Stranger Things actor Joseph Quinn has named some of the artists he listened to when getting into character as Eddie Munson for the mega-hit Netflix series - and he's also named the two icons that are his own personal guitar heroes.
Quinn's role in the most recent season of the show has made him a household name, with his Master Of Puppets-shredding star turn in the season finale becoming the most talked-about TV scene of the year.
In an exclusive interview in the new issue of Metal Hammer, Quinn reveals some of the legendary bands and songs in particular that helped him prepare for transforming into everyone's favourite lovable TV metalhead.
"I listened to Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath over and over," he notes. "Master Of Puppets as well, Slayer…all that kind of stuff. That was my way into that whole world, really. Black Sabbath were my guys, and Led Zeppelin too, but I guess they’re less metal.”
Quinn recently revealed that he has played guitar since he was a kid, though he notes to Hammer that he's "been woefully under-practiced in recent years.”
"My dad played guitar and my granddad played for a time, so it’s something we’d do as a family," he says. "We’re by no means virtuosos, but we all have a go.”
When asked who his personal guitar heroes are, Quinn replies with two truly iconic names.
“Jimi Hendrix is an obvious one," he says. "I was always very enamoured with him. Nirvana were my first proper band obsession – I was obsessed with Kurt Cobain and had all of his posters in my wall. It’s kind of cliché, but it’s true.”
While Quinn is fond of Eddie as a character and the love he's been shown, he's not shy of admitting that, fundamentally, the two aren't a whole lot alike - but that didn't stop him empathising with Eddie's 'outsider' status.
"Not much [alike]," he says. "We all have moments where we feel vulnerable, maybe overcompensate. I joined my school two years late, so I guess there was maybe a little bit of overcompensation there. But I've been very lucky, I've always had friends and haven't felt like too much of an outsider. But with all of my characters, if you don't humanise them, you don't care about them, and if people aren't vulnerable and themselves and authentic, you tend to not really want to be around them. I think we're far more drawn to someone that's offensively imperfect than someone that's constantly trying to be perfect and impressive.”
The Eddie Munson character has proven something of a phenomenon, inspiring Metallica themselves to put out Stranger Things-themed merch and inadvertently initiating entire fan trends on TikTok.
The latest season of Stranger Things is out now via Netflix.
