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Master of Puppets
performed by Metallica
written by Cliff Burton, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield,
Lars Ulrich
released on July 2, 1986
[Instrumental Intro]
[Verse 1]
End of passion play, crumbling away, I’m your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear, leading on your death’s construction
Taste me, you will see, more is all you need
Dedicated to how I’m killing you
[Pre-Chorus]
Come crawling faster (Faster)
Obey your master (Master)
Your life burns faster (Faster)
Obey your master, master
[Chorus]
Master of puppets, I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing
Just call my name ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
Just call my name ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
[Verse 2]
Needlework the way, never you betray, life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery, chop your breakfast on a mirror
Taste me, you will see, more is all you need
Dedicated to how I’m killing you
[Pre-Chorus]
Come crawling faster (Faster)
Obey your master (Master)
Your life burns faster (Faster)
Obey your master, master
[Chorus]
Master of puppets, I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing
Just call my name ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
Just call my name ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
[Interlude]
(Master, master, master, master)
[Guitar Solo]
[Bridge]
Master, master
Where’s the dreams that I’ve been after?
Master, master
You promised only lies
Laughter, laughter
All I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, laughter
Laughing at my cries
Fix me
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Hell is worth all that, natural habitat, just a rhyme without a reason
Never-ending maze, drift on numbered days, now your life is out of season
I will occupy, I will help you die
I will run through you, now I rule you too
[Pre-Chorus]
Come crawling faster (Faster)
Obey your master (Master)
Your life burns faster (Faster)
Obey your master, master
[Chorus]
Master of puppets, I’m pulling your strings
Twisting your mind and smashing your dreams
Blinded by me, you can’t see a thing
Just call my name ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
Just call my name ’cause I’ll hear you scream
Master, master
[Laughter]
_____________________
I was first introduced to Master of Puppets on my elementary school bus by a red-haired kid named Chris who was a year or two older than me. I don’t remember being terribly impressed by this song at the time. It might have been a cause or concern if I had been. Chris – who it did resonate with – was kind of an elementary school metal proselytizer so having me listen to music was a regular theme of our interactions. I ended up liking Metallica’s somewhat more toned down Black Album a little better. This was music for rebellious youth, not a pre-adolescent cowboy child.
I always kind of keep in the back of my mind that a lot of Gen Xers grew up on music like this. Is there still some frantic energy and chaos bouncing around inside your 57 year old neighbor across the street? There might be. Is it balanced out by a Hall & Oates song banging around inside of him, too? I hope so. And let’s hope things just continue to be balanced, too.
This song makes a lot more sense when you know what it’s about. From the outside, you might think it’s about the devil. That’s definitely what I thought when I was 9 years old. It was released right in the middle of the Satanic panic, and all, and who else would your evil-seeming master be? However, what it’s actually about is James Hetfield’s aversion for illegal drug addiction. (via wiki)
Lyrical meaning
The song, as lead singer James Hetfield explained, “deals pretty much with drugs. How things get switched around, instead of you controlling what you’re taking and doing, it’s drugs controlling you.”
Background and composition
It is the second and title track of the album, preceded by a shorter, high-speed typical thrash metal track, “Battery“, a similar sequencing heard on Metallica’s second (Ride the Lightning) and fourth (…And Justice for All) albums. “Master of Puppets” is also notable for its extensive use of downpicking and long instrumental section.
According to Dave Mustaine, Lars Ulrich composed the song’s opening riff while Mustaine was still a member of Metallica.
A riff from David Bowie‘s song “Andy Warhol” is quoted in “Master of Puppets”. It is a homage made by Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett to whom Bowie was a huge influence.
The song was recorded in a lower tempo and tuning and later sped up by Rasmussen running the tapes faster which brought the tuning up to standard 440 Hz. This allowed the instruments to be as tight as possible at a higher tempo. Ulrich later admitted he feels the album version is “too tight”.
Maybe I missed the anti-drug Metallica PSAs during that era, alongside the frying eggs and 5 year old Danny Pintauro ones. I guess with the small child from Who’s the Boss, breakfast food, and Pee Wee Herman on the case, the PSA industry didn’t need the comparatively less culturally relevant Metallica to chime in.
It definitely couldn’t be that the government was trying to make drug-use look awesome by finding the worst possible spokespeople to speak out against using them. And it definitely isn’t possible that the government was trying to make it career poison for a band like Metallica to be more open about the underlying message of this song, because doing so would align them with Nancy Reagan, Punky Brewster, and Pee Wee Herman.
Was it actually easier in the 80s to have your career associated with the devil than with the “Just Say No” movement? It makes you think.
Anyway…
Once I got older, I liked the song. Then I continued getting older and I aged out of it. Then I got even more older and now I feel some nostalgia for it.
Charts
| Australia (ARIA) | 19 |
| Canada (Canadian Hot 100) | 32 |
| Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100) | 80 |
| France (SNEP) | 185 |
| Germany (GfK) | 100 |
| Global 200 (Billboard) | 20 |
| Greece International (IFPI) | 12 |
| Hungary (Single Top 40) | 13 |
| Iceland (Tónlistinn) | 16 |
| Ireland (IRMA) | 24 |
| Lithuania (AGATA) | 32 |
| Netherlands (Single Tip) | 4 |
| New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ) | 17 |
| Portugal (AFP) | 47 |
| Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100) | 68 |
| Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) | 69 |
| UK Singles (OCC) | 22 |
| UK Rock & Metal (OCC) | 1 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 35 |
| US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard) | 5 |
| US Rock Airplay (Billboard) | 22 |
The song charted well, but I doubt anyone could have predicted its endurance. It was back on the charts again in 2022.
Master of Puppets made a big resurgence in the popular culture a couple years ago, thanks to the TV show Stranger Things. Gen Z discovered their Gen X parents’ music and apparently fell in love with it. I’ve seen MANY SUCH CASES on TikTok/IG reels.
The show itself made me think about my friend from the school bus, Chris. I moved away before I found out how life went for him as a teenager, but I hope it went better for him than it did for Eddie on the show (hopefully my former small town’s survival never required any kind of guitar heroism from anyone.)
I have embedded a live performance of this song from all the way back in 1989. It seemed appropriate to find something from that far back to hopefully capture some of the energy from the era. I won’t pretend to know what was animating the emotions that drew people to this music, but it serves well as a musical polaroid snapshot of an era in America.
Please keep in mind while watching the video that “Master” is not supposed to be cool and to just say no to drugs.
Enjoy!
I can’t give this song a fair shake because when I was a youth my sister dated a dude who played this song continuously on a loop and used to shout the lyrics in my face. It wouldn’t surprise me if he was in prison now for murdering someone who didn’t like this song. Or for other reasons.
That’s crazy. It’s pretty unhinged to scream in the face of your romantic interest’s family, even if it is a brother. I’m glad my early life introduction to the song was comparatively innocuous. I do think the music taps into something, in some people, that’s a little unhinged. You didn’t usually see violent mosh pits at John Tesh concerts.