The meaning of Metallica's Master of Puppets single

3 March 2025, 16:15 | Updated: 3 March 2025, 16:23

By Radio X

@RadioX

Metallica's anthem is well known around the world, but there's much more to the 1986 single than meets the eye.

Metallica's Master of Puppets album was released on 3rd March 1986.

The album's title track and lead single was always one of the rockers' most iconic tracks, but it found a whole new audience due to Stranger Things season 4, which sent it soaring to the top of the iTunes Charts.

Eddie Munson's Upside Down Guitar GOD Scene - Master of Puppets | Stranger Things | Netflix

The nostalgic Netflix series may have given the anthem a new lease of life, but but the single has somewhat of a dark and troubled inspiration.

So what is Master of Puppets actually about? Come with us as we delve into the track that's still making waves almost 39 years later...

Master of Puppets was released on 2nd July 1986. The only single to come from the album of the same name, it was recorded from October - December 1985 at Sweet Silence studios in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Notable for its long instrumental section and its extensive use of "downpicking", the single is one of the band's signature anthems and is regularly given an outing on the band's live setlist.

Read more:

• Metallica's James Hetfield phones fan who gave birth at Brazil gig
• Dave Grohl covers Metallica's Enter Sandman with country band
• Bill Bailey dances to Metallica's Enter Sandman on Strictly Come Dancing

As with many Metallica tracks, the lyrics on don't pull their punches, as frontman James Hetfield sings:

If you're thinking these convey a crippling and evil force, then you'd be right, but it's not not the occult the track is referring to. In fact, it's something far more dangerous and closer to home.

What is Master of Puppets about?

In an 1988 interview with Thrasher magazine, Hetfield explained Master of Puppets “deals pretty much with drugs. How things get switched around, instead of you controlling what you're taking and doing its drugs controlling you."

Despite being written over 38 years ago, the song has now gone on to take on a whole new fanbase. Just like Kate Bush, James Hetfield has showed his appreciation on the internet and praised the Stranger Things showrunners for the scene it's featured in.

Taking to Instagram, the band wrote: "The way The Duffer Brothers have incorporated music into Stranger Things has always been next level, so we were beyond psyched for them to not only include “Master of Puppets” in the show, but to have such a pivotal scene built around it."

They added: "We were all stoked to see the final result and when we did we were totally blown away... it’s so extremely well done, so much so, that some folks were able to guess the song just by seeing a few seconds of Joseph Quinn’s hands in the trailer!! How crazy cool is that?

"It’s an incredible honor to be such a big part of Eddie’s journey and to once again be keeping company with all of the other amazing artists featured in the show."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Metallica (@metallica)