….And Justice For All, 32 Years Later..Still No Bass….
On this day 1988 ….And Justice For All is Released.
Like wine, some thongs are better with age. That is true in some respects, but doesn’t always apply in terms of music and how well a record holds up over a few decades. And Justice For All is the last Metallica record to feature songs co-written by bassist Cliff Burton, who passed away in 1986, and the first to feature Jason Newsted. Controversy surrounds the album still today. It is apparent with just a listen that the album is really light on bass guitar. During the mixing of the album, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich instructed the engineer to “take the bass down so you can just hear it, then take it down another 2db”. This left the album’s bass tracks all but completely inaudible. Hetfield would later say that the decision was made because the bass parts often mirrored the rhythm guitar parts causing the two to compete. Newsted has since, many times voiced his dissatisfaction with the albums final mix.
