THE BEAST

In a new interview with   Metal Hammer   magazine, former   METALLICA   bassist   Jason Newsted   discussed the sound of the band's   "...And Justice For All"   album. While   "...And Justice For All"   is considered one of   METALLICA 's classics, it has been criticized almost since the day it was released in 1988 for the lack of any bass guitar on the record.   Newsted 's playing is virtually buried in the mix — and many fans feel that drummer   Lars Ulrich , who had very specific ideas for how he wanted his drums to sound, is to blame.

Newsted   said that he was "fucking livid" when he heard   "...And Justice For All"   for the first time. "Are you kidding me?" he told   Metal Hammer . "I was ready [to go] for throats, man! No, I was out of my head, because I really thought I did well. And I thought I played how I was supposed to play."

Newsted   went on to say that   METALLICA 's sound always revolved around   Ulrich   and guitarist/vocalist   James Hetfield . " Lars   and   James   were the original garage band duo, as far as that goes," he explained. "They always made the records that way, from [1982 demo cassette]   'No Life 'Til Leather' , it was   Lars   and   James , guitar and drums. On the original   'No Life 'Til Leather'   cassette — if you happen to ever see a real copy or a photo of a real copy — in   Lars 's handwriting, in ink pen, on the label of the cassette, [it reads] 'Turn bass down on stereo.' On   'No Life 'Til Leather' ! They mixed it how it was supposed to be mixed: there's the bass and there's the guitar from all the way back. But   Lars   didn't want [that] because it messed with his drums somehow, so when he sends the demo out to fucking   Combat Records   and wherever, [his instruction is] 'Turn the bass down before you even listen to this.' Before you even get it going, just turn the bass down. Right from the get-go. Before you even start. That's where he's been his whole goddamn life, so why would it be any different when it came to [ '…And Justice For All' ]? They made   'Kill 'Em All'   that way, they made   'Ride [The Lightning]'   that way, they made   'Master [Of Puppets]'   that way, all of them. Those two guys in a room [ mimics drum beats and playing ], that's the way it always happened. [For] the most successful metal band of all time. So you argue with this shit? I'm not really sure. Now it's become the best garage band album ever [for artists such as]   BLACK KEYS ,   WHITE STRIPES ,   DUO JETS , the different ‘power duos' of garage stuff."

Two years ago,   Hetfield   defended the sound of   "...And Justice For All" , saying that he and his bandmates simply "wanted the best-sounding record" they could make. "It was not all about, 'Fuck [ Jason ]. Let's turn him down.' That's for sure," he said. "We wanted the best-sounding record we could make. That was our goal. We were burnt. We were frigging fried. Going back and forth [between touring and mixing the album]. Playing a gig. No earplugs, no nothing. You go back into the studio, your hearing is shot. If your ears can't hear any high end anymore, you're gonna turn it up. So we're turning the high end up more and more and more and all of a sudden, low end's gone. So I know that played a bigger part than any hazing or any ill feelings towards   Jason , for sure. We were fried. We were burnt."

Hetfield   also addressed some of the criticism leveled at   METALLICA   by one of the   "...And Justice For All"   album mixers,   Steve Thompson . In a 2015 interview with   Ultimate Guitar ,   Thompson   suggested that   Ulrich   was the culprit for the lack of any bass guitar on the record, claiming that   Lars   wanted his drums to sound a certain way — even if it meant cutting out the bass.

"We wanted it tight,"   James   explained. "We wanted it fucking tight. That's what we wanted. We wanted the snare, we wanted the guitar, we wanted everything up front and in your face and really tight. And we thought we got it. And, you know, we kinda know what we want to sound like. Can we sit behind a desk and make it happen? No. We ask people to do it, and they do it. So [ Thompson ] did his job. He's got nothing to apologize for or point fingers at. No one's to blame for 'something.' It is a piece of art. It happened and it ended up the way it is for a reason. And for reasons we were just talking about. We were burnt. We're traveling, we're playing a gig, our ears were fried. We were not sleeping. He doesn't need to defend himself. He was a part of an awesome album in history, so I think he should be maybe be a little easier on himself."

James   also once again dismissed calls for   METALLICA   to remix   "…And Justice For All"   so that   Newsted 's contributions are more audible.

"All this [bass discussion] is after the fact, and it's, like, who gives a shit, man, really?"   Hetfield   said. "And why would you change that? Why would you change history? Why would you all of a sudden put bass on it? There is bass on it, but why would you remix an album? You can remaster it, yes, but why would you remix something and make it different? It'd be like… I don't know. Not that I'm comparing us to the   Mona Lisa , but it's, like, 'Uh, can we make her smile a little better?!' You know?! Why?"

In a 2008 interview with   Decibel   magazine,   METALLICA   guitarist   Kirk Hammett   attempted to explain the lack of bass on   "…And Justice For All" , saying that "the reason you can't hear the bass so well is because the bass frequencies in   Jason 's tone kinda interfered with the tone that   James   was trying to shoot for with his rhythm guitar sound, and every time the two blended together, it just wasn't happening. So the only thing left to do was turn the bass down in the mix. It was unfortunate, but for some reason or another, that album is known for the low end being there without the bass being very high up in the mix. It was an experiment, too — we were totally going for a dry, in-your-face sound, and some people really like that sound. A lot of the newer-generation bands, especially, think that album sounds great. But at the end of the day, it was an experiment. I'm not really sure it was 100 percent successful, but it is a unique sound that that album has."

In the   Ultimate Guitar   interview,   Thompson   said that he spoke out because he was tired of being blamed for the lack of bass. He remarked: "They flew us out [to   METALLICA 's   Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame   induction in 2009] and I'm sitting with   Lars . He goes, 'Hey, what happened to the bass in   'Justice' ?' He actually asked me that. I wanted to cold cock him right there. It was a shame because I'm the one getting the shit for the lack of bass."

Ulrich   told   The Pulse Of Radio   a while back that fans were extremely vocal about the sound of the album at the time of its release. "I mean, it was unbelievable, you know,   '...And Justice For All' , " he said. "People were saying, 'That's the worst-sounding record, where's the bass, and it sounds like it was recorded in a garage, and...' But, you know, listen, you do the best you can in the moment and then you move on." Via Blabbermouth