METALLICA’s 1988 classic, …And Justice For All, has long been praised for its complex compositions and aggressive sound—but almost as famously, it’s criticized for the near-total absence of bass in the mix. In a recent interview with Chile’s Futuro, the album’s producer Flemming Rasmussen opened up again about the puzzling decision and why Jason Newsted’s bass playing is virtually inaudible.
Rasmussen, who also produced Ride the Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986), recalled the first time he heard the album’s final mix. “Lars [Ulrich] has a thing that every time they’ve done an album, he comes and plays it to me. And he always hopes that I nod and say, ‘That’s a good [one].’ And when he came and played …And Justice For All for me, I just looked at him and said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘That’s the mix.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not. You forgot the bass.’ But there’s no bass on there.”
“I had to say no to doing that album [at first] because I was booked. So they started it out with Mike Clink. And then three weeks into January, after they’d been in the studio for three weeks, Lars called me up and said, ‘Oh, Flemming, when can you come?’ And I put all my sessions together and postponed some of them. And I went over there 14th of February and recorded for five months. And by the time I got there, they already got some hotshot Los Angeles mixers, Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, to mix it. And the story is that METALLICA flew in, listened to what they’d done, and they went, ‘No, no, no.’ ‘Where’s my drum sound?’ ‘Where’s my guitar sound?’ And actually Lars said, ‘Now take the bass down so you can just hear it.’ They did that. You can see it on YouTube. There’s plenty of videos of Steve Thompson telling about this. And then once they’ve done that, he said, ‘Take it three dB [decibels] more down.’ So, it’s Lars and James [Hetfield] that decided, and why they did that, I’ve asked them a thousand times. I do not know.”
The album was Newsted’s first full-length recording with METALLICA after the tragic death of former bassist Cliff Burton. Rasmussen reflected on the contrast between the two players: “[Jason and Cliff were] two very different bass players. Cliff was more free and was composing a lot more. I don’t think Jason was part of any of the composing on …And Justice For All.”
“But I think the reason why they turned the bass down is, like 50% of it is because they were on tour with VAN HALEN [at the time], I think, and they flew in and heard the mix,” he continued. “And I think that’s the point where Lars and James realized that, ‘We don’t have Cliff anymore. It’s not his bass. It’s a totally different sound.’ And I just think they couldn’t relate to that at the point. That’s probably half of it. But this is just me; I don’t know if it’s true or not. But the other half is what they hated most about Jason was that he was such a METALLICA fan, so every time they asked him anything, he just did it. So I think they took it down just to piss him off, ’cause they were expecting him to say, ‘Can you turn the bass up?’ And he probably never did. That’s why the bass is so low. But I don’t know. I mean, I don’t know.”
“The funny thing is that, in hindsight, I read somewhere recently that …And Justice For All is the number one album in the world that people say is the reason why they started their own band. So …And Justice For All has created more new bands than any other album in the world. So if you wanna start a new band, don’t be a bass player.”
Even decades later, the missing bass on …And Justice For All remains one of rock’s most debated mysteries, and Flemming Rasmussen admits he may never know the full story.
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.