METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett recently discussed the band’s “…And Justice For All” album and what it could have sounded like with the late Cliff Burton on bass
Speaking with Rick Beato’s YouTube channel, METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett was asked if there is a particular album of his where he feels like the songs and the production were exactly what he had imagined. Kirk responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “‘Master Of Puppets’, for a number of reasons. I really felt that [album was] that lineup’s peak, and I mean that we were peaking with [late METALLICA bassist] Cliff Burton… Arrangement-wise, songwriting-wise, sonically, playing-wise, we coalesced in a way that we had not coalesced at that point.
“And it just makes me wonder what ‘…And Justice For All’ would’ve been like with Cliff. That’s a thought that I still contemplate. But ‘Master Of Puppets’, for me, it’s a very sentimental album. We knew we were on to something, and we knew it was provocative and we knew that it might not be accepted by anyone, but we were fully, a thousand percent committed to it — every single note. And we had to be, really — we had to be. And I think it shows. When I revisit it now, I get flooded by a bunch of memories.”
Earlier on in the interview, Hammett agreed that “Master Of Puppets” was “a blueprint record” for METALLICA in terms of establishing the band’s sound and style. “But there was never anything that we sat down and talked about or made like a big list of rules or regulations or anything like that,” Kirk clarified. “It was mostly instinctual — trusting our ears, trusting our hearts, and recognizing what would work and what wouldn’t work, but most importantly with an idea of trying different things.
“METALLICA has always tried different things. We always took a chance, even if some band members weren’t fully on. There’s been times I haven’t been fully on, and I was just, like, ‘I am gonna take a chance, a leap of faith, lean on my other three bandmembers.’ It’s always been worth it. It’s always been worth it. Even though sometimes we’ve taken chances and they failed horribly from a commercial standpoint, I think creatively and artistically, I think they’re huge successes. And I speak specifically about ‘Lulu’, the album we did with Lou Reed, and also about ‘St. Anger’.
“Those are really divisive albums, and you have two camps — people who like it and people who don’t. I think stuff like that’s important to have in your catalog. ‘Cause you just don’t want a lot of the same thing. You want peaks and valleys; you want contrast. It’s what makes it interesting. And if you have a catalog that’s just perfect, people get bored of it. There’s a lot of the same thing.
“Sometimes people wanna get challenged by their favorite band. I love YES. The first three or four YES albums are brilliant. But then they took a freaking left turn into somewhere else. And I loved it, ’cause it was challenging. And it forced me to listen even harder.
“So getting back to ‘Master Of Puppets’, it was something that just kind of flowed out of us,” Kirk explained. “It was largely instinctual. It was also just [being] willing to try different things.
“It’s always a quest, at least for me — create music that no one’s ever heard before. It always sounds like a tall order to people, I think. But the secret of it is just put as much of yourself as you can into it, as much of your own personality, technique, quirks, instinct. When people say, ‘Don’t do that,’ do it. And then you can’t fail. It will sound like you.”
Unveiled on March 3, 1986, the album “Master Of Puppets” marked the third offering from the thrash ensemble. Crafted in Denmark under the guidance of producer Flemming Rasmussen, this release amassed a staggering six million units sold in the United States exclusively. Regrettably, “Master Of Puppets” also serves as the final masterpiece of bassist Burton‘s tenure with METALLICA. His tragic demise occurred on September 27, 1986, a casualty of a bus accident that took place during the band’s tour promoting the very same album.
Over three and a half decades since its initial debut, “Master Of Puppets” stands as an undisputed cornerstone of the thrash genre. It has earned a distinguished place within the U.S. Library of Congress, securing a spot in the National Recording Registry due to its profound cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance.