Metallica 1988 Web Lenses
Flemming Rasmussen, the producer who worked on some of Metallica’s albums in the 1980s, has a theory about why the bass was rejected on “And Justice for All.”
Recall that Rasmussen first worked with Metallica on their 1984 second album “Ride the Lightning,” and the band worked with him again on 1986’s “Master of Puppets” and 1988’s “And Justice for All.” The latter is known for having infamously low bass volume to the point that it is barely audible.
Metallica hired Jason Newsted as their new bassist in October 1986, just a month after the death of Cliff Burton. Newsted has admitted in interviews that he “was fucking furious” the first time he heard the finished version of their 1988 album (his first with the group) because of how low the bass was.
The producer has touched on the bass volume on Metallica’s fourth album in the past, but in a recent YouTube interview with Daniel Sarkissian, he shared a theory as to why he thought James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich wanted the bass to sound virtually absent.
The producer theory
«I think, but this is pure speculation, I think they did it to get some kind of reaction from Jason. Because what they hated most about Jason was that he was a fan,” the producer said, according to Loudwire.
«He never disagreed or anything like that, nor did he express his own opinion. I think they were waiting for him to declare his place in the band. “I think they probably did it to get a reaction, and when it didn’t, they just thought ‘Come on, that’s how the album turned out.'”
Rasmussen recalled that Jason Newsted simply accepted the sound of “…And Justice for All” as it was, probably because he was excited to be a member of Metallica.
