Metallica has always been a band that did it their own way, from their debut album Kill ‘Em All, all the way to their fourth album And Justice for All. They dared to push the limits of thrash metal. It was during this process that they would inspire countless bands and help set the blueprint for what would become speed metal.
Ride The Lightning
Even early on in the band’s career, they upset and shocked some fans with the acoustic intro to the ballad “Fade to Black”, which is found on the group’s sophomore album 1984’s Ride the Lightning. Following the success of Ride the Lightning, the group caught the eye of Elektra Records and Q Prime Management.
For Master of Puppets, the thrash kings went with more of a controlled approach to songwriting in large part due to the fact that bassist Cliff Burton had classical music training and the band soon realized that they didn’t have to play extremely fast in order to sound as heavy as a sack of bricks.
Cliff Burton is Tragically Killed
It was during the gruelling tour to support Master of Puppets, that Burton was tragically killed in a bus crash after a show in Sweden on September 26, 1986.
The tragic accident could have resulted in the complete demise of the band, however, Metallica believed that Burton would have wanted them to carry on and with his family’s blessing, the group set out to find a new bass player.
The band wasted no time grieving, according to the band’s drummer Lars Ulrich, “We laid Cliff to rest a week or two after the accident and then there wasn’t five minutes after that to process it because if we slowed down, we were afraid we were going to disappear into nothingness or go so far into the abyss that we wouldn’t be able to pull ourselves out.”
Jason Newsted Replaces Cliff Burton on Bass
The band reached out to their friend, Metal Blade Records founder, Brian Slagel for suggestions and to set up auditions for the week after Burton’s funeral. They were ultimately most impressed by a guy named Jason Newsted, who had been playing with the Phoenix metal group, Flotsam and Jetsam, a band so enamoured with Metallica that they too had written a song that shared a title with one of the group’s songs, “Fade to Black”.
“Jason really rose to the occasion and they found a sense of musical clarity on the road that they hadn’t really expected.” – Kirk Hammett
With Newsted in the fold, they finished up their Master of Puppets tour commitments. Kirk Hammett remembered, “Jason really rose to the occasion and they found a sense of musical clarity on the road that they hadn’t really expected. We grew up a lot because, by the next tour, we were a little more mature. We were a little bit more focused and we were also playing well.”
And Justice For All
And Justice for All was much more ambitious and involved new material. It would be the real test as to whether they could overcome the loss of Cliff Burton. And Justice For All would see the light of day in September of 1988.
Given the name of the album, it really shouldn’t be surprising that thematically, the album explores the concepts of justice and freedom through the themes of politics and war.
“…Really gave me a feeling of victory because I looked up to him greatly and still do to this day.” – Jason Newsted
The album’s opening number “Blackened” was co-written by Newsted and it would be his only songwriting credit on the record. Newsted remembered, “I wrote the main riff on the bass. I’m messing around with the riff and then singer and guitarist James Hetfield started playing along and the song started forming right at that time, him going, ‘Dude, that riff’s good enough to open up our album.’ Really gave me a feeling of victory because I looked up to him greatly and still do to this day.”
The album’s title track saw Metallica push new, unconventional song structures and arrangements to the limit. The song clocks in at almost 10 minutes and builds from a gentle guitar intro into an explosion of war-like style riffs drawing some inspiration from Thin Lizzy’s guitar harmonies.
The title track sets the pace for what’s to come on the album with “Eye of the Beholder” and “The Frayed Ends of Sanity”.
It was clear with In Justice for All, the band was not after radio play. Only one song on the entire record was under 6 minutes in length. It’s kind of ironic that Metallica’s anti-war song “One” would be the group’s first worldwide hit, hitting a top 40 spot on the Billboard charts and breaking into the top 20 in the UK and top 5 elsewhere in Europe.
The album also contained the bludgeoning track, “The Shortest Straw” that showed at the time that no other band could play as heavy as Metallica.
“To Live is to Die” Tribute to Cliff Burton
While Metallica strived for more complex song structures, there were moments of simplicity including the song, “Harvester of Sorrow”, which itself was heavy. The band also took some time to honour their fallen brother, Cliff Burton with “To Live is to Die”. The song would feature bass lines recorded before the musician’s death.
The album’s closing track feels like a punch to the face with the frantic opus “Dyers Eve”.
“I was so disappointed when I heard the final mix.” – Jason Newsted
We can’t talk about In Justice for All without talking about the bass or lack thereof. Former Metallica bassist, Jason Newsted talked about his instrument on the record, “I was so in the dirt. I was so disappointed when I heard the final mix. I basically blocked it out like people do with stuff.”
The album’s co-producer, Flemming Rasmussen told Rolling Stone, “Jason is one hell of a bass player and I’m probably one of the only people in the world including Jason and Toby Wright, the assistant engineer, who heard the bass tracks on In Justice for All and they were brilliant.”
Newsted claimed the lack of bass was due to his playing style and general inexperience. He tracked his bass by himself with an engineer using the same gear he had in his previous band and then went home without hearing any of the work until much later.
“What’s cool about Jason’s parts, they were a perfect marriage with Hetfield’s rhythm guitars.” – Flemming Rasmussen
In an interview, Flemming Rasmussen remembered, “I kind of changed a drum sound to make, you know more what I was hearing, then went on the bass, the guitars… What’s cool about Jason’s parts, they were a perfect marriage with Hetfield’s rhythm guitars. It was a great marriage…
So I’m getting to mix up and … Hetfield gives the thumbs up so we decide to let Lars and everybody come in… Lars comes in… He shakes his head. He says stop tape. I said, what’s the problem? What happened to my drum sound…
… We had to get the drum sound the way he wanted and I’m like… here we go and he goes okay, now the bass. I said, great part. Alright, I want you to drop the bass level down and mix until you can barely audibly hear it. I thought it was a joke.
“At the end of the day, if the band wants something regardless of what I think or say, it’s their record. They have their final say.” – Flemming Rasmussen
I drop it down another at 6-8 dB. I looked at Hetfield… is this guy serious? … I understand it’s their record. It’s not my record … At the end of the day, if the band wants something regardless of what I think or say, it’s their record. They have their final say.
I guess, I didn’t realize … I wasn’t around with Newsted when he was getting tormented. I guess … it was like a college prank … I didn’t understand the politics of that until later and then I was unhappy.
… I wish I would have said, you know what, when they leave … I wish I spent a week or two after that, just mixing it the way I heard it.
… When Metallica got elected to the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, they flew us in … I’m hanging out with Lars and Lawrence comes up to me, ‘We did have bass in the record didn’t we?’ I couldn’t believe he said that.”
The album earned Metallica the first Grammy nomination for best metal performance, which they famously lost to Jethro Tull.
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