“Two peas in a pod”: The two-way street of inspiration between Stephen King and Metallica
The fact that Stephen King is a big metal fan isn’t all that surprising, especially considering that he’s the curator of some of the most hardcore stories and worlds you’ll ever come across.
It’s also why many of those familiar texts that are inspired by King’s world-building are well-suited to the heaviness of some metal’s most defining players, like Metallica, a favourite of King’s who often helps him feel inspired.
That said, King isn’t exactly a metalhead in the traditional sense. He enjoys hard rock, yes, but a specific type of hard rock, with some of the bigger, more defining acts of the genre not really doing much to satisfy his need for music that actually evokes an emotional response.
For instance, King isn’t that big on Black Sabbath. Although shocking, he once admitted as much himself, saying that the band didn’t “really work for me” and that he’s never even cared much for the late Prince of Darkness himself, Ozzy Osbourne. However, he did say that he appreciated the likes of Metallica and Anthrax, which, if for nothing else, says a lot about the type of metal that gets King into the mood whenever he sets out to put pen to paper.
After all, while much of Osbourne’s music could be seen as the same kind of dark and stormy you see in much of King’s work, Metallica often channel the main pillars of his atmospheres, including that quintessential King-esque sense of foreboding, alongside a level of production that, like many of King’s worlds, sometimes makes you feel quite literally transported elsewhere.
Albums like Ride the Lightning, for instance, naturally evoke that familiar Metallica viscera, pushing the boundaries of their own artistic ambition with songs that hold many of the same themes found in the legendary author’s stories. ‘Fade to Black’, for example, tackles existential dread and death, while ‘Fight Fire with Fire’ tackles apocalyptic themes inspired by the destruction during the Cold War.
Similarly, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ was inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 novel of the same name, specifically the concept of death in modern warfare and the Spanish Civil War. Taking inspiration from one specific chapter of Hemingway’s novel, in which a group of soldiers are brutally killed during an airstrike, ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ channels the same sense of dread as King’s texts through its maudlin lyrics: “Take a look to the sky just before you die / It’s the last time you will.”
This wasn’t the first book that inspired the group during the making of Ride the Lightning. In fact, the title itself came straight from the pages of King’s The Stand, in which a character is executed by the electric chair. The idea to use the same words for the record came when Kirk Hammett was reading the book, and he came across a chapter in which the character explained that he was waiting to “ride the lightning”.
Recalling his initial reaction, Hammett said he thought, “Oh my God, what a cool collection of adjectives and nouns that is!” He then took the idea to James Hetfield, who “thought the same” sense of excitement about the prospect of borrowing the words for their second record. From there, it became the perfect capture-all for a record that often swerves into the unavoidable nature of death, connecting the dots between King’s world and theirs.
Given that he’s a long-term fan of the band and was once even a member of a Metallica fan club, King was likely thrilled when he first found out that they’d borrowed one of his phrases. But even if he never outwardly expresses his appreciation, he probably already knows just how deeply their two worlds intertwine. Metallica does, given that Hammett once described them both as “two peas in a pod”.
