Track #30 - “Master of Puppets” by Metallica (1986)
From the album Master of Puppets
Music by Cliff Burton, Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield, & Lars Ulrich
Lyrics by James Hetfield
Performed by:
James Hetfield – lead vocals, rhythm guitar, 1st guitar solo
Kirk Hammett – lead guitar
Cliff Burton – bass
Lars Ulrich – drums
Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs of All Time - #256
Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Songs of All Time - #2
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
You’re dedicated to
How I’m killing you
Come crawling faster
Obey your master
Your life burns faster
Obey your master
Master
On September 29th, 1986, UK heavy metal icons Iron Maiden released their sixth studio album, Somewhere in Time. I had just started 11th grade and being a super-fan of all things Iron Maiden, I dutifully begged my mom to accompany me as I drove to Record Stop in Lake Ronkonkoma (I only had a learner’s permit at the time), so I could purchase the cassette. Not having their new album on the very day it came out was simply unacceptable, so I was persistent, and soon enough we were on our way. Being the angsty teen I was back then, I probably made my mother wait in the car while I ran inside to make my purchase (sorry Mom). On the way home, I fought the instinct to drive over the speed limit and blow every stop sign so I could hear the new songs from my favorite band, but I stayed cool, and obeyed the traffic laws. My mother probably white-knuckled it anyway. Once home, I ran to my room, tore the cellophane off the cassette and popped it into the tape deck, adjusting the volume in such a way to keep my parents from pounding on the door, but just respectably loud enough so I could fully experience bassist Steve Harris’ distinctive trademark gallop, and singer Bruce Dickinson’s siren wail of a voice. I folded out the cassette cover to its full length to study the intricate album artwork and to read the lyrics. There was a lot going on with this cover. Iron Maiden covers were always jaw-dropping, but this one was epic. Of course, band mascot Eddie was center stage, striding through a Blade Runner-like backdrop, looking very much like something out of a Terminator film. But there were also dozens of other subtle references that only loyal Iron Maiden fans would pick up on; call them Easter eggs if you will. I would later purchase the vinyl album and then a poster so I could be sure to spot every single one. I held my breath as the title track began, “Caught Somewhere in Time”; this would be the highlight of 11th grade so far, no doubt. The first thing I noticed…synthesizers? Wait…I turned it up. Yes, those were definitely synthesizers underneath the trademark double guitar melodies. When the song really kicked in, and that bass gallop started, and Bruce Dickinson started singing, I also noticed it was…glossier somehow, less rough than what I was used to. And those synthesizers…they just sort of lurked underneath, but they were there. I listened to the entire album, and of course I liked it; there were some future classics on there. This was my favorite band, and I would always listen to anything they put out, synthesizers or not. And it’s not that I had anything against keyboards and synthesizers in hard rock and metal. Ronnie Dio, a metal god if there ever was one, and his namesake band had built their hit “Rainbow in the Dark” around a keyboard riff, so it was not unheard of. But Iron Maiden? They had shunned synthesizers only a couple of years ago. But as I look back now to the fall of 1986, hard rock and metal had begun to sound different that entire year, so when I think about my initial reaction to Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time, I should not have been surprised at the time. Earlier that year, fellow UK metal legends Judas Priest also experimented with synthesizers on their album Turbo, which was a huge departure from their sound. The themes of their lyrics were also lighter, pivoting more towards relationships, rather than science fiction. Even their look changed; they still wore leather, but it was more magazine-cover-shoot leather, and not we’ll-kick-your-ass leather. On their first album with new singer Sammy Hagar, 5150, Van Halen continued to build on the synthesizers they used on their #1 album, 1984. There were keyboards on almost every song; even the drums sounded different. Bon Jovi released the iconic Slippery When Wet, a masterpiece of pop metal, and new bands Cinderella and Poison put out their debuts. LA’s Motley Crue had the #1 most requested video on MTV for most of that year, a piano ballad called “Home Sweet Home.” Even Ozzy Osbourne changed his look, teasing his hair and wearing a glittery robe in his video for “Shot in the Dark” (which is a pretty great song, by the way). And the thing was, I owned all these records (yep, even Poison…give me a break, I was 16). I went right along with hard rock, and especially heavy metal’s turn towards a more commercial, less edgy sound. The music press called it “hair metal”, a nod towards the copious amounts of gel and hairspray the bands used on their coifs. I suppose MTV had a lot to do with this revolution back then; Judas Priest and Ozzy were just rolling with the times and trying to stay relevant. To their credit, Iron Maiden may have polished up their sound, but never raided the hair care aisle of the local drugstore. The irony in all this is that I had already heard the future of heavy metal; in fact, it was in my room, that day in the fall of 1986. It had been there since the spring of that year, a vinyl copy of an album just sitting on the floor leaning against my dresser, begging to be played again. It was a band that would sometimes confound critics in later years, and even divide their fans, but would end up becoming the biggest metal and hard rock band in the world…by a lot. They played metal music with power, speed and a fury that was not present at that time in the music of the bands I just mentioned. At the time, they were revolutionary, and in the years to come, their every move would be scrutinized, and they would sell millions of albums and concert tickets. The future of metal was right there in my room. I had what many people now consider either the best or second-best metal album ever recorded, and I was letting it sit there.
Lars Ulrich moved to Newport Beach from his native Denmark in the summer of 1980, intending to pursue a career in tennis. His father, Torben Ulrich, was a nationally ranked tennis player in Denmark, and a member of several Davis Cup teams. Lars himself was a tennis prodigy, and one of the best players in his age group in his home country. However, it soon became apparent that he did not have the talent to make his own high school team in the US, and he decided to focus on music instead. Years earlier, at the age of nine, he had attended his first concert, Deep Purple, in Copenhagen, and the experience stayed with him; he began playing drums when he was thirteen. Ulrich became a fan of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), which included bands like Motorhead, Def Leppard, Saxon, and the aforementioned Iron Maiden, and he set out to form a heavy metal band of his own in 1981. He placed an ad in the local paper The Recycler and met guitarists Hugh Tanner and James Hetfield. Hetfield, the man that would become Ulrich’s kindred spirit and bandmate could not have been more different than Ulrich. Hetfield grew up in a strict Christian Science household, with two half-brothers and a younger sister; his father left the family when Hetfield was thirteen. His mother would die of cancer when he was sixteen, eschewing treatment because of her religious beliefs. Ulrich recalls Hetfield being shy and withdrawn, and their first few jam sessions not really going anywhere. But by late 1981, they had recruited lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, and bassist Ron McGovney would join in 1982. Ulrich named the band Metallica; his friend was starting a metal magazine and asked Ulrich which name was better: MetalMania or Metallica. Ulrich told him to go with the former, keeping Metallica for himself and his new band. He also managed to secure a spot on a heavy metal compilation album called Metal Massacre before he even had a band, and in 1982, the newly formed Metallica contributed “Hit the Lights” to the album. They quickly earned a following by relentless live gigs and would soon look to record their first album, but not before two significant lineup changes. In late 1982, Hetfield and Ulrich saw bassist Cliff Burton performing at the Whisky a Go-Go and approached him to join Metallica. Burton said he would join, on the condition that the band move to the Bay Area in San Francisco, which they did a few months later. In 1983, they drove a U-Haul across the country to Rochester to record their first album. It was during this time that Mustaine’s drinking and violent outbursts became too much for the up-and-coming band, and he was fired, and put on a bus back to Los Angeles. As the story goes, Mustaine left through the back door, and Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett entered immediately through the front door. (More on Mustaine later; his story continued). With the lineup set, Metallica recorded their debut album Kill ‘Em All, released in July 1983. This was followed by Ride the Lightning, released in July of 1984. These first two albums contained songs now considered Metallica classics: “Seek & Destroy”, “The Four Horsemen”, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Fade to Black”, among others. During these two years, Metallica would tour with veteran bands Saxon, Venom, and W.A.S.P, and later share the bill with Bon Jovi and Ratt at the Monsters of Rock Festival in Donington. Their live performances became legendary, and by now they were becoming pioneers of the new “thrash metal” movement, which included bands Slayer, Anthrax, and Dave Mustaine’s new band, Megadeth. Thrash metal was characterized by fast rhythm guitar riffs, aggressive drum tempos, and shredding guitar solos, with elements of hardcore punk, and included dark lyrics that explored themes like war, death, addiction, and desperation. This revolution though, was happening underground, overshadowed by the glossier hair metal bands on the Sunset Strip, and by what was being played on MTV. These bands survived and eventually conquered by playing live, having loyal fans, and through the endless trading of cassettes of their music. The year 1986 would prove to be a pivotal year for thrash metal, and for Metallica, it would be the year they released their opus, an album that many believe is the greatest metal album ever recorded, and that a lot of their own fans think is their peak. Has Metallica done anything since Master of Puppets that matters? And more important…why did your host buy it, listen to it, love it and let it lie around for so long?
The thing about high school is that by 11th grade everyone is sort of in their groups or cliques, and that’s pretty much where everybody stays. Without rehashing the clique names assigned in the film The Breakfast Club, I’m sure everyone knows what I’m talking about. That’s just reality and how we grow up and it gives us something to look back on and laugh at when we’re middle-aged. In the end, I think we all just become nerds anyway, especially if we have children of our own; it’s inevitable that they will see us that way. But the high school I went to was different in the sense that it was just fucking huge. Sachem High School in Ronkonkoma, New York, in Long Island, was and still is one of the biggest public-school districts in New York State. My graduating class in 1988 had over 1,600 kids, 200 of which graduated in January, so about 1,400 walked in our graduation ceremony in June. It took the administrators almost 90 minutes to read our names when they handed out diplomas that day. The high school was divided into two campuses, 9th and 10th grade in one building, and 11th and 12th grade in the other. So simple math would tell you there were over 6,000 students that attended Sachem’s high school during those years. The crowds in the hallways back then looked like crowds between innings at Yankee Stadium. The reason I bring this up is because with a school this size the cliques get kind of blurry, and kids were able to slide between cliques. Sure, the jocks hung out together, but a lot of them were honors students, so they sometimes socialized with the smart kids, and some of the surfer guys were also artistic so they hung out with the arty goth kids, and so on. Then there were some kids that sort of knew others in every clique and didn’t identify with just one; that was me. I had friends I played hockey with and hung out with, but I also had geeky friends, preppy friends, and shy friends. And I was also friendly with kids that loved music and wore it proudly. If you grew up in the 80s, you might know who I’m talking about. They usually wore ripped jeans, black Chuck Taylors or white hi-top Nikes, had a mullet, and wore a concert t-shirt with a denim jacket. The jacket had a couple of buttons on it, and there was definitely a large band patch on the back: Dio, Iron Maiden, Van Halen, etc. A lot of them smoked cigarettes or played handball between periods in the courtyards between school buildings. If you’re a fan of the Netflix show Stranger Things just picture the Eddie Munson character. I was friends with several of these kids; to me, they were beyond cool. Back then, I didn’t have the courage to wear a denim jacket and grow my hair long, and here these kids were, just putting it out there, not giving a shit what anyone thought. They were my idols. So, when I wasn’t chatting up one of these kids about music, I was busy keeping track of the t-shirts and buttons they wore; this, and weekly walks to Record Stop after school were my sources of new bands. In the spring of 1986, I began to see a new band on the back of some of those denim jackets: Metallica. First off, the logo was awesome; the “M” and the “A” were sort of extended downward, like arms spread out over a crowd, with points at the bottom. I pretty much compared all band logos and artwork to Iron Maiden’s, and I remember being impressed when I saw the Metallica logo. So, I started asking around about Metallica before I actually listened to them. If you’ve read enough of these posts up to now, you know I like to stay in my lane; I wasn’t going to invest $10 on a cassette without doing some nosing around. Plus, I wondered if Metallica was out of my league to listen to; maybe they were too hardcore or too aggressive, much like I thought the Cure was too alternative before I gave them a listen. It would take a push from someone or something to make me go buy a Metallica record. In May of 1986, I was sitting in my 6th period European Studies class when that push came. I sat next to a kid named Vic in that particular class; in between hearing about the Renaissance and Luther’s 95 Theses, we’d quote British MTV comedy The Young Ones and talk about music. Vic had the requisite mullet and denim jacket, and a sense of humor to boot. So, before the teacher began that day, I asked Vic about Metallica. Yes, he was a fan, and yes, he owned all three of their albums. No, they did not sound like Iron Maiden or Dio. Hmmm…”Can you understand the music? Do they play really fast?”, I asked. He replied, “Well there’s a lot of offbeats and fast time signatures, yeah.” I sat there, probably looking quizzical, because Vic finally said, “Man, just listen to them! Get Master of Puppets, you’ll like it!” Okayyyy!
That weekend I went on a mission to get a copy of Master of Puppets. I tagged along with my mom on her Saturday morning errands and asked her to make a stop at the mall in Holbrook so I could run into Record World. (Man, my mom was really my music mule back then; I should bring her some flowers next time I see her.) While Mom browsed in another store, I scanned the racks in Record World for the Master of Puppets cassette. Turns out they were sold out of cassettes, but I was not about to leave empty-handed so I grabbed a vinyl copy, paid the clerk, and found my mom so I could get home and listen to Metallica for the first time. Since it was a Saturday, that meant my dad would be home. He was much less tolerant of the musical tastes of my brother and I, so I would need to be strategic about this. Hopefully he would run out or busy himself doing chores outside; it was May after all, and I hoped he would be uncovering patio furniture or plucking leaves from the flower beds. An aside here; lest you think I was not earning my keep back then and just loafing around on a Saturday while my parents toiled away doing chores, I used to mow the lawn on Fridays, and my room was pristine that day, so all was good on this particular Saturday to have a Metallica listening party. I waited and waited, but my dad only got as far as the garage; technically he was still inside the house. How loud could I turn up the volume and still avoid what would be an uncomfortable confrontation if my dad did not share my enthusiasm for discovering thrash metal? By the afternoon, my curiosity about Master of Puppets won out over whether my parents would come banging on my door to turn off what I was sure was going to be heavy metal fury coming from my room, and I put the new record on my turntable and dropped the needle. The first few chords of the first track, “Battery”, came softly through my speakers. They were double acoustic guitars, and it sounded like it could be the intro to any typical rock song. So far it sounded normal, mellow almost…but I knew it was just a ruse to lull me into a sense of calm before my head exploded….and then it did. The only way to describe what happened next, as “Battery” really got going, was everything got fast…the guitars, the drums, the bass, it all just got really, really fast. Now, I had heard loud and fast music before, but this was something completely different. Then the singing started, and that was just as fast…and it was angry: “Lashing out the action, returning the reaction, weak are ripped and torn away….Smashing through the boundaries, lunacy has found me, cannot stop the battery…” Yeah, that’s some angry, aggressive shit right there. Once the frenzy of “Battery” ended, the title track began, and this was when I knew I was hearing something different and special. The track “Master of Puppets”, a song written about the relentless power of addiction, instantly became one of the best songs I had ever heard. At eight and a-half minutes, it’s the longest song on the record, and easily the best. There was a musical breakdown in the middle of the song where everything slowed a bit, there’s a lilting guitar solo, and then it comes roaring back with crushing tom-tom hits, punctuated with singer James Hetfield screaming, “Fix me!!” Then Kirk Hammett plays one of the fastest, most insane guitar solos I’d ever heard. It was amazing. The other songs followed; “The Thing That Should Not Be”; “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)”; “Disposable Heroes”, and three more after that. There are only eight songs on the album, but it’s almost an hour long; by the end of it I was exhausted. As I was listening, I pictured these four guys in a cage, playing as loud and as fast as they could so they could break the bars and escape, playing like their lives depended on it. I flipped the record over and started it again, feeling more familiar with the songs the second time around. I couldn’t get enough of that that speed and power, and those lyrics that sounded so desperate. I dared to turn the volume up the second time around; I couldn’t believe no one had banged on my door yet. Finally, on the third time through, right after “Master of Puppets” ended, the bang on the door came. I opened it, and there was my dad, a very serious look in his eye.
“Johnny,” he said, “I can’t take it anymore. Either lower it or shut it off!”
“OK Dad,” I replied. “No problem.”
I shut the door, and I’m pretty sure I smiled as I took the record off the turntable. I gave it a rest that day, but I’m fairly certain I managed another listen before the weekend was over. At school on Monday, there was Vic as usual in his seat for 6th period European History, and I let him know about my weekend Metallica experience. “See?”, he said, “I told you they were fucking awesome!” So, the school year ended several weeks later, and while I listened to that Master of Puppets record a lot, it ended up where I mentioned it did several paragraphs ago, leaning against the side of my dresser, collecting dust. I got distracted that summer, mostly by studying for my learner’s permit, and the New York Mets’ World Series run that year, and I landed firmly back in my lane of the usual rock and heavy metal that I was used to listening to. It was only after Iron Maiden’s Somewhere in Time arrived that September, and a tragedy within Metallica itself occurred that would change them forever did I once again get curious about that album sitting in my room. That fall, I put it on my turntable again and that frenzy and fury returned, and best of all it was raw, and NOT glossy. But not even Vic and all those denim-clad metal fans could know then what would become of Metallica in the years to come, and just how big they would be, a machine really, when you consider them now. But back in 1986, they were still new, and they sounded hungry and maybe that’s what I loved most when I heard them for the first time. Their army of future fans had once laid on unmade beds decades ago and read along with the lyrics as Metallica blared from their speakers, or maybe they were in a parking lot, listening to a tape of a tape on boombox with their friends; either way we experienced it, we knew it was fresh and disruptive, much like Nirvana would sound several years later. And for this angsty Long Island teen, that one track, “Master of Puppets” would always be the apex of Metallica. Other Metallica songs would follow, but none has held a candle to that one. I can’t say that my parents, especially my dad as he banged on my bedroom door that day, felt the same.
There is no official video for “Master of Puppets”. Metallica would not make a video until 1988, for the song “One”. But here is a clip of them performing the song on Jimmy Kimmel this year, in support of their new album 72 Seasons. Another performance I like is when they played the song in the studio on The Howard Stern Show in 2016, so check that out when you can. Just keep the volume down so Mom and Dad don’t come knocking. 😊
Thank you again for reading! Sign up for email updates to get weekly posts delivered to your inbox and if you’re enjoying the posts, please feel free to share the link with your friends!
Next time…the death of a guitar icon, and the best song from his band’s best album; and all about how I almost changed my mind about including it on the playlist.
P.S.
Metallica supported Ozzy Osbourne on tour in the US for most of 1986; these shows were extremely successful for them, with fans turning up to see the support act rather than the headliner. Ozzy has said in the years since that he knew when he met Metallica that they would be huge and was quoted as saying “they really gave me a run for my money.” The tour moved to Europe that summer where Metallica was the headliner. On the night of September 27th, 1986, their tour bus skidded on a remote road in Sweden and flipped over several times while the band slept. Bassist Cliff Burton was killed instantly after being pinned under the bus; Hetfield, Hammett and Ulrich escaped without serious injuries. The driver claimed he hit a patch of black ice, but none was found, and the band contended the driver was intoxicated; it was ruled an accident, and no charges were filed. The rest of the tour was postponed, and with the blessing of Burton’s family, Metallica pressed on and they began to search for a new bassist; Jason Newsted was hired in October 1986. Newsted finished the tour, and the new lineup began recording the follow up to Master of Puppets in January 1988. The result was …And Justice for All, released in September 1988. As part of new bassist Jason Newsted’s endless hazing, all his bass parts were turned down so low in the mix you could barely hear them. To quote The Ringer’s music critic Rob Harvilla, “There is no low end on …And Justice for All.” To be sure, the whole record is easily the weirdest sounding Metallica album in their catalog, but it drew critical acclaim and spawned Metallica’s first official music video for the anti-war track, “One”. “One” would quickly become MTV’s most requested video immediately upon release and really give the rest of the world their first glimpse of Metallica. Clad in all black and with their shoulder-length hair flying everywhere, the band plows through “One” while clips of the WWI film Johnny Got His Gun are interspersed throughout. I’m still blown away by Ulrich’s double-bass rolls and the darker than dark lyrics about a soldier who loses everything but his soul; here’s a link to the video. The album reached as high as #6 on the Billboard Album Chart and has sold almost 10 million copies in the US. However, this was all just window dressing before 1991, when Metallica would release their fifth studio album, simply titled Metallica, or The Black Album, in August of that year. Produced by Bob Rock, the album took eight months to record, and would end up selling over 30 million copies worldwide and be certified 16X platinum in the US. Led by the single and the accompanying video for “Enter Sandman”, it made Metallica the biggest metal act in the world by far, notably outselling the Guns N’ Roses double albums Use Your Illusion I & II, released around the same time. It marked a complete departure for Metallica; The Black Album sounded far more commercial than their previous four albums, and they began to move away from the thrash metal sound they helped to pioneer. And “Enter Sandman” would easily become their most popular song, and one of the most iconic rock songs ever. Even if you’re not a fan of Metallica, you’ve heard “Enter Sandman” sometime in your life. It’s still played heavily on terrestrial radio, and as of today, has been streamed over 1.2 billion times on Spotify, almost 200 million times more than the next track, “Nothing Else Matters”, and almost 500 million times more than “Master of Puppets” which I think, as you’ve probably guessed, is a much better song. However, you can’t deny the way the groove of “Enter Sandman” just grabs you and stays with you. It is a once in a lifetime guitar riff, like “Satisfaction” or “Whole Lotta Love”. I would argue that “Enter Sandman” is the most ubiquitous and recognizable heavy metal song of all time. The problem with it is that many fans heard it, along with the two power ballads on The Black Album (“The Unforgiven” and “Nothing Else Matters”), and the term “sellout” started being thrown around. The Black Album would make Metallica household names and turn them into A-list celebrities; in other words, everything they and their fans used to give the middle finger to in the mid-80s. I actually love The Black Album; to me, it’s accessible and uncomplicated, and the songs sound great every time I listen to it. For me, the first five Metallica records are untouchable, and I think they’re all amazing, with Master of Puppets and the title track being the obvious standout. It’s everything else after those first five that I go back and forth on. There are albums I haven’t even listened to all the way through (St. Anger, Death Magnetic), and one that I put right up there with The Black Album (Hardwired…to Self-Destruct). I love their collaboration with Michael Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony (S&M), and their compilation of cover songs (Garage Inc.). I’ve seen them live only once, at Nassau Coliseum in May of 2017, while they were supporting Hardwired. They played in the round, and performed most of their hits, and it was a concert experience I’ll never forget. Metallica made their bones and survived on being a live band when they were starting out, and they can still bring it when they go onstage. But still, I go back and forth with them; I go through stretches where I crank up the early Metallica records for days at a time, and other times I absolutely would rather listen to anything else. Having said that, Metallica is still one of the biggest rock acts in the world; if they announced three shows in a row at Madison Square Garden right now, they would sell out all three shows in hours. No one can deny their legacy or their influence, but once you get as big as Metallica are, you are not going to please everyone, even your army of fans. Metallica has claimed several times that their next album will take them back to their roots, but they will never sound like they did on their first three albums. They’ve reached the top of the mountain, and then some. They don’t have a reason anymore to sound like they’re playing to escape from a steel cage. Again, I’ll quote Rob Harvilla, this time from his podcast 60 Songs That Explain the 90s, specifically his episode on “Enter Sandman”: “Let’s establish that making fun of Metallica is fun; it’s fun if you hate them, or you are indifferent to them, but it’s extra fun if you love them, if you are devoted to them.” I’ll just leave that there…by the way, listen to that episode right here, and check out the entire podcast, it’s a cheeky musical trip back in time.
The album Master of Puppets is often considered the greatest or second greatest heavy metal album of all time, often swapping spots with Black Sabbath’s Paranoid, depending on the publication. Rolling Stone ranked it 167 on its 500 Greatest Albums of all Time, and Time included it on their 100 greatest albums in 2006. In 2015, the album was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry, the first metal album to be so selected. The title track is often considered one of the best metal songs ever, also appearing on several “best of” lists. Metallica fans see the album as the band’s apex, and I wouldn’t argue; as metal albums, and songs go, Master of Puppets and the title track are difficult to top. In 2022, the Netflix show Stranger Things featured the character Eddie Munson playing “Master of Puppets” to distract the evil of the upside-down dimension from his friends. It’s an appropriate use of Metallica’s greatest track, and a pop culture moment for the 2020’s….
After being fired from Metallica, guitarist Dave Mustaine formed his own band, Megadeth. After a successful debut release in 1985, they followed it up with Peace Sells…but Who’s Buying? in late 1986, cementing their place in the “Big 4” of thrash metal, which included Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax. Megadeth would go on to release sixteen studio albums, five of which have gone platinum, and sell over 50 million albums worldwide. Megadeth’s sound has more of a bass-driven, bottom-heavy groove, with crunching guitar riffs throughout, and dark, politically driven lyrics. Mustaine is often ranked in the top 5 metal guitarists of all-time and is sometimes described as a “riff machine”. Despite the success of Megadeth, Mustaine maintained a grudge with Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield for several years, claiming he was dismissed unfairly, “given no warning, no second chance.” To watch the band he had co-founded become enormously successful and not be part of it was no doubt a wake-up call for Mustaine, and over the years he came to realize that while he should have been given some sort of warning before being fired, he admits to being “very unpredictable” and “physically reckless” during that period in his life. In 2002, Mustaine and Ulrich sat down for a filmed session with therapist Phil Towle, which was included in the 2004 Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster. If you’ve never seen it, here is the YouTube clip. It’s powerful, to watch these two men who were once best friends and bandmates and chasing the same dream, come to terms with how one of them is partly responsible for the other’s change of fortune, and how much that impacted the latter’s life. James Hetfield is in rehab when the session is filmed, so he is not present. The most poignant moment for me is right at the end, when Mustaine says, “I wish that James was here…I wish Cliff was here.” If you have not seen Some Kind of Monster, watch it on Netflix, even if you are not a Metallica or heavy metal fan. It’s completely self-serving at times and watching one of the most successful bands of all-time go through therapy will make you shake your head, but it’s worth it.
And lastly, regarding the legacy of Cliff Burton…in the Some Kind of Monster film, one of the central issues is the sudden departure of bassist Jason Newsted, who was a member of Metallica for 15 years and appeared on several albums. Newsted’s departure dredges up the memories of Burton’s death in 1986, and how that changed the course of the band forever. As the band struggle with how to move forward, producer Bob Rock, in the presence of the remaining three members of Metallica and therapist Towle, says something that I’ve always thought summarizes the band’s history, but that I’ve never heard said out loud: “I think the heart and soul of Metallica from this point on…since Cliff died, is the three of you guys. I think you will never, ever, ever find a permanent bass player.” Every Metallica fan has wondered “What if?” when it comes to Cliff Burton’s death. Metallica’s anti-establishment sentiments and non- interest in success was proudly worn by Burton; he was probably the most dedicated true musician in the band, with influences rooted in classical music, the blues and southern rock. Would Metallica have made a record like The Black Album if Burton had lived? Would he have wanted to record a commercial sounding album? And if you want to go down the rabbit hole even further, Hetfield, Hammett and Burton considered firing Ulrich after the conclusion of the Puppets tour; Burton’s death on that tour obviously put those plans infinitely on hold. Now THAT would have been a different band. But any way you look at it, the loss of Cliff Burton is immeasurable. All due respect to Jason Newsted, and current bassist Robert Trujillo (who is now their most tenured bassist, at 20 years; maybe Bob Rock was wrong), Metallica would have become even more influential and been a better band with Burton…but maybe not as popular.
See you next time…
JS
11/27/2023