#137: Enter Sandman by Metallica
Peak Month: November 1991
10 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG Chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #16
YouTube.com: “Enter Sandman”
Lyrics: “Enter Sandman”
James Alan Hetfield was born in 1963 in suburban Los Angeles. His mom was a light opera singer and his dad a truck driver. Hetfield was nine years old when he first began piano lessons, after which he learned to play the drums and finally, at the age of 14, he started to play guitar. He graduated from high school in 1981. Lars Ulrich was born in 1963 in Denmark. His father was a professional tennis player. His paternal grandparents were persecuted in World War II by the Nazi’s since the grandmother was Jewish. This family history taught young Lars about prejudice, and how governments can scapegoat categories of people within its populace. When he was nine years old, his father bought tickets to a Deep Purple concert. in Copenhagen. Within a few years Lars was playing a drum kit. Lars was ranked in the Top Ten tennis players in his age group in Denmark. He moved to California in 1980 and planned to enter a seven-man competition in Newport Beach. But, since he didn’t make the cut, Ulrich switched his focus from tennis to music.