Friends,

We have been working on a series of posts that deal, primarily, with   learning to listen to what people are saying in their music or art or films. Some rules do exist and were summarized by Chris L in his previous post:

1. To listen to what is being said by the “voices crying out in the wilderness” of the world

2. To discuss what they are saying – not their state of salvation

3. To discuss how best to connect to people with these thoughts/feelings

In this installment of the Learning to Listen(C) series I am exploring a song by the band Metallica. The song, Master of Puppets, is, simply put, one of the best songs available for discussing one of the most prevailing ailments facing our culture: Addiction. We talk about addiction in our culture as long as the addiction is tobacco, drugs, or alcohol. I remember one time popular CCM artist Carmen even mocked those who were addicts by recording a song called A2J (Addicted to Jesus). Rarely is addiction discussed when it comes to other things that we find ourselves addicted to: sex, blogging, television, attention, etc. I think Metallica did a masterful job in this song and I’d like to explore it a bit with you and listen to what they are saying.

[Content warning at 2:39. Also, this is not the best version of this song. The studio track is much better and cleaner. But back then, Metallica didn't make videos for their music.]

Master of Puppets

End of passion play, crumbling away
I’m your source of self-destruction
Veins that pump with fear, sucking dark is clear
Leading on your deaths construction

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I’m killing you

Come crawling faster
Obey your Master
Your life burns faster
Obey your Master
Master

Master of Puppets I’m pulling your strings
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

Needlework the way, never you betray
Life of death becoming clearer
Pain monopoly, ritual misery
Chop your breakfast on a mirror

Taste me you will see
More is all you need
Dedicated to
How I’m killing you
Come crawling faster
Obey your Master
Your life burns faster
Obey your Master
Master

Master of Puppets I’m pulling your strings
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

Master, Master, where’s the dreams that I’ve been after?
Master, Master, you promised only lies
Laughter, Laughter, all I hear or see is laughter
Laughter, Laughter, laughing at my cries
Hell is worth all that, natural habitat
Just a rhyme without a reason
Neverending maze, drift on numbered days
now your life is out of season
I will occupy
I will help you die
I will run through you
Now I rule you too
Come crawling faster
Obey your Master
Your life burns faster
Obey your Master
Master

I’m Your Source of Self-Destruction

When I was a teenager, if you listened to Metallica, you were considered a devil-worshiper. Of course, I grew up in the days of the pre-ODM culture when ODM’s were called the PMRC and headed up by the wives of some Washington senators who had nothing better to do with their time but censor the culture. Of course, as with the Israelites in Egypt, the more they persecuted, the more they pushed, the more the headbanging culture prospered and multiplied. Nowadays, it is actually rather sickening to see little teenaged cheerleader types wearing Metallica shirts and ‘banging their heads.’ Where were they when we suffered the PMRC? I liked it better when Metallica was so rebellious that they wouldn’t even make videos for their music. But I digress; I’m an old-school headbanger.

Metallica, for all the vilification, actually wrote great music. (I don’t listen to much of their new stuff so I cannot comment much, but their old stuff was simply beautiful lyrically.) I think back to the Ride the Lightning album and the songs were amazing. They wrote of cultural problems like the death penalty (Ride the Lightning); drew lyrics straight from the Scripture (Creeping Death); talked about taboo subjects like teen suicide (Fade to Black); the search for true life (Trapped under ice); sang of the horrors of nuclear holocaust (Fight Fire with Fire); and drew lyrics from Hemingway and Donne in writing of the stupidity of war (For Whom the Bell Tolls). Ride the Lightning was a masterful exploration of the faces of death; death from every conceivable point of view. Death is one of the main topics of the Bible. Metallica explored its depths, but ultimately their laments provided no way out as is suggested by the title ‘trapped under ice.’

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Tags: Addiction, Chrstians, Freedom, Jesus Christ, Metallica, NT Wright, Romans, slavery