Metallica Are Working on Something With Elton John

Alberto Cabello from Vitoria Gasteiz, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Few albums have ever been as universally panned by critics and fans alike as Lulu, Metallica‘s art-rock collaboration with glam pioneer Lou Reed. Regarded overall as a meeting of the rock star minds that wasn’t fully conceived, Lulu proved that bringing two great musical talents together does not necessarily guarantee a great musical product. So it’s with some trepidation that the world has learned that Metallica have apparently been working on something with Sir Elton John.

In a recent interview with Apple Music 1’s Rocket Hour, Sir Elton was asked what he’d been up to, to which the rock and roll legend revealed his collaboration with the Four Horsemen.

“I’ve just done something with Metallica,” said Sir Elton, as transcribed by Blabbermouth. “During this lockdown period, I’ve been working with Gorillaz and people like that. I haven’t been doing any Elton stuff, but I’ve been doing great stuff with other people.”

No further information about what Elton John’s project with Metallica will be, but needless to say, we’re all somewhere between excited and terrified.

Even under quarantine, the past year has been a big one for Metallica. The band hosted their first ever pay-per-view livestream event, which has raised over $1.3 million for charity thus far. That money went to partners of the band’s own All Within My Hands foundation, specifically Feeding America and the American Association Of Community Colleges, not to mention supporting COVID-19 and disaster relief efforts in the upcoming months.

Meanwhile, the band are also currently working on a new album. In an interview from late November, drummer Lars Ulrich explained that Metallica had almost a month’s worth of material under their belts.

“We’re three, four weeks into some pretty serious writing,” explained the drummer. “And of all the shit – pandemics, fires, politics, race problems, and just fucking looking at the state of the world – it’s so easy just to so fall into a depressive state.

“But writing always makes me feel enthusiastic about what’s next. It’s like, ‘Fuck, there’s an opportunity here to still make the best record, to still make a difference. To still do something that not even turns other people on, but turns me on.’”

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Words by Chris Krovatin