The Legends Of Music on Instagram: "Metallica performing “Master of Puppets” Live on the 29th of August, 1989 at the Seattle Center Coliseum in Seattle, Washington The “Master” in the song’s lyrics/title is a reference to drugs where it becomes the Master while the drug user is the puppet. In an interview with Thrasher Magazine, James Hetfield explained that the song “deals pretty much with drugs. How things get switched around, instead of you controlling what you’re taking and doing, it’s drugs