Forever considered cultural outsiders, the alternative to the norm, it appears us metalheads are finally becoming "cool" - on social media at least. In fact, according to TikTok and what has now racked up as billions – yes, billions – of searches related to Stranger Things' Eddie Munson on the platform, we're now also being kind of...um...fetishised?
Eddie Munson captured the hearts of millions in the latest season of Stranger Things after he saved his friends from nightmarish creatures who reside in the Upside Down, via a kickass playthrough of Metallica's Master Of Puppets. Since then, Munson's status as a pop culture hero has taken on new significance via TikTok and other social media platforms - he's now considered a total heartthrob, too.
To bring hard facts into the equation, the #eddiemunson hashtag has over 11 billion views on TikTok alone. Eleven. Billion. What's more, the #eddiemunsonedit hashtag has amassed over 1.6 billion views of its own. On TikTok, an 'edit' usually consists of videos and images merged together, often with some sort of saucy or uplifting soundtrack played over the top, created to further the idea that its subject is something of a "thirst trap" (read: absolute hottie). Yep, it's true: billions of views have now been dedicated to thirsting over Eddie Munson.
In addition to all that, there's the #eddiemunsonpovseries hashtag, which has almost 16 million views. Point of view posts are videos created so that the viewer can pretend they're actually interacting with the character behind the screen - in this case, with Eddie Munson himself (yes, really).
It goes on. One of the more fascinating videos we've seen is of a young Eddie Van Halen interacting with his son Wolfgang when he was a baby in an adorable home video. Given Eddie Munson's mullety hairdo makes him look strikingly similar to Van Halen at times (no coincidence, we're sure), younger fans are now getting the hots for the legendary guitarist and fantasising over the clip, even pretending it's the Stranger Things metalhead in a family setting. Yup, things have got really weird.
So weird, in fact, that posts are now also emerging featuring photos and videos of real-life metalheads as shared by Munson acolytes, apparently gagging to bag themselves their own equivalent of Joseph Quinn's iconic character. Some of said posts appear to be getting shared without the subject's consent, pushing things into full-on creepy territory.
The craze has gone so far that some metal and alternative music fans are now expressing their frustrations via TikTok (albeit humorously in some cases). One user writes in a video: "You all want an Eddie Munson until they don't wash for 4 days, their hair is EVERYWHERE and you cannot find them in the pit because they look like every other person there."
Another publicly addresses Eddie Munson fans who perhaps previously weren't interested in the metal community before Stranger Things, underlining the bullying that many metal fans face in real life :"You can no longer call me slurs in public places".
Another declares: "People be like 'Eddie Munson is so hot' yet still shout 'goff' at me in the street".
To get an idea of just how big – and, quite frankly, peculiar – the Eddie Munson craze is getting, check out some of the videos below. Heed this warning, though: the POVs will either make you cringe or make your heart flutter. Don't worry, we won't judge.
Check them out below:
@stilesbat0 ♬ original sound - 3 minute sounds
@porshavfx ♬ original sound - porsha
@jullxana ♬ petals - ꨄ
@glampiires ♬ original sound - _M0n2ter_
@necrohelll ♬ Feci Factum Sanguine Gladios Made Fieri Factus - Abruptum
@sanriobrooke2 ♬ Master of Puppets - Metallica
@h.whalen94 ♬ Living Dead Girl - Rob Zombie
