Wieden + Kennedy's latest SportsCenter spot, featuring Metallica, has gotten lots of attention, and almost 800,000 YouTube views, since its debut a week ago.
The veteran band visits ESPN HQ and jokes about having no work since New York Yankees reliever Mariano Rivera, who famously used their thrash-anthem "Enter Sandman" as his theme song, retired after last season. (Other players also enter games to that particular track, but since they're not Rivera, who cares?)
This season, the Yankees desperately need some fresh arms. Can any of these hippies throw a curveball? At one point, guitarist Kirk Hammett shows off some fancy fretwork. He's got supple fingers, put him in the rotation!
Ah well, if Metallica's sports drought continues, they can always hit the water-park circuit on an '80s metal mega-bill with Krokus, Ratt and Slayer. In that lineup, Metallica would be the closer.
Check out the spot below, along with newly released bloopers and outtakes from the shoot, including a pretty funny Lars Ulrich line at the very end that didn't make the final cut.
