Perhaps the most fun part of any Metallica song to imitate is James Hetfield’s weird little vocal injections. But while the ol’ “OOOOH, YEAH-HEAH” is great, and the the extra syllable on words like “LIGHT-UH” is always classic, most fans will agree that it’s Papa Het’s intense laugh that’s best suited for some lighthearted mockery.
Now, one YouTuber has done us all proud by making a compilation of every time James Hetfield laughs in a Metallica song.
Though this video is hilarious in its good-natured ribbing, creating it was no easy feat. The maker, who uses the handle Blood_Doom, listened to every one of Metallica’s studio albums and pinpointed when the guitarist/vocalist blasted out his signature laugh.
What’s especially interesting is to hear how on early songs like “Seek and Destroy” and “Master of Puppets,” James’ laughs started off actually sounding like real laughter, but over time became the pronounced “HE-HAAH!” that we’ve all come to know and love.
Check out the supercut below and laugh like the Het:
This isn’t the only Metallica YouTube tribute making the rounds. Last monht, one YouTuber has made an art form out of this tradition by posting several covers of classic Metallica songs — which are just him singing every part.
While it’s easy to see the novelty of kjl3080’s Metallica covers, which consist primarily of him singing a lot of wheedlys and dunna-nuns to recreate tracks like “One” and “Enter Sandman,” one must acknowledge the slavish attention to detail that went into these creations.
Most YouTubers would do this for the first verse and chorus of a song, to show they can; this dude even goes so far as to recreate the battle sounds at the opening of “One.”
This guarantees that listeners who show up for the weird hilarity of it all will then take the time to either listen through or skip around as they ask themselves, “Wait, so, how does he do the rapid-fire chugs there?” At the very least, we can all respect the time and effort this guy put into something so ridiculous.
Take a listen:
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Words by Chris Krovatin
