YouTube's latest gift to music is a mashup of Metallica's iconic 1991 heavy metal hit "Enter Sandman" and Huey Lewis & the News' 1986 pop/soul classic "Hip to Be Square."

The newly crafted track, "Hip to Be the Sandman" was created by YouTuber Bill McClintock, who credits the song to the fictional supergroup, 'James Hetfield & the News.'

"Hip to Be the Sandman" is built around the "Hip to Be Square" instrumental track with Hetfield's vocals from "Enter Sandman" replacing Lewis'.

The marriage between the respective songs walks a peculiar musical tightrope between the E Major key of "Hip to be Square" and the E Minor key of "Enter Sandman." Somehow Hetfield's vocals don't clash at all with the "Hip to Be Square" arrangement, and McClintock shows off even more by including guitar solo sections from Megadeth's "Peace Sells" and Judas Priest's "Living After Midnight" in the track.

The accompanying music video is further buoyed by the fact that the snare drum features so prominently in the groove for both songs, meaning footage of Lars Ulrich playing "Sandman" is perfectly in time with Bill Gibson's backbeat on "Hip to Be Square."

Check it out via the player above!

Joining R&B and rock is apparently a passion of McClintock's. His other big hits include a mashup of Marilyn Manson's "Beautiful People" with Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You," Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" and Eric Clapton's "Cocaine" and The Temptations' "Get Ready" and Black Sabbath's "Children of the Grave."

We've previously covered McClintock's seamless mashup of two classic rock favorites, The Who's "Who Are You" and Black Sabbath's "Paranoid."

Photo: Getty Images

Bob McLaughlin

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