Van Halen meets Metallica in this mashup of "Panama" & "Enter Sandman"

Van Halen, Van Hagar, Van Hetfield?!?

A new YouTube mashup gives us a taste of what could have been...if for some reason James Hetfield left Metallica, joined Van Halen and refused to sing the lyrics to anything but "Enter Sandman."

Deftly edited by Mike G. of The-Art-of-Guitar "Enter Panaman" pairs the instrumental track of Van Halen's 1984 hit "Panama" with Hetfield's lead vocals from Metallica's 1991 hit "Enter Sandman."

As is so often the case with these classic rock mashups, the final product is eerily effective and unambiguously fun.

"[I] was rocking out to 'Panama' and this idea just popped into my head, so I had to make it real," G. says in a brief explanation accompanying the track. "Can't believe how well they work together in most section."

To preserve some of the character of the Van Halen original, G. kept the "Panama" backing vocals, which provide an uplifting foil to Hetfield's "Sandman" chorus vocals. Hetfield vocals are also cleverly detuned at the beginning of the chorus to keep them consonant with the "Panama" chord progression.

In another measure aimed to satisfy his own curiosity, G. swapped the first half of Eddie Van Halen's "Panama" solo out for part of Kirk Hammett's "Sandman" one.

Listen via the player above!

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission