Metallica's cover is almost an exact reproduction of Thin Lizzy's remake of Whiskey in the Jar. Thin Lizzy did it as a space filler in order to complete an album and it ended up on the pop charts. Apparently Thin Lizzy was a little upset that this song received the more attention than a lot of his other work, and he did not want to be remembered for playing Irish Traditional music. The remake, however, is brilliant and between all the different people looking for a Traditional song, or a Rock Song, or a clap along audience participation songs there are a number of people covering it.