Whatever the opinions people have of James Corden, seemingly people think he is either hilarious or the worst person going, but the Carpool Karaoke segment has featured some brilliant moments and guests. The show now has also been picked up by Apple TV/Music. It follows the same formula, with the occasional different presenter, and can be watched via an Apple TV subscription.

A memorable moment and something very out of the blue was Metallica’s appearance on the show back on August 15 2017 with host, the comedian Billy Eichner. Billy Eichner asks the band about their pop music choices, at which point the band all scoffs. Guitarist Kirk Hammett said, “I don’t really listen to pop music as it makes me angry.” Drummer Lars Ulrich said, “how can you not like Beyonce”.

Billy Eichner then brought up nine-time grammy winner Rihanna. Lars then went into a story about how they played the same show as her, went out to take a look and she had great energy and a great band.

With one press of the radio ‘Diamonds in the Sky’ kicked in. Kirk, Lars and bassist Rob Trujiilo performed as a trio in the backseats nailing ‘nearly’ every word. Frontman James Hetfield in the driver seat kept driving with a sense of shock on his face, looking at bewildered passers-by and repeating the words “help me”. Hetfield joined in during the chorus for some on brand head banging while trying to balance singing and laughing at the same time.

This clip was re-shared by the band after Rihanna performed at the Superbowl Half-Time show in 2023, with the caption “we can’t believe she didn’t ask us to be her backup singer.” This was not the only song from their appearance on Carpool Karaoke, they also turned arguably their biggest song ‘Enter Sandman’ into a road-rage anthem as well as a run through of ‘Part of your world’…yes that song from Disney’s aquatic animation The Little Mermaid.

There isn’t too much to talk about as far as “performance”, it is clear why Hetfield Is the singer of the group but seeing this side of one of the most respected rock/metal bands going is very entertaining.

This also means that Metallica join other rock stars/icons to appear on this show. They have joined the likes of Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and even Beatle’s legend Paul McCartney to belt out some songs on Carpool Karaoke.

You can take a look at the clip of Metallica on this show here, and just for a little bit of fun check out the link of Metallica performing ‘Enter Sandman’ on children’s toy instruments on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon here.