Elijah Wood can’t stand Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” anymore

Among the songs of Metallicathere is one that Elijah Wood today he can hardly listen anymore: Enter Sandman. The “Lord of the Rings” actor spoke about it in a recent interview dedicated to the music that accompanied his life, explaining that he had listened to the piece so many times that he could no longer stand it. The reason? His son. “He was about four when I played it to him and for a long time it was the only song he wanted to listen to,” Wood said.

Regarding the fact of proposing a similar song to such a young child, the actor clarified that the lyrics it doesn’t seem particularly unsuitable to him: according to him it has a somewhat dark and disturbing atmosphere, but without any really heavy content. The song, included in the album Metallicarevolves around images related to nightmares and nighttime fears. Yet his original idea was even darker. In fact, in the first draft written by James Hetfield the line “disrupt the perfect family” appeared, a reference to sudden cot death.

Both the band and producer Bob Rock considered that move, however too strong for a single intended for the general public. For this reason Lars Ulrich asked Rock to convince Hetfield to change it, fearing that such a phrase could compromise the song’s potential. In the end the text was changed to the famous “we’re off to never-never land”, contributing to the transformation Enter Sandman in the biggest hit of Metallica’s career.

During the same interview, Elijah Wood also remembered his first concert ever, that of Smashing Pumpkins. The actor said he was almost 16 at the time and was struck by the experience. He also recalled the look of Billy Corgan, who in those years often wore the famous T-shirt with the writing “Zero” and had just started shaving his head. As a huge fan of the band, Wood called that live debut “absolutely perfect.”