The Soothing, Dulcet Tones of ... Metallica

ByABC News
January 11, 2007, 5:13 PM

Jan. 11, 2007— -- "Say your prayers little one/Don't forget my son/To include everyone/I tuck you in/Warm within," begins the song "Enter Sandman." If you've been living under a rock for the past two decades, you might be fooled into believing this is an actual lullaby, not one of VH1's "greatest metal songs of all time."

Ironically, "Enter Sandman," that head-banging, mosh-pit jumping, multiplatinum classic from Metallica's 1991 Grammy-winning self-titled album, now exists in lullaby form, a calming melodic mix of glockenspiel, triangle and Mellotron.

Laughably, the CD is called "Rockabye Baby! Lullaby Renditions of Metallica" and is the creative tour de force of composer/musician/hipster extraordinaire Michael Armstrong.

But Metallica is not the only rock band Armstrong has transformed from scary and screaming to serene and soothing. So far, he has recorded 18 albums under the Rockabye Baby! name, translating Led Zeppelin, Radiohead, AC/DC, the Cure, ColdPlay, Nirvana, the Pixies, U2, the Ramones and other envelope-pushing left-of-center chart-toppers into gentle instrumental compositions.

Armstrong, who created the Rockabye Baby! series for Baby Rock Records, is laughing as well, all the way to the bank. In the past year, hits aimed at the knee-high set, like the triple-platinum "High School Musical" and the "Hannah Montana" soundtrack, which had six songs atop the Hot 100 chart and went gold in just three weeks, raked in millions in CD and concert-ticket purchases. Escalating sales and a never-ending audience make kid rock music and, come to think of it, Kid Rock music hard to ignore.

Let's face it. What parents wouldn't do, or spend, just about anything to banish the Barney song from blaring out of their car's speaker system and from their child's repertoire altogether?

"The people having babies are music fans," said Baby Rock Records Vice President Lisa Roth in an interview with ABC News. "I think there is a dire need for some fun, ironic, edgy music for the parents."