William Shatner Makes Heavy Metal Debut Covering Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne

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See William Shatner Cover Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne in Heavy Metal Debut

Star Trek actor and band the *uckers played warm-up gig in Chicago Saturday ahead of official Riot Fest debut

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September 20, 2026

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William Shatner made his heavy metal debut Saturday at a Riot Fest Chicago after hours gig, covering artists like Ozzy Osbourne and Metallica with the actor’s new band the *uckers.

The 95-year-old Star Trek star previously revealed that heavy metal would be his latest musical frontier following his expeditions into genres like spoken word , the blues , country music , Christmas songs and children’s music.

“I have explored space. I have explored time. Now … I explore distortion,” Shatner previously said of his heavy metal odyssey on social media. That loud journey began Saturday at Chicago’s Park West, where Shatner and his band of heavy metal vets played a warmup gig ahead of their first official show Sunday at Riot Fest.

The six-song set featured three songs from Shatner and the *uckers’ upcoming album What the F Is Heavy Metal? as well as covers of metal classics like Osbourne’s “Crazy Train,” Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” and Motorhead’s “Ace of Spades.”

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_Originally reported by [Rolling Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/william-shatner-metallica-ozzy-osbourne-heavy-metal-debut-1235629269/)._