Album

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

1986 · Rock

222 collectors on Gatefold own this

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Master Of Puppets by Metallica

Master Of Puppets is a Metal album by Metallica, originally released in 1986. On Gatefold: 619 pressings tracked, owned by 222 collectors.

About

<b>100 Best Albums</b> During a 1986 tour stop in Houston, Metallica visited a local record store to promote <i>Master of Puppets</i>. There were two ways of getting to the store from the hotel: a van and a limousine. Riding in the limo would’ve been an affront to the band’s ethic. But riding in the van—without air conditioning, at the height of the Houston summer—would’ve been an exercise in pride. With <i>Ride the Lightning</i>, the band found themselves caught between the worlds of underground purity and mainstream recognition. <i>Master of Puppets</i> was even more popular, and the music even more intense: in speed, in aggression, in its suspicion and hostility toward forces of control. It’s an old question in rock music: How can you scream along to songs about the perils of conformity without becoming a product of it? The band took the limo, but they blasted the Misfits on the way, as though to keep at bay what everyone already knew: Their days in vans were numbered. In MTV footage from around the album’s release, Lars Ulrich tells an interviewer that Metallica is still four idiots trying to stay in tune and on time. The modesty isn’t entirely false: For all its precision, <i>Master of Puppets</i> still feels like the product of the basement or garage. And where the boys’ nights out of Van Halen and Mötley Crüe promise relief (through girls, through drugs, through sheer lack of inhibition), Metallica plays with the restless intensity of someone who can’t catch a break from their spiral of negative thoughts, whether about war (“Disposable Heroes”), addiction (“Master of Puppets”), religious evangelism (”Leper Messiah”), or the failure of mental healthcare to treat those who need it most (“Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”). They may sound epic, but their concerns are almost violently earthly. That the album’s sole moment of reflection is named after a constellation makes sense (“Orion”): On <i>Master of Puppets</i>, hell is here and relief is a long way off.

via Apple Music

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Tracklist

Side A

  1. A1Battery5:10
  2. A2Master Of Puppets8:38
  3. A3The Thing That Should Not Be6:32
  4. A4Welcome Home (Sanitarium)6:28

Side B

  1. B1Disposable Heroes8:14
  2. B2Leper Messiah5:38
  3. B3Orion8:12
  4. B4Damage, Inc.5:08

Sound DNA

  • Metal
  • Thrash Metal
  • heavy
  • intense
  • primal

Album notes

Discogs page for these notes (opens in a new tab)

Released March 3, 1986
Guitar, Vocals: James Hetfield
Drums: Lars Ulrich
Bass: Cliff Burton
Guitar: Kirk Hammett
Recorded at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark, from September 1985 to December 1985
Produced by Metallica & Flemming Rasmussen
Engineered by Flemming Rasmussen
Mixed by Michael Wagener at Amigo Studios, North Hollywood, CA
Assistant Mixing Engineer: Mark Wilzcak
Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York, NY
Remastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound, New York, NY (1995)
Remastered by Howie Weinberg and Gentry Studer at Howie Weinberg Mastering, Los Angeles, CA (2017)
Cover concept: Metallica & Peter Mensch
Cover Illustration: Don Brautigam
Photographers: Ross Halfin (All inner sleeve pix, Kirk/Back Cover, James/Back Cover), Rich Likong (Cliff/Back Cover), Rob Ellis (Lars/Back Cover)
Management: Q-Prime, Inc.
All songs © 1986 Creeping Death Music (Global Music Rights)
℗ & © 1986 Blackened Recordings
Master of Puppets is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica.
It was the last album with the bassist Cliff Burton, who died in a bus accident in Sweden during the album's promotional tour.
Artwork, designed by Metallica & Peter Mensch and painted by Don Brautigam, depicts a cemetery field of white crosses tethered to strings, manipulated by a pair of hands in a blood-red sky. Instead of releasing a single or video in advance of the album's release, Metallica embarked on a five-month American tour in support of Ozzy Osbourne. The European leg was canceled after Burton's death in September 1986, and the band returned home to audition a new bassist.
Master of Puppets peaked at number 29 on the Billboard 200 and received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its music and political lyrics.
It was certified six times platinum by the RIAA in 2003 for shipping six million copies in the United States, and was later certified six times platinum by Music Canada and platinum by the BPI.
In 2015, Master of Puppets became the first metal recording to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.
It is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential thrash metal albums of all time.
Main runouts of 1986 vinyl releases per country.
US
STE 60439 (opens in a new tab) Elektra.
ST-E-60439-1-A (opens in a new tab) Elektra.
STE-60439-A DMM-1 (opens in a new tab) Elektra.
STE-60439-A-DMM-1 (opens in a new tab) Elektra.
STE-60439-A-DMM (opens in a new tab) Elektra.
R-134552-A, S̶T̶E̶-̶6̶0̶4̶3̶9̶-̶A̶-DMM-1 (opens in a new tab) Elektra.
UK
MFN 60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations.
RR 9717 MFN 60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations + Elektra.
R̶R̶ ̶9̶9̶1̶7̶ MFN 60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations + Elektra.
R̶R̶ ̶9̶9̶1̶7̶ MFN 60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations.
R̶R̶ ̶9̶9̶1̶7̶ RR 9717 MFN-60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations, misprint.
R̶R̶ ̶9̶9̶1̶7̶ RR 9717 MFN-60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations + Elektra, misprint.
R̶R̶ ̶9̶9̶1̶7̶ RR 9717 MFN-60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations + Elektra, misprint + mispress.
EU
RR 9717 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations + Roadrunner.
RR 9717 MFN 60 (opens in a new tab) Music for Nations + Roadrunner.

Credits

The people behind it.

Performers

222 collectors on Gatefold own this · 619 pressings tracked on Gatefold

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