‘Master of Puppets’: How David Bowie influenced a signature Metallica piece
The late ‘Starman’, David Bowie, had such a wide-reaching mark on popular culture that it can be viewed in numerous different areas today, from hyperpop to alternative rock. While many familiar faces have cited him as a defining influence, one of the most surprising is the thrash-metal pioneers Metallica. Bowie impacted the Californian band so much that a musical nod to one of his classic songs is even contained in one of their definitive cuts, ‘Master of Puppets’.
In the mid-1980s, Metallica were at the peak of their powers. After releasing their surprisingly successful debut Kill ‘Em All, in 1983, the group rose to prominence as one of the key outfits bringing thrash to the masses. Infusing metal with an amphetamine-like rush which took from Motörhead, hardcore punk, Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, Metallica’s sound was more visceral than most’s. However, their lighter influences still made their way into the music, with Bowie being the most prominent.
Although ‘Master of Puppets’ is not the only Metallica song that David Bowie directly inspired, it is the most famous. The story goes that when the band were debugging the many complex parts of the piece, one of the connecting riffs bassist Cliff Burton offered to alleviate the struggle was directly lifted from David Bowie’s ‘Andy Warhol’, from 1971’s Hunky Dory. The riff, which appears in the ‘Starman’s version on an acoustic guitar at 0:48, can be heard playing at high speed in ‘Master of Puppets’ at 6:19.
A tribute to Bowie, whom both Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett cited as a significant influence on their music, despite Bowie not being the most ‘metal’ of musicians. Aside from this nod to the ‘Andy Warhol’ singer, the rest of ‘Master of Puppets’ is completely original, with it a dark tale of drugs pulling a user into a personal hell.
In January 2016, when speaking on the One On One With Mitch Lafon podcast, Kirk Hammett explained how Bowie influenced him, Burton and Metallica. He recalled: “(Bowie’s) influence on me was huge. Changesonebowie was one of the… part of a handful of albums that I bought when I was a young kid.”
He continued: “David Bowie has been a pretty huge influence on me and on other people in (Metallica) as well. I know that… Cliff Burton and I, we used to listen to the Ziggy Stardust album a lot on the Ride The Lightning tour. The title (of) ‘Leper Messiah’ is actually in the song ‘Ziggy Stardust’.”
Somewhat mysteriously, Hammett then referred to ‘Master of Puppets’: “And if you wanna dig any further into how much of an influence he was, all you have to do is listen to the song ‘Andy Warhol’, and you’ll know what I’m talking about. That song was a heavy influence on Cliff Burton and that album, Hunky Dory, was a big influence on Cliff Burton as well. If you listen to ‘Andy Warhol’, you’ll hear something in that song that totally… You’ll hear something in that song that will make you say, ‘Ah! Okay. Bowie’s music was an influence on Metallica.’ I’m not gonna say where or what or how or whatever; I’m just gonna leave it up to you [to figure it out].”
