Metallica Destroys Fan in Band Trivia Challenge, Then Rocks Our Faces Off On ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’

Watch this double-shot of awesome.

Talk shows have always been covert infomercials. Once you get that they’re usually just some modestly amusing guy doing brief topical stand-up before artists come out to plug whatever they’re doing now, they feel a little less entertaining. But the game changes when the guests are a deceptively smart bunch of metal gods like Metallica. 

At least that was the case when Metallica guested on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Ever the generous performers, they provided way more than a typical talk show audience might expect. Most surprising, perhaps: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and the rest of the band will take your super fan cred and trash it on national TV, because as the video above demonstrates, they know their own band trivia cold. In Kimmel’s “Who Knows” segment they beat their fan Dave, then generously invited him to a future concert.

The trivia was nothing, though, compared to the band’s set. They performed “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and crushed it as only they could. 

Metallica’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct has been out for a month and before November was over it went number 1 in 57 countries. The performance in the video above is a pretty solid illustration as to why. 

Check out Metallica’s tour dates here. You know you want to. Just don’t try to school them in their own trivia.