Master of Puppets (song)

"Master of Puppets" is a song by American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on July 2, 1986, as the only single from the band's 1986 studio album of the same name. It was also issued as a promo 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")
ReleasedJuly 2, 1986
Recorded1985 at Sweet Silence Studios
(Copenhagen, Denmark)
Genre
Length8:36
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
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]

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, beginning at 3:34.

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

Live performances

The videos Cliff 'Em All, S&M and S&M 2 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, first played on December 31, 1985, at San Francisco's Bill Graham Civic Auditorium for a crowd of 7,000.[6] As of February 2, 2021, the song has been performed 1,673 times.[7] 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).

From late 1999 through 2000, Metallica often combined the song with "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" in concert, calling it "Mastertarium".

Track listing
French 7" single
No.TitleLength
1."Master of Puppets" (7" Edit)3:27
2."Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"4:06

Personnel
Metallica
Production

Awards

VH1 ranked the song as the third greatest heavy metal song ever.[8]

In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 22 in its 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks list.[9]

Martin Popoff's 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.

The song also ranked number 1 on a 100 Greatest Riffs poll conducted by Total Guitar magazine.

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.

Notable cover versions

"Master of Puppets" has been covered by multiple artists.

Charts

Year-end charts
Chart (2019) Position
Portugal (AFP)[10] 1214

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Italy (FIMI)[11] Gold 25,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[12] Silver 200,000

sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

See also

References
  1. Cush, Andy (November 3, 2016). "Metallica's Lars Ulrich Thinks He Might Get Too Old to Perform "Master of Puppets"". Spin. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  2. "Metallica - Master Of Puppets". Discogs.
  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. 1. Da Capo Press. p. 195. ISBN 9780306821868.
  5. Hetfield, James (1988). "Interview with Metallica, from Vol. 6, No.8" (Interview). Interviewed by Pushead. Thrasher Magazine. Archived from the original on January 5, 2008. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  6. Brannigan, Paul; Winwood, Ian (2011). Birth School Metallica Death. 1. Da Capo Press. pp. 199–200. ISBN 9780306821868.
  7. https://www.setlist.fm/stats/metallica-3bd680c8.html
  8. "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs". VH1. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007. Retrieved 2008-01-30.
  9. "Rocklist.net...Q Magazine Lists."
  10. "Top AFP - Audiogest - Top 3000 Singles + EPs Digitais" (PDF) (in Portuguese). Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa. Retrieved September 21, 2020.
  11. "Italian single certifications – Metallica – Master of Puppets" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved September 30, 2019. Select "2019" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "Master of Puppets" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli online" under "Sezione".
  12. "British single certifications – Metallica – Master of Puppets". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved June 26, 2020.
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