1934) is a singer whose smooth style made him a popular performer of the 1950s. ... Richard Cheese and Lounge against the Machine Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine are a cover band and comedy act based in Los Angeles, California. ... Rob Zombie Rob Zombie (born Robert Bartleh Cummings on January 12, 1965[1] in Haverhill, Massachusetts) is a Heavy metal and Industrial Rock musician, a director, and a writer. ... Sum 41 is a Canadian power trio from Ajax, Ontario. ... The Mighty Mighty Bosstones were a ska-core band from Boston, Massachusetts, formed in the mid 1980s. ... Whered You Go? is an EP by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones. ... Ska is a form of Jamaican music combining elements of traditional mento and calypso with an American jazz and rhythm and blues sound. ... Apocalyptica is a Finnish band consisting of three (formerly four) classically trained cellists and (since 2003) a drummer. ... Alfred Matthew Weird Al Yankovic (born October 23, 1959) is an American musician, parodist and accordion player. ...

See also

• List of songs about sleep