Master of Puppets (song)

"Master of Puppets" is a thrash metal song by American metal band Metallica, released on July 2, 1986 as the sole single from the album of the same name. It was also issued as a promotional single in the US by Elektra Records.^[2]

"Master of Puppets"
Single by Metallica
from the album Master of Puppets
B-side	"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" (7")
Released	July 2, 1986
Recorded	1985
Studio	Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen
Genre	Thrash metal[1]
Length	8:36
Label	New Electric Way Music for Nations Elektra
Composer(s)	Cliff Burton Kirk Hammett James Hetfield Lars Ulrich
Lyricist(s)	James Hetfield
Producer(s)	Metallica Flemming Rasmussen
Metallica singles chronology
"For Whom The Bell Tolls" (1985) "Master of Puppets" (1986) "Harvester of Sorrow" (1988)

The song was recorded during October–December, 1985 at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, Denmark.^[3][4]

The song was bassist Cliff Burton's favorite one on the album, as he said when it was released. The song is also one of the band's most famous and popular songs, frequently played at concerts.

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.^[5]

According to Dave Mustaine, Lars Ulrich composed the song's opening riff while Mustaine was still a member of Metallica.^[6]

A riff from David Bowie's song "Andy Warhol" is quoted in "Master of Puppets". It is an homage made by Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett to whom Bowie was a huge influence.^[7]

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".^[8]

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."^[9]

Live performances

The videos Cliff 'Em All, S&M, and S&M2 include live performances of "Master of Puppets" in its entirety. A shortened form appears in Cunning Stunts. Both versions can be seen in the video portions of the Live Shit: Binge & Purge box set.

"Master of Puppets" is the band's most played song live, first played on December 31, 1985, at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium for a crowd of 7,000.^[10] As of MDY, the song has been performed 1,718 times.^[11] During the band's World Magnetic Tour, additional live performances were filmed in Mexico City; Nîmes, France and Sofia, Bulgaria. These performances were released on video in November 2009 (Mexico and Nîmes) and October 2010 (Sofia).

The French electronic music duo Justice also played a version of this song on their first live album A Cross the Universe, which was released on November 24, 2008. The last song on the live album named "Final" contains a fairly large sample of "Master of Puppets".

Reception and awards

VH1 ranked the song as the third greatest heavy metal song ever.^[12]

In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 22 in its 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks list.^[13]

Martin Popoff's 2003 book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time ranked the song at number 2. Popoff composed the book by requesting that metal fans, musicians, and journalists nominate their favorite heavy metal songs. The author derived the final rankings from a database tallying almost 18,000 votes.^[14]

The song also ranked number 1 on a 100 Greatest Riffs poll conducted by Total Guitar magazine.^{[citation needed]}

The readers of Guitar World voted the song as ranking at number 51 among the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos. Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett's solos for "Fade to Black" and "One" ranked significantly higher on the same list.^{[citation needed]}

In 2020, Metal Hammer ranked the song number 1 on its list of the 50 best Metallica songs of all time.^[15]

In 2021, it was listed at No. 256 on Rolling Stone's "Top 500 Best Songs of All Time,"^[16] and in 2023 was ranked at number 2 on their "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time" list.^[17]

Accolades

Year	Publication	Country	Accolade	Rank
2003	Martin Popoff	United States	The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time[14]	2
2005	Q Magazine	United States	100 Greatest Guitar Tracks[13]	22
2006	VH1	United States	40 Greatest Metal Songs[12]	3
2012	Loudwire	United States	10 Best Metallica Songs[18]	1
2014	Rolling Stone	United States	Readers’ Poll: The 10 Best Metallica Songs[19]	2
2019	Metal Hammer	United States	The 50 best Metallica songs of all time[15]	1
2021	Kerrang	United Kingdom	The 20 greatest Metallica songs – ranked[20]	2
2021	Revolver	United Kingdom	Fan Poll: Top 5 Metallica Songs[21]	1
2023	The A.V. Club	United States	Essential Metallica: Their 30 greatest songs, ranked[22]	4
2023	Entertainment Weekly	United States	The 15 best Metallica songs[23]	unranked

Usage in media

"Master of Puppets" is featured in a scene of the 2003 film Old School and is heard as actors Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell play characters who are busy kidnapping people off the street to join their new fraternity.^[24] The song was featured in the opening credits for the film Zombieland: Double Tap.^[25] The song also appears in a trailer for the game Marvel's Midnight Suns.^[26] It also briefly features in the Big Short.^[27] The song is also used in Fortnite as a purchasable emote and as a "jam track" playable in Fortnite Festival.

The song is featured in the fourth season finale of the Netflix series Stranger Things, where the character Eddie Munson is seen playing the track in the Upside Down to attract the Demobats. The band said they were "blown away" by the scene.^[28] Like with Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill", which was also featured in the season, the song regained popularity and started charting again following the release of the finale, notably entering the U.S. and UK charts for the first time since the song's original 1986 release. It then peaked at number four in the Netherlands.^[29]

Track listing

French 7" single

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Master of Puppets" (7" Edit)	3:27
2.	"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"	4:06

Personnel

Credits are adapted from Master of Puppets's liner notes.^[30]

Metallica James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, 1st guitar solo Lars Ulrich – drums, percussion Cliff Burton – bass, backing vocals Kirk Hammett – lead guitar

Production Metallica – production Flemming Rasmussen – production, engineering Andy Wroblewski – assistant engineer Michael Wagener – mixing Mark Wilzcak – assistant mixing engineer George Marino – mastering, remastering on 1995 re-release Howie Weinberg, Gentry Studer – 2017 remastering

Charts

Weekly charts Weekly chart performance for "Master of Puppets" Chart (2022) Peak position Australia (ARIA)[31] 19 Canada (Canadian Hot 100)[32] 32 Czech Republic (Singles Digitál Top 100)[33] 80 France (SNEP)[34] 185 Germany (GfK)[35] 100 Global 200 (Billboard)[36] 20 Greece International (IFPI)[37] 12 Hungary (Single Top 40)[38] 13 Iceland (Tónlistinn)[39] 16 Ireland (IRMA)[40] 24 Lithuania (AGATA)[41] 32 Netherlands (Single Tip)[42] 4 New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[43] 17 Portugal (AFP)[44] 47 Slovakia (Singles Digitál Top 100)[45] 68 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[46] 69 UK Singles (OCC)[47] 22 UK Rock & Metal (OCC)[48] 1 US Billboard Hot 100[49] 35 US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[50] 5 US Rock Airplay (Billboard)[51] 22

Year-end charts Year-end chart performance for "Master of Puppets" Chart (2022) Position US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)[52] 22

Certifications

Certifications for "Master of Puppets"

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[53]	3× Platinum	210,000‡
Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[54]	Gold	45,000‡
Germany (BVMI)[55]	Gold	300,000‡
Italy (FIMI)[56]	Gold	25,000‡
New Zealand (RMNZ)[57]	2× Platinum	60,000‡
Portugal (AFP)[58]	Platinum	40,000‡
Spain (PROMUSICAE)[59]	Platinum	60,000‡
United Kingdom (BPI)[60]	Platinum	600,000‡
United States (RIAA)[61]	Gold	500,000*
Streaming
Greece (IFPI Greece)[62]	Gold	1,000,000†
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.

See also

• Songs about substance abuse

References

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2. "Metallica - Master Of Puppets". Discogs. July 2, 1986.
3. Gulla, Bob (2009). Guitar Gods: The 25 Players who Made Rock History. ABC-CLIO. p. 103. ISBN 9780313358067.
4. Brannigan, Paul; Winwood, Ian (2011). Birth School Metallica Death. Vol. 1. Da Capo Press. p. 195. ISBN 9780306821868.
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8. https://www.revolvermag.com/music/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-metallicas-master-puppets/
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