The prank took place in 1989
In an interview with radio station 98.5 The Sports Hub, Kirk Hammett recounted that Metallica used to play pranks on their opening bands.
“We did bad things to The Cult, to Queensrÿche, to Metal Church. And after that, we started treating our opening bands a little better. We like that, we're always joking around with them.”
When asked about the best prank they ever pulled, the guitarist recalled the …And Justice for All in 1989 when Queensrÿche opened for them:
“We decided that when they were going to play their big hit 'Silent Lucidity', we were going to put some male strippers behind them. When they started playing, we told the lighting person to focus the light on the strippers. So we were watching the show, the light came on and the audience got very excited, in a positive way. They [Queensrÿche] didn't realize what was happening, they just thought 'this song must be very famous around here!'. But they didn't know there were six men taking their clothes off behind them. It was hilarious! I remember laughing so hard that tears came out.”
