Ah, the age-old question of “why the hell can’t I hear the bass” on Metallica’s classic album, “…And Justice for All.”

For years, Metallica fans have (understandably) assumed that the decision was a passive-aggressive dig aimed at then-new bass player, Jason Newsted.

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It’s a fair hypothesis when you consider all the stories about how Metallica wasn’t able to cope with the tragic death of original bassist Cliff Burton, and took out that emotional trauma on Newsted with endless hazing and tormenting. Even Kirk Hammett went on record apologizing for the band’s treatment of Newsted, saying:

“I hate to say it, but Jason became the scapegoat for all those feelings that we did not know how to process. And to this day, I regret behaving like that and then taking that attitude, but you didn’t know better. As far as the grieving period [for Cliff] is concerned, I think we’re all still grieving.”

Hetfield explains that the much-maligned sonic decision to turn the bass wayyyyyy down in the audio mix essentially came down to Metallica being ‘burnt, fried’ and having hearing damage. In his own words:

“I will say, it was not all about, ‘Fuck him, Let’s turn him (Newsted) down.’ We wanted the best-sounding record we could make. That was our goal. We were burnt. We were friggin’ fried. Going back and forth. Playing a gig. No earplugs, nothing.

You got back into the studio, your hearing is shot. If your ears can’t hear any high-end anymore, you’re gonna turn it up. So we’re turning the high end up more and more and more… all of a sudden, low end’s gone.

So I know that played a bigger part than any hazing or any ill feelings towards Jason, for sure. We were fried. We were burnt.”

Does he regret the decision all these years later? Nope:

“All this is after the fact, and it’s like, who gives a shit, man, really? … Why would you change history? Why would you all of a sudden put bass on it? There is bass on it, but why would you remix an album? You can remaster it, yes, but why would you remix something and make it different?”

Welp, there we have it folks. Sounds like the infamous “no bass” decision wasn’t actually a dig at poor Mr. Newsted. At least as Hetfield tells it. Regardless, there’s no debating that it’s still one of the greatest metal records ever laid to tape… audible bass or not. And for what it’s worth, there’s no bad blood from Jason himself.

Always the optimist, he’s come to look at the decision as an accidentally “brilliant” move by his ex-bandmates as (in his words), it’s given the album a completely different narrative and context that helps keep it a relevant discussion topic in the music discourse decades after its release: