Master Of Puppets details

Master of Puppets is the third album by American heavy metal band Metallica. The album was released on March 3, 1986 through Elektra Records and reached #29 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and was the band's first gold record for sales of over 500,000 copies. This was done without any radio airplay or the release of a single or music video. The album eventually sold over 6 million copies in the United States and was certified 6x platinum by the RIAA.^[1] Master of Puppets marks the last recording by bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed in a bus accident while on tour to promote the album.

Master of Puppets met with significant critical acclaim at the time of its release. The album is considered a classic thrash metal album by fans, critics, and the band members themselves alike, and is also considered one of the greatest heavy metal albums of all time.

Band Members: Cliff Burton - Bass James Hetfield - Rhythm Guitar/Vocals Kirk Hammett - Lead Guitar Lars Ulrich - Drums Album Credits: Produced by Metallica and Flemming Rasmussen Engineered by Flemming Rasmussen Recorded, Sept.-Dec. 1985 at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark. Mixed by Michael Wagener at Amigo Studios, North Hollywood, CA. Assistant mixing engineer: Mark Wilzcak Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound All lyrics by Hetfield. All Arrangements by Hetfield/Ulrich. Cover Concept: Metallica and Peter Mensch/Cover Illustration: Don Brautigam. All inner sleeve pics by Ross Halfin. Back Cover photos: Cliff- Rich Likong/Kirk- Ross Halfin/Lars- Rob Ellis/James- Ross Halfin. Agency representation: ICM/Marsha Vlasic, New York Fair Warning/John Jackson, London. Legal representation: Peter Paterno, Los Angeles. Accounting: Joni Schnieder and Fred Duffin for Siegel & Feldstein, San Francisco. Management: Q-Prime Album Curiosities: - Master of Puppets was Metallica's 3rd album. - Released in US on February 21, 1986. - This album was Metallica's last with Cliff Burton. - The subsequent tour for this album featured te band opening for heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne. - Peaked at #29 on the charts in the US, on May 11, 1986. - Kirk's guitar tech, John Marshall is forced to play James' parts when he suffers a broken wrist, due to a skating 'accident'. - The album had a 72 week run on the US charts Certified Gold on 11-4-86 Track Listing: 1 - Battery 5:10 (Hetfield/Ulrich) 2 - Master Of Puppets 8:38 (Hetfield/Ulrich/Burton/Hammett) 3 - The Thing That Should Not Be 6:32 (Hetfield/Ulrich/Hammett) 4 - Welcome Home (Sanitarium) 6:28 (Hetfield/Ulrich//Hammett) 5 - Disposable Heroes 8:14 (Hetfield/Ulrich/Hammett) 6 - Leper Messiah 5:38 (Hetfield/Ulrich) 7 - Orion 8:12 (Hetfield/Ulrich/Burton) (instrumental) 8 - Damage, Inc. 5:08 (Hetfield/Ulrich/Burton/Hammett)

Chart performance

Certifications

Since the beginning of the SoundScan era in 1991, Master of Puppets has sold 4,578,000 copies.

Allmusic's Steve Huey commented that Master of Puppets "was the band's greatest achievement." "Some critics have called Master of Puppets the best metal album ever recorded", Huey noted.^[7]

Master of Puppets has been featured on several "greatest albums of all time" lists. The album is present in the list "The All-TIME 100 Albums" published by TIME magazine in November 2006.^[8] In TIME critic Josh Tyrangiel's opinion, "Metallica didn't bother with hooks or pop discipline" in writing Master of Puppets.^[8] IGN ranked it #1 in a list of the "Top 25 Metal Albums" issued in January 2007.^[9] The album is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die and Q magazine counted it among the 50 heaviest albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 167 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. The album has frequently been tagged by critics as "one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time."^[10]

As an early parody of the PMRC's "explicit lyrics" warning labels, many prints of Metallica's 1986 release of Master of Puppets sported an octagonal sticker on the front saying:

"The only track you probably won't want to play is "Damage, Inc." due to the multiple use of the infamous "F" word. Otherwise, there aren't any "Shits", "Fucks", Pisses", "Sucks", "Cunts", "Motherfuckers" or "Cocksuckers" anywhere on this record."(Six of George Carlin's Seven Dirty Words)^[11]

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of its release, Metallica played the album in its entirety on their Escape from the Studio '06 tour for the first time ever at the Rock am Ring festival on June 3, 2006. These concerts included the first-ever complete performances of the instrumental "Orion" (previously only portions of the song's lengthy middle section had been performed onstage as part of instrumental medleys and bass solos).

The title track was ranked #51 in the "The Greatest Guitar Solos" from Guitar World. In 2006, the album was voted the fourth "greatest guitar album of all time" in Guitar World. And the April 5th edition of Kerrang! was dedicated to it, providing readers with the cover album "Master of Puppets: Remastered". In March 2007, the guitar magazine Total Guitar ranked the 100 greatest riffs of all time and the main riff of the album's title track was ranked number one.

"Damage, Inc." is the last of four songs to feature writing from all members of the Cliff Burton-Kirk Hammett era of Metallica.

Every song from this album except "Leper Messiah" and "Damage, Inc." is playable on the music video game Guitar Hero: Metallica. The song "Battery" is featured in the game Rock Band 2.

ESPN has used the title track "Master of Puppets" to promote the Nascar Nationwide Series

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