Leper Messiah
Encyclopedia : L : LE : LEP : Leper Messiah
| Song From Master of Puppets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Album by Metallica | ||
| Released | February 21, 1986 | |
| Recorded | Sweet Silence Studios Copenhagen, Denmark September-December, 1985 | |
| Genre | Thrash metal | |
| Length | 54:41 | |
| Label | Elektra Records | |
| Producer(s) | Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen | |
| Tracks | ||
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It deals with the subject of televangelists who use people's guilt to con them out their money - promising them they'll be saved when they actually care about nothing but money, or less specifically, religion does not deliver everything it promises, and ends up controlling people instead of helping them, in keeping with the overall theme of control and manipulation of Master of Puppets. This might also be a reference to the death of James Hetfield's mother, who died of cancer because of her Christian Science beliefs which go against medical treatment. See also "The God That Failed" .
Dave Mustaine claims to have written the main riff of the song and that he was not given credit for it by Metallica. This claim was refuted by Kirk Hammett in the February 2006 issue of Guitar World magazine.
The phrase "Leper Messiah" is also referenced in the David Bowie song, "Ziggy Stardust", off his 1972 album, "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars".
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