Stranger Things got plenty of 80s phenomena bang on, but the one that struck the most authentic chord was undoubtedly the iconic but relatable figure of Eddie Munson. As well as playing guitar in high school metal band Corroded Coffin (and introducing new generations to the evil-bat-distracting powers of Master Of Puppets), Eddie was also Dungeon Master for his school’s Dungeons & Dragons club. Heavy metal and this venerable tabletop role-playing game have grown up together over the last 50 years, flourishing in intimate sync, fandoms frequently overlapping. However, in Eddie these twin pursuits intersected in a celebrated pop-cultural hero, the like of which we’d never seen before.
“Eddie was everyone’s favourite,” says Crow Lotus, singer with Louisiana metallic hardcore crew Capra and a lifelong role-playing game enthusiast. “Not necessarily all metal fans are into fantasy RPGs, but you’d be hardpressed to find an RPG fan who isn’t into metal.” Dungeons & Dragons – D&D to aficionados – has phased in and out of broader culture over the decades, but it’s most definitely having a moment right now. The D&D-infused Stranger Things will be followed by Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, a big-budget movie starring Star Trek’s Chris Pine and The Fast And The Furious’s Michelle Rodriguez, with a spin-off TV show to follow. But metal’s love affair with D&D has never faded, with innumerable musicians outing themselves as gamers.
“I do love Dungeons & Dragons,” Rage Against The Machine guitarist Tom Morello told Metal Hammer back in 2017, while Jack Black, Chester Bennington and My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way also expressed their love of the game, helping D&D attain cooler cultural capital than previous generations could have imagined. “There does seem to be some commonality with the greater metal community,” says Mark Garrett, singer with prog-deathcore bruisers Kardashev and devoted D&D Dungeon Master. He reflects on the connections between disciplines: “There’s a measurable affinity for fantasy, sci-fi and escapism. If you look at a lot of metal lyrics, you see a lot of fantasy stories – oftentimes very gritty ones.”
