‘Lars Played It to Me and I Said, ‘What’s That?”: Metallica Producer Was ‘Mad’ Because of Jason Newsted’s Bass on ‘Justice’

“I said, ‘What? There’s no bass.’ He said, ‘Yeah, there it is. You can hear it. It’s in the bottom of the guitars.’ I was, like, ‘No.'”

Metallica producer Flemming Rasmusen admitted to being “angry” because of the way Jason Newsted’s bass ended up on “…And Justice for All,” noting that the album was mixed before he became involved with it.

The barely audible bass on Metallica’s “…And Justice for All”, which marked the thrash giants’ comeback following the tragic loss of their former bassist, friend, and mentor figure Cliff Burton, has long been a thorn in the backside in many a metalhead’s backside. While some speculated that virtually muting Burton’s replacement, Jason Newsted, had been done intentionally for some reason, the producer of “Ride the Lightning”, “Master of Puppets” and “Justice” itself recently speculated that the idea might actually hold w

“I think — but this is purely speculation — I think that they did it to get some kind of reaction from Jason. Because what they hated the most about Jason was that he was a fan”, Flemming Rasmussen mused recently, adding that when no reaction came from Newsted, the album simply remained flawed in that particular aspect.

In a new interview with Chris Akin Presents, the producer admitted that he was “mad” when the bass sound on his final collaboration with Metallica ended up the way it did (transcription via Blabbermouth):

“Yeah, I was. Lars came and played it to me, and I looked at him and I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘It’s the mix.’ I said, ‘No, it’s not.’ And he was, like, ‘Yes, it is.’ I said, ‘What? There’s no bass.’ He said, ‘Yeah, there it is. You can hear it. It’s in the bottom of the guitars.’ I was, like, ‘No.'”

“You’re gonna have to ask Lars and James [Hetfield] why they took the bass down ’cause I didn’t mix it. Because I came in so late, they had already hired Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero to do the mixing. And I mean, just go online, [and] you can get the story from the horse’s mouth what happened. There’s no reason for me to retell that. It was Lars and James. And why they did that, I’m not even sure they know themselves.”

Even some of ‘s colleagues from the burgeoning ’80s thrash scene couldn’t help but publicly notice the peculiar way the bass sits in the final mix. Testament’s Alex Skolnick recently noticed that, even though Newsted’s bass was “there”, it was barely more than an “afterthought”:

“At the time we did our first record, I think it was within a year [that]’…And Justice for All’ [was released], which is a monumental metal album. I also felt like the bass — it was there, but it was sort of an afterthought. All of the classic records that I listened to, the bass was an important part of it.”

In order to illustrate the importance of the bass, Skolnick harked back to John Paul Jones’ role in Led Zeppelin, adding:

“I mean, people don’t talk about it much, but  is just such an essential part of Zeppelin. Picture a song like ‘Ramble On’ without the bass. The bass really helped make that song.”