9. WHISKEY IN THE JAR (1972)

THIN LIZZY

The oldest song on Garage Inc by about 300 years, Metallica’s arrangement of this trad Irish folk ballad owed everything to Thin Lizzy, whose 1972 version was originally jammed out of desperation after a day of unsuccessful songwriting. Metallica bonded over a shared love of Phil Lynott’s Dublin rock pioneers – Lars told So What! four other Lizzy songs were in contention – but according to Bob Rock, they liked the idea of honouring the band’s overlooked Eric Bell era. “It was one of the most simple ones on the album, because their heart was in it,” Bob Rock told AVClub in 2015. “It was really a live performance of [Metallica] playing it, which you hear, the enthusiasm and the excitement.” Metallica’s version won the band a Grammy, and breathed new life into the 17th-century lyric (helped along by a wild video, set in a raucous, all-female house party).