Metallica’s 'Master of Puppets' is first metal album to be preserved forever
It's being honoured for its historical significance
Metallica’s seminal third studio album ‘Master of Puppets’ is set to become the first ever metal record to be preserved forever.
Established in 2000, The National Recording Registry is a collection of sound recordings held in the Library of Congress that are ‘culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States.’
The American government run library keeps best quality recordings of these timeless works to safeguard for generations and generations to come.
25 selections are made every year (although there were 50 annually from 2002 to 2005) and, perhaps highlighting how often the genre is overlooked, ‘Master of Puppets’ is the first metal addition.
Explaining their reason for inducting the album, a statement from the library reads:
“The third release by the band Metallica shows the group moving away from its thrash metal history and reputation and exploring new ideas. Thrash, a reaction against the pop metal of the early 1980s, aimed to renew metal by emphasizing speed and aggression. For example, the song "Battery" on this album—with rhythm guitarist James Hetfield's galloping power chords, Lars Ulrich's machine-gun drumming, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammet's blinding tapped leads—is as rousing an example of the sub-genre as one could find and the technical proficiency is astonishing. However, other songs on the record break free of thrash orthodoxy. Cliff Burton's clean bass lines, volume swells, and careful harmonies, for example, on "Orion," set that song apart from the standard metal song. The title track starts unsurprisingly enough with a crisp power chord and catchy riff, but halfway through, the tempo slows and a clean arpeggiated progression, accompanied by cello-like tones, introduces Hetfield's mid-tempo lead which eschews tapping, sweep picking and, other metal guitar techniques. Black Sabbath bassist and lyricist Geezer Butler has commented that Metallica's 1980s output brought the music "back to the spirit of Black Sabbath" and, he further emphasizes, "If we started it, then Metallica reinvented it."
Released on 3rd March 1986, ‘Master of Puppets’ has sold over 6million copies in the United States alone.