Metallica lawyers take down US government drone video featuring Enter Sandman
The US government was recently forced to delete a video it had posted on X promoting military drone technology, set to Metallica’s Enter Sandman as a backing track.
The original video – posted on Friday (11 July) – saw Metallica’s 1991 mega-hit playing in the background as defense secretary Pete Hegseth spoke about the drone-building capabilities of the US military.
But Metallica’s lawyers quickly got in touch with the government to have the video taken down, after Enter Sandman was apparently used without permission.
READ MORE: Black Sabbath are done, but Tony Iommi is making another solo album: “I’m trying to finish what I started”
The video was quickly taken down and re-uploaded otherwise identically, but this time without Enter Sandman.
“This afternoon, representatives from X reached out to DoD [Department of Defense] 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,” a spokesperson for the DoD said [via Louder]. “The video has been taken down, corrected, and re-uploaded to our page.”
Metallica’s representatives also confirmed to Rolling Stone that the track had been used without the band’s permission.
Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance @DOGE pic.twitter.com/esaQtswwDb
— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) July 11, 2025
After a string of shows in the US for their ongoing M72 World Tour, Metallica recently paid tribute to their musical heroes Black Sabbath at the band’s monumental farewell show at Birmingham’s Villa Park.
Metallica were one of many metal juggernauts to appear on the day – also including Slayer, Pantera, Mastodon, Lamb of God and others – and all were granted relatively short set times.
Metallica’s set comprised six tracks in total, four of their own – Creeping Death, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Battery and Master of Puppets – and two Sabbath covers: Johnny Blade and Hole in the Sky.
For the latter – which happened to be the band’s opening track – guitarist Kirk Hammett wielded the CEO4, a one-of-a-kind SG guitar made by Gibson CEO Cesar Gueikian. The axe is set to be auctioned for charity, and we expect it to command a pretty high sale price given its short history…
View a full list of Metallica’s upcoming tour dates at their official website.
The post Metallica lawyers take down US government drone video featuring Enter Sandman appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
