Random Fascinating Facts From Making Of Metallica's 'Master Of Puppets' (13 items)

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  (#10) The Band Taunted The PMRC Until They Thought Better Of It

  Initial pressings of Master of Puppets were affixed with a large parental advisory sticker that spoofed the idea of rating albums based on their content.

  The only track you probably won't want to play is 'Damage, Inc.' due to multiple use of the infamous 'F' word. Otherwise, there aren't any 'sh*t,' 'f*cks,' 'pisses,' 'c*nts,' 'motherf*ckers' or 'c*cksuckers' anywhere on this record.

  But it wasn’t long before the album was shrink-wrapped with the more traditional "Parental Advisory" sticker endorsed by the Parents Music Resource Center, a Washington group (led by Al Gore’s wife, Tipper) who banded together to protest music they believed had a negative influence on young listeners.
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  (#1) Rush's Geddy Lee Almost Produced The Album

  Before Flemming Rasmussen took over, Rush vocalist and bassist Geddy Lee was in talks to produce Master of Puppets. Lee met Metallica drummer and mouthpiece Lars Ulrich at an event in England and was friends with their management company, Q Prime.

  As Lee told Noisey:

  I remember going to see them in Toronto when they played at the Masonic Temple. That's when the original bass player [Cliff Burton] was still happening - you know, before that tragedy. And, you know, we talked about it, and I liked their band a lot at that time. But it just never came together.
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  (#11) The Album Art For 'Master Of Puppets' Sold For $28,000 At Auction

  Brautigam knew about some of the themes on Metallica’s album, but he hadn’t heard any of the songs when he created the legendary cover. It took Brautigam just three days of working with an airbrush and a paintbrush to come up with the victims of war image. It ended up fitting perfectly with lyrics on the title track and the song “Disposable Heroes,” a number about young soldiers dying needlessly in combat.

  The 17x17 painting sold for $28,000 at a Christie’s auction house at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City on November 24, 2008. 
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  (#6) James Hetfield Has A Tattoo Of The Bass Notes From 'Orion'

  James Hetfield had some of the notes from the bass part in the midsection of “Orion” tattooed on his left arm. He did it in tribute to Cliff Burton, who died when the band’s tour bus flipped over in Sweden on September 27, 1986, while Metallica was touring for Master of Puppets.

  "For me, 'Orion' was Cliff Burton's swan song," Hammett told Rolling Stone. "It was a great piece of music, and he'd written the whole middle section. It kind of gave us a view into what direction he was heading."
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  (#8) The Artist Who Painted The Album Cover Also Worked With Stephen King, Anthrax, And Mötley Crüe

  Before he painted the iconic Master of Puppets cover art, Don Brautigam won an award for Cover of the Year by Marketing Bestsellers for the cover image of a Stephen King novel, The Stand.

  Brautigam also designed Anthrax’s Among the Living (the cover art was based on imagery from The Stand) and Mötley Crüe’s Dr. Feelgood.
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  (#3) Lars Ulrich Borrowed Def Leppard’s Snare Drum To Record

  Unhappy with the snare on the kit he was using at Sweet Silence Studio in Copenhagen, Denmark, Lars Ulrich placed a call to Def Leppard’s manager to see if he could borrow drummer Rick Allen’s Ludwig Black Beauty snare, which he felt would give him the sound he was seeking.

  At the time, Allen was still recovering from losing his arm in a horrific car accident. “[Ulrich] said, 'Hey, Rick's not using the snare right now. Can you send it over?'" Rasmussen told Rolling Stone. "The next day it was there. They just overnighted it."

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