The original lineup of the legendary horror-punk band the Misfits never really got to bask in its influence until much later in life. The group was formed in New Jersey in 1977 and quickly made a name for themselves as a local phenomenon. With the rise of punk happening mainly in New York, Los Angeles, and London, the blue-collar Jersey attitude of the Misfits was a stark contrast. Still, their horror themes prevented them from achieving anything close to mainstream success, and the band broke up in 1983.
Around the same time, thrash metal began to take the energy of punk music and combine it with the dark riffs of heavy metal. The Misfits were one of the most influential bands for upstart thrash metal band Metallica when they originally formed in 1981. Bassist Cliff Burton was the original fan of the band, turning James Hetfield and noted horror fan Kirk Hammett onto them as well.
“It just grew on us, and we started listening to it a lot,” Hammett told Thrasher Magazine in 1986. “I like the Misfits. I liked the songs, and then I saw pictures of them and went, ‘Wow, this is cool.’ The imagery that they used was like some of the stuff I’ve seen in old horror comics.”
In the same interview, Metallica confirmed that they would be covering a Misfits song sometime in the near future. That was actually a lie: they wound up recording two Misfits songs. As a way to help break in new bassist Jason Newsted, the group recorded an EP of cover songs, The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited, in 1987. On it, the band took the classic track ‘Last Caress’ from the Beware EP and combined it with ‘Green Hell’ from the band’s second studio album Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood.
During a period when the Misfits were inactive, Metallica were probably doing the most to keep the band’s legacy alive. After ‘Last Caress’ and ‘Green Hell’ appeared on the album, the band began incorporating the medley into their live shows. After a few performances, ‘Green Hell’ was largely dropped from the set, leaving Metallica to simply cover ‘Last Caress’ on its own.
It wasn’t just a brief love affair either. Along with Diamond Head’s ‘Am I Evil?’, ‘Last Caress’ was more or less a permanent fixture of Metallica’s live show for over 30 years. When the band were celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2011, Glenn Danzig joined them onstage for a rendition of ‘Last Caress’. It hasn’t been played since 2018, but Metallica got plenty of mileage out of ‘Last Caress’. According to setlist.fm, they have played the song 830 times since 1987, making it Metallica’s 15th most frequently performed song.
Watch Metallica cover ‘Last Caress’ down below.
