Rock novel

A (not so) thin red line has always connected Stephen King to the world of rock. The horror-novel guru has repeatedly revealed his passion, in particular, for the heaviest end of rock. “I want to have a heavy metal weekend: I'll start with Slayer, Black Sabbath and Mötörhead. I'll save Metallica and Judas Priest for Sunday,” the Maine-based author joked some time ago on Twitter, in a post that quickly went viral.

But the connection runs both ways. Plenty of rock bands, in fact, have drawn on the Maine writer's books: the Ramones, for instance, wrote “Pet Sematary” in 1989 for the soundtrack of the film adaptation of the novel, while Anthrax dedicated “A Skeleton In The Closet” to the horror master, a track included on “Among The Living” (1987).

Among the rock musicians who found the most inspiration in the pages of Stephen King is certainly Kirk Hammett. The Metallica guitarist has described having a genuine revelation while reading “The Stand,” the 1978 post-apocalyptic novel in which a lethal virus wipes out most of humanity. In one scene, a character sentenced to the electric chair declares he's ready to “ride the lightning.” That image struck Hammett so deeply that it inspired the title of the American band's second album, “Ride The Lightning,” released on July 27, 1984. “I thought: that's a fantastic combination of words, full of meaning and nuance. I told James Hetfield about it, and the rest is history,” the guitarist recalled.

The album marked the consecration of Metallica, thanks to tracks like “For Whom The Bell Tolls” and “The Call Of Ktulu,” which permanently defined the band's signature sound: a balance of compositional complexity, sonic power and instrumental technique, with the first glimmers of melody beginning to surface.

It's also the first album to fuse thrash and speed into something different, something that stems from both styles yet can't be reduced to either. The heavy metal here becomes an articulate, complex form full of solos, as speed metal is, yet violent, nihilistic, compact and direct, as thrash is. Alongside the music, the epic quality of the lyrics is heightened too. The result is a setting no longer metropolitan but galactic — a sense no longer of death or rupture, but of eternity, or of hammering away at the same single point.

Since then, Hammett has never stopped acknowledging his debt to King, even urging fans to track down the exact page in the book where the phrase that inspired the album title appears. On his bond with the writer, Hammett has said: “I'd love to get to know him better, we're very similar people. The only difference is that I write music and he writes words.”

Stephen King hasn't just inspired the world of rock — at times he's also been a part of it. In 1988 he made a cameo appearance on “Astronomy” by Blue Öyster Cult; in 1996 he wrote the screenplay for Michael Jackson's short film “Ghosts”; in 2012 he co-wrote, together with John Mellencamp, the musical “Ghost Brothers Of Darkland County” and, that same year, served as narrator on “Black Ribbons,” an album by country musician Shooter Jennings. His most significant musical adventure, however, remains his time with the Rock Bottom Remainders, a kind of supergroup made up of American writers and authors. Members included, among others, Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons), Pulitzer winner Dave Barry, and bestselling author Scott Turow, whose books have sold over 30 million copies. Active from 1992 to 2012, the Rock Bottom Remainders played charity shows in support of American literary festivals, even performing at the opening of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1995. Onstage, they welcomed illustrious guests such as Al Kooper, Warren Zevon and Bruce Springsteen.

In 2006, King appeared on the BBC's celebrated radio program Desert Island Discs, on air since 1942, in which each guest picks eight songs and one book to take to a desert island. The writer chose songs by Bob Dylan, Pretenders, Ryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen, surprising listeners with the inclusion of “Pon de Replay” by Rihanna. At the top of his list, though, he placed “She Loves You” by the Beatles, explaining: “Of all the Beatles songs, it's the one that has best stood the test of time. Every time I hear it, it sounds as fresh as the first time I heard it, at 16. It's a song that has just one thing to say, and it says it perfectly.” In a later conversation with fans on Reddit, when asked what his all-time favorite band was, King replied: “Probably Creedence Clearwater Revival, but Ac/Dc are very close behind. And so are the Rolling Stones and the Temptations.”

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05/02/2026