Metallica Pay Homage to Michael Jackson With 'Beat It' Cover

Metallica paid tribute to the late King of Pop last weekend during its encore at 's Sonisphere Festival. Honoring Michael Jackson during its July 4th headlining appearance at the event, the metal giants played a portion of 'Beat It' before easing into a riotous cover of Queen's 'Stone Cold Crazy.'

Of course, the original version of Jackson 's 1982 classic proudly featured the guitar work of Eddie Van Halen. The hard rock virtuoso's forceful, finger-tapped solo helped to bring MJ's iconic 'Thriller' album to the attention of legions of metal kids around the world.

Although there's no sight of frontman James Hetfield sporting a white sequined glove, the fan-filmed clip of Metallica rocking Hockenheim is pretty surprising. Check it out below.