The Pentagon deleted and reposted a video boasting about how President Donald Trump’s administration will increase its use of drone warfare. The first version featured the Metallica song “Enter Sandman” in the background. The second has no music.
A Metallica representative confirmed to Rolling Stone that the use of “Enter Sandman” in the original video was unauthorized. The Pentagon said in a statement Friday that X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, asked the department to remove the video due to a copyright issue.
In the video, former Fox News host and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that the military will manufacture and use more drones. “We were brought here to rebuild the military,” he says. “Match capabilities to the threats of today. So while our adversaries have produced millions of cheap drones before us, we were mired in bureaucratic red tape. Not anymore.”
“In June, President Trump issued an executive order unleashing American drone dominance to bolster our drone industry and arm our war fighters, because that’s what we’re all about.”
As he speaks, a quadcopter holding what appears to be a blank piece of paper is hovering above Hegseth’s head. He reaches up and grabs the paper. “Here’s the memo we’re signing today, delivered via drone,” he says, signing the page.
The Defense Department told Military.com’s Konstantin Toropin Friday that X contacted them about the video. “This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD regarding a video posted to our social media page and asked that the video be removed due to a copyright issue with the song ‘Enter Sandman’ by Metallica. The video has been taken down, corrected, and re-uploaded to our page,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson.
During his first time in office, Trump dramatically increased the military’s use of drone strikes.
An instrumental version of “Enter Sandman” played during the president’s recent lackluster military parade, which outraged Metallica fans.
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Rolling Stone reported that parade organizers were even issued a cease-and-desist letter over “illegally” playing “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother,” after they were explicitly told they could not use the song.
So many musicians have opposed Trump’s use of their music that there is a Wikipedia page devoted to it, listing more than 40 artists.
The U.S. military has used Metallica’s heavy metal music for dark purposes in the past. During the Iraq War, the military reportedly used Metallica music to torture detainees. In 2013, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden told Esquire that the band asked the military to stop using the song for such purposes. “When we first started the war in Iraq, we were using Metallica music to soften people up before we interrogated them,” he said. “Metallica got wind of this and they said, ‘Hey, please don’t use our music because we don’t want to promote violence.’”
In 2016, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told Vulture there’s not much the band can do about the military using its music that way. “I’ve had to sit there and answer questions like, ‘How do you feel about the U.S. military using your songs to torture prisoners?’ I mean, as much as that makes me squirm, when you hand those recording master tapes to the FedEx guy and then the music goes out into the world, you’ve gotta let it go. Whether people like it or hate it, you just find a way to deal with it. So if [former House Speaker] Paul Ryan likes Metallica, hallelujah, it’s fine with me.”
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The same year, he told a Danish tabloid that he had considered moving back to Denmark if Trump won. Ulrich was born in Denmark and is not a U.S. citizen.
When asked about his thoughts on Bruce Springsteen calling Trump a “moron,” he explained: “If Bruce Springsteen felt that, then he should say it. I totally support his doing that. The thing is, I’m not an American citizen. I pay taxes here, but I can’t vote. So I have this strange thing about commenting on this country’s politics. I have nothing but love and respect for Bruce Springsteen…. But it’s not for me to say he should or shouldn’t do what he wants to do.”
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In 2017, Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett alluded to historical comparisons to Trump in a series of posts on what was then Twitter: “Trump’s Inaugural Address and his asking us to put America first sounds, to me, familiar to … what was said in speeches going around Germany in the 1930’s … and later Russia in the 1940’s.”
He concluded: “If we don’t put up a fight we risk losing our rights. Defend Democracy from those who want to crush it !”
