That time a jazz band took a thrash metal classic and turned it into old-school jazz, and people couldn’t believe it wasn’t sped up! When Robyn Adele Anderson covered Metallica’s blistering hit “Master of Puppets,” the violin player’s leads were so smoking that the audio engineer had to go on record to explain that it wasn’t sped up – it’s just that this cat can play like nobody’s business! That virtuoso musicianship, smoky vocals, and the brilliantly swingin’ arrangement took this classic to a whole new place!
It’s no wonder 1.8 million jazz and rock fans still aren’t over this brilliant cover. And can we just say jazz covers of heavy songs are very hard to get right? Even from the most talented players, it’s easy to lose the heart of the song, but the band did it right here, winning over Metallica fans. Robyn’s playful delivery and creative vocal lines were a big part of the success of the cover. The Music Man also has to say that the band have their groove dialed in like a fine-tuned machine!
Viewers added comments such as “Massive Metallica fan here, this song actually works as a jazz song, it was amazing. That violin solo was epic!” and “That violin was ‘Devil Went Down to Georgia’ level, just phenomenal! Such a compliment to a well-executed performance.” The drummer and sound engineer Tom Jorgensen addressed claims about editing, saying, “This video was NOT sped up. We really did play the song at this speed on the day. Earl is a monster musician, and deserves every bit of credit for this performance.”
Robyn Adele Anderson has put a number of viral videos on the board with her and her band’s take on metal hits. She drew a hefty 15 million views with her take on System of a Down’s “Chop Suey.” I have to say I’m a huge fan of how Robyn and her band interpret these songs. You can tell that the band very deeply understands the original songs and is able to reinterpret them in their own style in a way that satisfies both jazz fans and fans of the original artist.
Metallica released “Master of Puppets” on July 2, 1986, as the sole single from their third studio album of the same name. The song was penned by all four Metallica members, while production was handled by the band and their longtime producer Flemming Rasmussen.
There is some irony in the fact that some viewers questioned whether violinist Earl Maneein’s violin solo was sped up in Robyn Adele Anderson’s version. This is because the original Metallica studio version was actually recorded at a slower tempo and lower tuning and then sped up by producer Flemming. This was done to create the tightest performances possible at the studio version’s final tempo.