If you wanted to hear Metallica’s So What? in the style of S&M2, it’s your lucky day

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By ( Metal Hammer ) last updated

Metallica’s cover of the Anti-Nowhere League’s punk classic So What? gets the orchestral treatment it deserves

We love Metallica’s S&M2 round these parts. It’s big, it’s overblown, it’s got a killer band and a rabid audience, and best of all, it features a big, fuck off orchestra.

But we can’t help listening to it and thinking: “It’s great, but it’s missing something. Where’s So What?”  

Luckily, someone has just made our dreams come true. Israeli guitar hero and YouTube genius Valentin The Mad – the man behind the video of a bunch of wild boars singing death metal – has cooked up a S&M2-ified version of ’Tallica’s cover of the Anti-Nowhere League’s R-rated yob-punk classic.

“In anticipation of S&M2 I came across the documentary of the first show on YouTube.” says Valentin of his Beethoven-bothering blowout. “Michael Kamen (the conductor of the symphony) joked with the members of Metallica about the possibility of playing So What in S&M. I thought that could be really cool, and some time later I decided to just do it myself.”

Valentin has done a stellar job of taking the standard live version found on the Cunning Stunts DVD and fitting it out with a grandoise orchestal backing he created from scratch. He may not have had the big bucks that Lars and the boys were able to throw at the S&M2 gigs, but the resulting punk/metal/classical mash-up sounds exactly like it did in our heads. And there’s something truly special about James Hetfield bellowing, “I've fucked a sheep, I've fucked a goat, I rammed my cock right down its throat” while the bassoon section goes crazy.

Check out Valentin’s So What? video, then head over to his YouTube page to see what else he’s up to.

Metal Hammer
Metal Hammer

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