‘Thank you for doing this, Netflix, for every metalhead out there’: Parkway Drive Singer Praises Netflix For ‘Validating’ Metal

20 minutos, CC BY-SA 2.1 ES , via Wikimedia Commons
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Via a recent interview with NME, Parkway Drive singer Winston McCall spoke to the significance of Metallica‘s “Master of Puppets” appearing in Stranger Things season four.

Much has has been said about the thrash classic’s cameo in the Netflix show, but to McCall, he sees these “gateway moments” as not only super helpful to metal, but also as a validating factor. In talking about how much the cameo provides a validation of sorts to the metal genre, and speaking to the importance of gateway moments, this is what McCall had to say:

“It takes gateway moments like that to validate how big this shit actually is. Metallica is one of the biggest bands in existence, but Stranger Things is a gateway for everyone that didn’t get onboard with them when they were making it huge to now get into that – and it’s the biggest gateway there is right now.

“It validates the fact that so many people actually connect with metal, and that it’s a real art form that has so much value. It takes these moments to break those perceptions – the stigmas and psyches – that people have towards metal, and allows people back in just for the enjoyment of it, to reconnect with it.

“And the amazing thing for us is that, right now, I don’t see how [Parkway Drive] can become any bigger without it being straight-up mainstream. But then right before this album comes out, Metallica and Stranger Things had this moment, and I was literally watching it going, ‘Fucking yes!’ Like, ‘Thank you for doing this, Netflix, for every metalhead out there.’ I’m very aware of what that moment means for every single metal band on the planet.”

Do you agree with Winston McCall? Do you think the “Master of Puppets” cameo in Stranger Things has done much to help metal? Some months back, we asked Judas Priest’s Rob Halford about the possibility of the band’s music appearing in Stranger Things season five and that of heavy metal gatekeeping.