Metallica has stepped in with a big compliment for a woman posting bagpipe covers of the band’s songs on Instagram, after she was criticised by fans online. New Yorker Ally Crowley-Duncan, known online as Piper Ally, has nearly 330,000 followers on the social media app, where she posts videos of her playing the instrument. On 20 June, Crowley-Duncan uploaded a video showcasing “Five Metallica songs you didn’t know you could bagpipe.” Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “Metallica and bagpipes is *chefs kiss*,” she wrote, with covers of some of the band’s biggest hits including Master of Puppets, Fade to Black, One, Enter Sandman, and Whiskey in the Jar. One Instagram user was unimpressed. “Bagpipes don’t belong in Metallica!!,” they wrote. “James [Hetfield, the lead singer] would not approve.” However, within minutes, Metallica intervened, saying: “@Ally the Piper. This guy doesn’t speak on our behalf. You’re awesome.” In a separate post, Crowley-Duncan shared the comment. She said: “When Metallica defends you in the comments of your own video.” Other users were quick to leap to her defence. One person said: “Could not have [a] bigger compliment.” Another said: “This is LEGENDARY.” Before long, the critic had deleted their comment, and later their own Instagram account. One commenter added: “This one goes out to that comment trying to talk for @metallica. Keep it up bad ass.” Another said: “Imagine getting owned so hard you up and quit Instagram. Metallica has spoken!” Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.