When it comes to Metallica‘s infamous 1991 self-titled ‘Black Album,’ we’re always especially interested to hear the opinion of then-bassist Jason Newsted. That’s because Newsted had the unique perspective of coming into the band during their trauma over former bassist Cliff Burton’s death, and because he’s since come across as a really stand-up guy whose head is on his shoulders and not up his own ass. Now, Jason has revealed his favorite track from that album, and has mentioned how he felt about some others to boot.
Here’s what Jason told Metal Hammer in regards to his favorite track on the record:
“I’m going to go back to ‘Sad But True,’ because that’s my highlight of the whole project, because of the weight…I struggled with ‘Nothing Else Matters;’ I knew it made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up — it was undeniable — but I was kinda scared of it, to be honest, because I still wanted ‘CRUNCH!’ ‘Sandman’ I thought was kinda corny, honestly. The beautiful thing was that we all sat in the room together and played it out, 70 takes of ‘Nothing Else Matters.’ After a while, you’re too close to it. ‘How much more delicate can I make it?’”
“It’s crazy I’ve just realized this. Our softest song ever took down the biggest walls to allow our hardest songs ever to penetrate the world. When it was No. 1 in 35 countries in one week, and seven of those countries we hadn’t even been to yet? Dude, that doesn’t happen to a band who go, ‘Die! Die!’ most of the time.”
There you go. You can’t really argue with the success of “Nothing Else Matters,” though it’s a shame that it’s the one every non-metal artist thinks it’s awesome to cover. Play “Disposable Heroes,” you cowards!
Here’s “Sad But True,” undoubtedly the best song on the record, for your listening pleasure.