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Credit: Tim Saccenti<\/p>\n
October 26th, 2026 \u00b7 10:00pm GMT <\/p>\n
When Metallica <\/a>first formed, there was no set idea for them to be one of the greatest metal bands in the world or anything. <\/p>\n They were all willing to do whatever they could to get their music out to as many people as possible, but they knew that if the mainstream didn\u2019t take them in, that was fine in their book. They didn\u2019t belong with the other flavours of the day in the 1980s, and the best way for them to keep making strides with their music was to show people what they could do with their hymns of destruction.<\/p>\n Because as much as their songs didn\u2019t fit in the usual radio format, every one of their early records had a lot to say. The classic period of the band was all about stretching things out longer and longer and cramming everything they could into a song, but what was the crazy part was how well their songs wove together. \u2018Master of Puppets\u2019 is almost nine minutes in length, but there is never a single part of that song where it feels like they should have trimmed a bit off the record.<\/p>\n Every piece of the song existed for a reason, and a lot of that came together thanks to Cliff Burton. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich ruled the band with an iron hand, but Burton was always the maverick in the group, always talking about non-metal genres<\/a> to incorporate into their music. He was a consummate music fan, so it wasn\u2019t out of the question for him to start working on songs that were closer to classical music whenever he came up with his ideas for harmonies.<\/p>\n Any band would have been thrilled to have a secret weapon like that, but right when the band were reaching their creative pinnacle, everything came crashing down in Sweden<\/a>. Burton\u2019s tragic passing in a bus accident is still one of the greatest tragedies in rock and roll history, and getting someone new out of the woodwork wasn\u2019t something any of them wanted to do at the time. And when they did find a replacement, they didn\u2019t get everything they were hoping for.<\/p>\n Jason Newsted was the best man for the job when he eventually did get the gig, but since he was such a big fan of Burton\u2019s music, there were always going to be moments where the guys got uncomfortable with him being there. They had hired a bandmate, not a fan, and a lot of the resentment and anger that they had over Burton\u2019s passing all seemed to get directed squarely at him whenever he played.<\/p>\n It was bad enough that they lowered his bass on the album And Justice For All, but Hetfield even admitted later that they might have been a little too hard on Newsted during his time with the band, saying<\/a>, \u201cI think it had to be extremely bittersweet for him, like a dream come true, but I\u2019m stepping into someone\u2019s shoes who can never be filled. It must have been very difficult, and for him and for us, [it] was difficult, it just truly was. All our anger, grief and sadness got directed at him, not all of it, but quite a bit of it. He was an easy target.\u201d<\/p>\n Further reading: From The Vault<\/p>\n The bassist was at least a good sport about it and could take a lot of the ridicule being thrown his way, but there were more than a few moments where he needed to step away. He couldn\u2019t express himself the way he wanted to whenever they made their records, and if he couldn\u2019t get his ideas out in the band, being told that he couldn\u2019t make a side project was the straw that broke the camel\u2019s back for him.<\/p>\n He wasn\u2019t going to get disrespected by the band that he had fallen in love with, and even though he tried everything in his power to make things work, he didn\u2019t want to become a part of one of the things he despised. He lived to create, and that meant having to find the right outlet for him, even if it meant letting go of the millions upon millions of dollars that he was making with the band whenever they performed.<\/p>\n
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