Metallica: Master of Puppets Meaning

Song Released: 1986

Master of Puppets 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...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   May 16th 2007 !⃝

   I'll prove it
   
   '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'
   
   How you inject the drugs into your veins and it kills you faster.
   
   'Taste me, you will see
   More is all you need
   You're dedicated to
   How I'm killing you'
   
   About how once you've tasted drugs you'll want to come back to them and just keep doing them.
   
   'Come crawling faster
   Obey your master
   Your life burns faster
   Obey your master
   Master'
   
   You'll find yourself a slave, or puppet, to the drugs and your life will end quicker, and you will crawl back to them
   
   'Master of puppets, I'm pulling your strings, yeah
   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
   Hell Yeah!'
   
   How you will be blinded by the drugs and your dreams will become impossibilities and you will screw up your mind
   
   'Needlework the way, never you betray
   Life of death becoming clearer
   Pain monopoly, ritual misery
   Chop your breakfast on a mirror'
   
   How you will use needles to inject and how you usually snort cocaine off of a mirror
   
   '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'
   
   This part is basically about how you will get lost in a maze created by the drugs and dying from them
   
   'I will occupy
   I will help you die
   I will run through you
   Now I rule you, too'
   
   How when you are addicted, it's hard to stop, it will control you and kill you faster.
   
   There.

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Apr 19th 2005 !⃝

   Master of Puppets is about how substance abuse (mostly drugs) destroys your life. The master of Puppets is the drugs controlling your mind.
   
   Ex. "Chop your breakfast on a mirror"
   Cocaine addiction
   
   Ex. " Needlework the way, never you betray, life of death becoming clearer."
   Heroine addiction, you can't quite the drug, your life is continually ruined as you delve deeper into the addiction
   
   Ex. "Master of puppets is pulling your strings."
   Addiction controls you
   
   If you listen to the song there are many other examples
   
   And don't forget
   
   METALLICA KICKS ASS!!!!!
   
   Your fellow metalhead,
   Joe

3. 3TOP RATED

   #3 top rated interpretation:
   skinbabe

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   May 30th 2006 !⃝

   Ummmm nooooooo, it's not about James having no vein in his penis... It's about drugs and how they take over your life.. The drug is the master "come crawling faster, obey your master" crawling back to the drug (the master) "taste me you will see more is all you need" that makes it very clear it's about drug use. "master of puppets I'm pulling your srtings, twisting your mind and smashing your dreams, blinded bu me you can't see a thing, just call my name and il hear you scream" drugs crash your dreams and as you probably know when your on drugs its like a master hence "master of puppets" your the puppet. another good example "taste me you will see more is all you need" you have it once your more than likely to have it again.
   so I really dnt think it's about his veinless penis...
   correct me if I'm wrong ... and go easy I'm only 15 haha
   
   BIGGEST METALLICA FAN EVA
4. anonymous

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   Sep 5th 2022 !⃝

   The song talks about drug addiction, how substances control your mind like a puppet.
   
   I'm not creative, so I don't have much to say, but the message above basically sums it up.
5. anonymous

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   Nov 9th 2020 !⃝

   Life is the master and you are life's puppet for you are to dance when you are to to dance and jump when told to jump boy jump
6. anonymous

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   May 19th 2019 !⃝

   I'm almost certain this song portrays how the United states government ran the draft and sent many people Vietnam that had very strong opinions against it so they probably felt like puppets being sent to battle this may also be true for wwII but probably not wwI because the song one is well known to be about an injured soldier in wwI

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
7. anonymous

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   Aug 17th 2018 !⃝

   This song was written by satan himself. It has his character all through it. Self-destruction, fear, addiction, blindness(inability to see or understand Jesus), pain, death, lying, demonic possession (Lyrics-I will occupy) are a few of his favorite things. Then he goes on to tell you that hell is a great place that never ends. In reality no one including the devil and his demons want to be there is so terrible.
   
   Jesus loves you and has offered a free gift of salvation from hell. Believe in Him and ask Him into your heart and you will spend your eternity with Him in Heaven.
8. anonymous

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   Sep 24th 2017 !⃝

   Yes I agree with some of the interpretations that the Protagonist is playing ''The Master-Drug'' that takes control of the Individual soul to become a slave or a puppet to It. With one form of drug or many that the Individual soul became addicted to. As like the invisible Entities which by Their ideologies found ways to play on OUR minds and bodies, socially,spiritually and politically. Similar to the Entity Forms that hides within the International anti-christ[s] of this world. Who are on the overall also called ''The Crypto Je[w]suit Zionist Devils'' that have been pulling the strings on us all, as the ''Master of puppets'' for the One Global order.
9. anonymous

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   Apr 1st 2016 !⃝

   It's obviously about Jim Henson.
10. Jerry Mael

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    Oct 26th 2015 !⃝

    I agree it is about drugs but the government overtones are quite apparent, too and well founded.
    The TV is a master to most people. The Media is a master to most people which is ran by....the government or at least Murdoch. People pay income taxes when no income tax law can be shown to them (this is called voluntary compliance).
    They lie through media to send other people's kids to their deaths fighting for oil and corporate gains.
    The Government also wants to control most of your life from cradle to grave and none of this was different prior to Metallica. ijs \m/
11. anonymous

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    Oct 3rd 2015 !⃝

    Heroin addiction
12. anonymous

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    Oct 3rd 2015 !⃝

    It's about heroin addiction
13. anonymous

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    Oct 12th 2014 !⃝

    The song is about drugs, I will go through the lyrics and say the meaning
    End of passion play,crumbling away, I'm your source of self destruction. This means that once drugs are in control (which normally is the first try) your life is ruined, and drugs kill you.
    Veins that pump with fear, sucking darkest clear, leading on your deaths construction. This means once again that drugs kill you and destroy you.
    Taste me you will see, more is all you need. This means that once you try drugs you'll be hooked. This goes on for the rest of the song and other consequences of doing drugs.
    BTW I am the craziest, most hardcore, biggest Metallica fan ever, and Master of Puppets is my favorite song of all time.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
14. anonymous

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    Oct 12th 2012 !⃝

    the first bit is the drug talking to an addict saying how he is the Drug's Slave,when its saying :"master where are the dreams i've been after ..." he is the grug addict talking to the "drug"
15. anonymous

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    Aug 5th 2012 !⃝

    somebody asked here what "just a rhyme without the reason" means. I think it describes the state of drug addict, he's exactly like a rhyme without a reason in songs or poems - he has no goal or deeper meaning of his life, he is just there.
16. anonymous

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    Jun 5th 2012 !⃝

    No , ..... The master is satan ! He is the one james is talking about , and the puppets are all you , metallica fans, every time you leasten and enjoy the song , you are crowling more and more into hell ....
    Maybe is 4 that reason the band has that fame and money .....
    There is only one that promised eternal life , JESUS , he is real , and his kingdom Too.....
    
    And beleive me , what JESUS has for you , is much better than what the master of puppets can offer you

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
17. anonymous

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    Apr 12th 2012 !⃝

    i think this song is about the devil(when i say the devil i mean the devil,drugs, everything that is bad for u) having control over our lives(which we give him because we are sinners, but God is love and will forgive you if u ask for real)
    "I'm your source of self-destruction" this the devil because he is the source of all evil and since we r sinners we want what is bad for us and we want to sin
    "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!"
    to some people the devil is their master because they let him be their master and when the songs says obey ur master its the devil saying do bad "Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
    Just a rhyme without a reason" well i think thats the devil saying hey hell is fun do the bad things which seem fun but will lead to ur dead( and i think hell is not fun and not worth it) I AM NOT SAYING METALLICA WORSHIPS THE DEVIL OPR THEY DON'T THINK GOD IS REAL AND I AM NOT SAYING I AM RIGHT THIS JUST WHAT I THINK THE SONG MEANS
18. anonymous

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    Jul 14th 2011 !⃝

    Sounds like DOOM E1M1 - At Doom's Gate

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