We have already covered the initial plans by Metallica to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their self-titled album – the album that made them megastars and that drove metal deeper into the mainstream. That first stage was a major album boxset reissue and run of covers by famous musicians across a range of genres. 

Like one of their live shows, the band are not attuned to the notion of brevity and so the campaign moved up several gears as the actual anniversary (mid August) approached. 

First they partnered with Vans to create two branded lines of sneakers (slip-ons and high-tops). This was not the first time the band has worked with the skate brand, having partnered on shoe and clothing lines three times in the past. They are not cheap, either. The high-tops will set you back £80. But at least you get two shoes for that money. 

The more interesting parts from a digital marketing perspective, however, are the launch of a documentary series and the arrival of a new podcast. 

A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica is described as a “fly-on-the-wall” documentary, focusing on the band making the album that changed their careers and the metal scene forever. The trailer went live in August and had footage of the band in the studio working on the album. 

We can only hope that it is as forensic, as ridiculous and as uncomfortable as Some Kind Of Monster, the 2004 documentary that laid bare just how incredible and how awful it is to be in a successful band navigating the pressures of trying to make a record that everyone can be happy with. That documentary has probably stopped countless bands being formed when people see what, even at the upper end, an absolute pain it is. 

The third component is the launch of a podcast series called, with no great surprises, The Metallica Podcast. It will run for eight episodes and there are no prizes for guessing which album they focus on in the first episode. It is done in partnership with Amazon so they are going to have a substantial production budget to play with. 

So many anniversaries are marked on social media today as to make them feel underwhelming at best and unnecessary at worst. But when you have an album as big and as impactful as this to celebrate, the only way to go is to throw absolutely everything at it and have it run for as long – and as loud – as possible. 

As the saying almost has it: go hard (rock) or go home.