Ryan Gosling's Ken pays homage to Metallica in Barbie movie
Another link to the rock world
Last updated 13th Jul 2023
With news breaking this week that Guns N’ Roses’ Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen both appear on soundtrack, it has emerged that the upcoming Barbie movie has yet another link to the rock world.
Eagle-eyed viewers of the ‘Just Ken’ video clip, which features guitars from Slash and Wolfgang Van Halen, have spotted that Ryan Gosling’s incarnation of Ken features a nod to heavy metal titans Metallica.
In certain scenes, a shirtless Ken wears a bandana and oversized fur coat along with a metal belt that has his name ‘Ken’ attached to it in the distinctive Metallica logo font.
Metallica’s iconic logo adorned all of their studio albums from 1983 debut ‘Kill ‘Em All’ to 1991’s ‘Metallica’, however they used different fonts on ‘Load’, ‘Reload’ and ‘St. Anger’, before reviving it on 2008’s ‘Death Magnetic’ onwards.
Serial hitmaker Mark Ronson (who is related to Foreigner’s Mick Jones) has produced the soundtrack for Barbie, which features an array of pop, indie and rap artists including Billie Eilish, Haim, Tame Impala, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, Sam Smith and Nicki Minaj.
Ronson confirmed Slash’s involvement in the song ‘Just Ken’ on the red carpet of the Barbie premiere in Los Angeles on Sunday night (9th July), telling Variety: “Slash is my hero.
“I grew up like… I was 7th grade when (Guns N’ Roses’) ‘Appetite for Destruction’ came out. He’s my all-time hero, I had pictures of Slash all over my wall.
“When we were getting this song done, I was like ‘it never hurts to ask, it’s such a longshot.’ I sent (Slash) the song and he was like ‘This is a good song!’
“I didn’t know Slash that well before this, but he was like ‘Cool, I’ll play on it’. And he killed it! He played the solo at the end and the rhythm parts. It’s wonderful.”
The following day, Wolfgang Van Halen took to Instagram to share photos of himself at the premiere and confirmed that he also contributed to the Barbie soundtrack.
“If anyone is curious about specifics, I have a lot of textural stuff throughout the film with two major spots where I do some soloing,” Van Halen wrote. “One in particular is pretty cool because it's the big song that Ryan Gosling sings and Slash plays on it as well!
“There's a specific moment in this song that's only in the movie where l've got this fun solo with some tapping and stuff lol. Such a cool opportunity. Honoured to be a part of it.”
The Barbie movie hits UK cinemas on Friday 27th July. Watch the 'Just Ken' video here:
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