Master of Puppets (song)

Song

Tour Dates

"It 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."

— James Hetfield

Master of Puppets is the second and title track of the album Master of Puppets. The song was written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, and Cliff Burton. Often recognized as a thrash metal masterpiece is well known for its heavy guitar part and its maniacal laughter.

About

Keeping the theme of powerlessness and manipulation in the album, "Master of Puppets" is about drugs and the effect of it on you. Some examples in the song are: "You're dedicated to how I'm killing you", referring to drug addiction and how the person can't stop taking the drug, or "I'm your source of self-destruction", meaning that one kills himself by taking drugs. Death also plays a big role in the song, as it does in the rest of the songs on the album.

Live

• "Master of Puppets" has been played 1758 times live as of January, 2025, making it the most played song live by Metallica,
• "Master of Puppets" was played live for the first time on December 31st, 1985, in San Francisco, California, at the San Francisco Civic Auditorium.
• It was last played live on December 13th, 2024, in Inglewood, California, at the Helping Hands Concert.
• It is one of the eleven songs to be played live over 1000 times along with "Creeping Death", "Seek & Destroy", "One", "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Enter Sandman", "Sad But True", "Fade To Black", "Battery", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", and "Nothing Else Matters".
• During the Wherever We May Roam Tour, Master of Puppets was not fully played, it was played until after the 2nd chorus. The song would be only about 4 minutes long, which is shorter than most Metallica songs, which are typically 5 minutes long.

Trivia

• "Master of Puppets" ranked #51 in Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos.
  • The song charted at #40 for the first time in "Billboard Hot 100" 2022, after it was featured on the finale of Stranger Things season 4, with Eddie Munson (played by Joseph Quinn) actually did the main riffs of the song (the solo was stunt doubled by Robert Trujillo's son, Tye Trujillo, with assistance from Kirk Hammett himself)
• The first solo of "Master of Puppets" is played by James, even though he is the rhythm guitarist and vocalist, while Kirk Hammett, the lead guitarist, plays the rhythm during the first solo. However, during the two harmonic solos, James plays the lower harmony while Kirk plays the higher harmony. This can easily be detected when listening to a live version of "Master of Puppets", as James' guitar is playing in the left speaker and Kirk's guitar is playing in the right speaker.
• "A lot of people think I came into my own on that song. It had everything to do with buying our first Mesa/Boogie Mark II-C heads. Boogie made those heads for a short time in the mid-Eighties, but nothing they've made has since captured that particular sound. They were really unique. The sound of the entire Master of Puppets album is pretty much some combination of the Boogie and Marshall." -Kirk Hammett
• Master of Puppets has a mistake in the solo, and Kirk Hammett liked it.
  • The riff after the 2nd (Kirk Hammett's) solo was inspired by (maybe) Andy Warhol, by the late David Bowie.
• The studio recording is played slightly lower than the rest of the album, at A435.
• On June 7th, 2024, this song was released in the Fortnite Item Shop as a jam track and playable song in Fortnite Festival.

Lyrics

    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
    
        Come crawling faster
        Obey your master
        Your life burns faster
        Obey your master
        Master
    
        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
   
   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
   
       Come crawling faster
       Obey your master
       Your life burns faster
       Obey your master
       Master
   
       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
   
   Master, master
   Where's the dreams that I've been after?
   Master, master
   Promised only lies
   Laughter, laughter
   All I hear and see is laughter
   Laughter, laughter
   Laughing at my cries
   
   Fix me
   
   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
   
       Come crawling faster
       Obey your master
       Your life burns faster
       Obey your master
       Master
   
       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