Metallica have successfully managed to get one of their songs removed from a video released by the Pentagon boasting about the Trump administration’s increased use of military drones.
In an awkward clip posted on X/Twitter on Thursday (10 July), defense secretary Pete Hegseth can be seen speaking to the camera as he explains how his department is fulfilling Donald Trump’s executive order issued last month to “unleash American drone dominance”.
During the video, a drone flies towards Mr Hegseth with a memo attached to it, which he grabs before appearing to sign the document, which is entitled “Unleashing U.S. Military Drone Dominance. This is the future,” he declared. “We’re in the fight. We’re in the fight to win it. And we’re never gonna back down.”
The video was initially soundtracked by Metallica’s 1991 hit “Enter Sandman” but has since been removed and reposted without the song. Rolling Stone reports that a representative for Metallica had confirmed that the song had been used without their authorisation.
In addition, a spokesperson for the Pentagon said in a statement on Friday: “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.”
Although Metallica have avoided taking sides in political debates, the band has a long history of winning legal disputes surrounding their music. The band infamously triumphed in a 2000 lawsuit against the file-sharing app Napster.
The metal icons have also attempted to distance themselves from the US military. In 2013, the Navy SEAL who killed Osama Bin Laden told Esquire: “When we first started the war in Iraq, we were using Metallica music to soften people up before we interrogated them. Metallica got wind of this and they said, ‘Hey, please don’t use our music because we don’t want to promote violence.’”
Numerous musicians have called out President Trump for using their music at his rallies, including Elton John, Taylor Swift and Beyonce.
In September 2024, The White Stripes sued Trump for using their song, “Seven Nation Army”, in a campaign video. A copyright infringement lawsuit lists frontman Jack White and drummer Meg White alongside the singer and accuses Trump of “flagrant misappropriation” of their song.
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They described the music as “among the most well-known and influential musical works of all time” and accused Trump and his team of using the music to “generate financial and other support for his campaign and candidacy on the backs of plaintiffs, whose permission and endorsement he neither sought nor obtained in violation of their rights under federal copyright law”.
The band dropped the lawsuit in November 2024, dismissing the case without prejudice.
