My band got hired to perform at a 50th birthday party last weekend. Birthday girl Ethel is one of our biggest fans, and she and her husband Richard have been to almost every one of our shows.

In case you haven’t kept up with my musical shenanigans the last few years, the name of my band is A Nightmare on 80s Street, and we perform 80s classics with a dark twist — the twist being that we dress up as horror movie villains and play what I refer to as “gritty reboots” of upbeat new wave hits. Think Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, The Cure, one-hit wonders like A-Ha, Dead or Alive, Real Life, and so on, but all metal and gothy.

(Okay, an even gothier Depeche Mode …)

Knowing all this, Ethel decided to request Metallica’s Enter Sandman, which you may remember as being neither 80s nor new wave.

Well, we decided we would oblige her. I mean, it was her birthday. But, I figured we could troll her a bit before we got to her request. So this is what we came up with on the fly. It’s a bit dirty and unrefined, as we had never practiced or performed the song together previously (either song, really). But I would say that’s pretty much in line with our style. And hey, we were pretty proud of ourselves that we had the cohesiveness to pull this off.

Plus, Ethel’s “WTF!?!” expression when I busted out the opening piano riff made it all worth it.

Enjoy …