Metallica’s song “Enter Sandman” became the official entrance song for Virginia Tech 25 years ago. Now, the heavy metal rock band is headed to Blacksburg to play in Tech’s Lane Stadium Wednesday night.
There’s a behind-the-scenes story about how one of Metallica’s songs became rooted in Hokie culture.
If you’ve ever been to a Virginia Tech football game, you’ve probably seen thousands of fans hopping up and down to the song “Enter Sandman.”
It’s written as a lullaby, with lyrics about falling asleep and traveling to dreamland, where nightmares await. While on its surface, it has nothing to do with football or Virginia Tech, but the song has become entrenched in the culture of Hokie fandom, said Brad Wurthman, who works for Virginia Tech’s athletic department
“I mean, for those who are Virginia Tech fans, when the first notes of Sandman hit, that’s different for Hokies,” Wurthman said.
Here’s how it began, according to interviews recoded by Mark Viera for the Washington Post in 2009. Decades ago, at a chilly home game, a musician in the Virginia Tech marching band started playing the song while hopping up and down to stay warm. The whole band began jumping, and then people in the crowd. It became tradition at home games. According to lore and posts on social media, the jumping has been powerful enough to register on a seismograph
Wuthman and others at the university have been lobbying for several years to get Metallica to play at Lane Stadium. Blacksburg is the smallest town Metallica is playing this year.
“And we’re the fastest selling show of any show that they’ve had in this tour,” Wurthman said. “That’s a testament to the fact that this is gonna be one of those moments that you kind of have to be at.”
The show of 70,000 tickets is sold out, but as Wurthman notes, since Metallica is a heavy metal rock band, most people near the stadium in Blacksburg will likely hear the music Wednesday night.
