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FORGOTTEN HISTORY: Jason newsted - The Untold Story

“I can still see them shaking their heads. I knew I’d lost the gig right there”: Pepper Keenan recalls the moment he knew he’d failed his audition to be Metallica’s bassist

Keenan was one of many hopefuls to try out for the Metallica gig as James Hetfield and co looked to find Jason Newsted's replacement

Guitar World

Metal Up Your Bass! TransAtlantic duo remaster entire early Metallica catalogue with bass parts restored and made louder

Good news for lovers of low end metallic grooves

Metal Hammer

“I wouldn’t say I’m an alcoholic – but then, you know, alcoholics say they’re not alcoholics”: The chaotic and confusing story of Metallica’s abandoned album

In 2001, Metallica hired an old army barracks in California to try and record album eight. The songs were scrapped when James Hetfield entered rehab, but many fans still want to hear them finished.

Metal Hammer

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"Whoosh! A big flame goes right up under me. My arm, my hand, burnt down to the bone. Hair's gone." Inside the night Metallica's James Hetfield caught fire - and Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose caused a riot

A look back at one of the most chaotic gigs in the history of rock 'n' roll

Metal Hammer

“It was a strange time. We didn’t have a manager and the base of the band had fallen out”: How Sepultura came back to life with Choke

After losing Max Cavalera, Sepultura found a new singer in the unlikeliest of places. This is the story of the song that brought Derrick Green to the dance.

Metal Hammer

“I turn and I'm, like, 'Hey.' It's Lars, it's Kirk, it's Jason Newsted. They're, like, 'What do you know?' I go, 'I don't know. Master of Puppets. OK. Count it in'”: Daron Malakian recalls the time he fronted Metallica

Tonight Matthew I’m going to be… James Hetfield

MusicRadar

"I'll never forget it. It still brings goosebumps." System Of A Down's Daron Malakian on being asked to fill in for injured James Hetfield on Metallica's Summer Sanitarium tour in 2000

System Of A Down had yet to make their breakthrough – but guitarist Malakian was thrust onto the stage with metal royalty

Metal Hammer

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“Even though Dave might claim that he wrote Leper Messiah, he didn’t”: The story of every song Dave Mustaine co-wrote for Metallica – and what Megadeth did with those riffs

From The Four Horsemen to The Call Of Ktulu, this is everything you need to know about the six (maybe seven) Metallica songs with Dave Mustaine’s name on them

Metal Hammer

“My wife brought the phone out and thought it was a prank call from Maynard from Tool! Nope – it was actually Lars!”: This is what it’s like to audition for Metallica –and not get the job

Metallica’s line-up could have looked very different today if Robert Trujillo hadn’t got the job

Metal Hammer

“I was outside shoveling some moldy hay into a wheelbarrow, and my wife comes out holding the phone. She thought it was a prank call”: Scott Reeder on the time he auditioned for Metallica – after Lars Ulrich cold-called him

Reeder didn't get the Metallica gig but the stoner-rock bass icon got a helluva story out of it – and the silver medal in the metal Olympics

Guitar World

“Lars has a thing that every time they’ve done an album, he comes and plays it to me, and hopes that I nod and say, ‘That’s a good lad’. I said, ’You forgot the bass!’“: Flemming Rasmussen is still confused by Metallica’s bassless ...And Justice For All

Part of it was to annoy Jason Newsted, producer speculates

MusicRadar

"You forgot the bass!" Metallica's ...And Justice For All producer recalls his shock at hearing album's final mixes

Flemming Rasmussen produced Metallica's ...And Justice For All and was as surprised as anyone else by the bass guitar sound

Metal Hammer

“Metallica is nearly equal to Ozzy in terms of the respect factor – not all the way, but nearly”: When Jason Newsted swapped bands with Robert Trujillo

Why Jason Newsted got the call from Ozzy – and what lay in store for Robert Trujillo, who signed with Newsted’s old band, Metallica

Guitar World

“When I played with Jason Newsted, I knew he was the one. Not that Robert Trujillo is a bad bass player, but Jason just has this edge”: In March 2003, Ozzy Osbourne introduced the world to his new bassist

Earplugged journalists from MTV News, CNN, and ABC News, gathered to hear Jason Newsted turn out alongside Ozzy, Zakk Wylde and Mike Bordin

Guitar World

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MusicRadar

“This is the new rock ’n’ roll Metallica. The riffs are greasier, bluesier, dirtier”: How the heavy metal heroes shook things up with Load

"Nobody knew where this record was going to end up when we started it"

MusicRadar

"I remember showing up at 10 or 11 in the morning and working on solos and that leading to two or three o’clock in the morning the next day”: How Metallica beat the clock and battled fatigue to create a poignant and pulverising anti-war epic

The sound of Metallica in full command, One would prove to be the ultimate thrash metal power ballad

Guitar World

“You have to fight to be heard in metal. But you have to give them something worth fighting for!” 20 metal bassists who took heavy bass playing in new directions

Featuring metal’s leading low-enders – from old-school thrash to modern metal

Guitar World

“There’s an art to simplicity, and Jason Newsted brought that art. Cliff Burton was more aggressive, and a busier player”: The bassists of Metallica

From Ron McGovney to Robert Trujillo, we trace the evolution of Metallica’s low-end sound

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Metal Hammer

“It was embarrassing”: Metallica’s …And Justice For All pushed bass players “to the back” in the 1990s, claims thrash legend

Testament and ex-Death man Steve Di Giorgio claims Metallica’s bass-free classic forced the instrument into the background for years afterwards

MusicRadar

“I went for a guitar commission with a carload of basses! I laid them all out on the floor, and he went, ‘Okay, let’s make a guitar’”: Ken Lawrence reveals how he became luthier to James Hetfield and made some of his coolest Metallica guitars

How did a specialist in custom-built bass guitars end up making some of the Metallica frontman's most-famous electrics? As it turns out, with a twist of fate and his Mesa/Boogie connection

Guitar World

“He took a bass to Jason Newsted. James kept flipping it back and forth, studying it… Then he asked if we could meet”: How Ken Lawrence came to build some of James Hetfield’s most iconic guitars – including one using wood from Metallica’s former home

The luthier specialized in bass guitars before he met Hetfield via Mesa/Boogie. It would land him his most challenging but rewarding collaboration

Guitar World

“I auditioned for a guitar commission with a carload of basses! I laid them all out on the floor, and he went, ‘OK, let's make a guitar’”: James Hetfield's luthier on how he went from crafting basses to becoming the Metallica guitarist's go-to axe maker

And why we have Doug West from Mesa/Boogie to thank for Ken Lawrence and Papa Het's now-iconic link-up

Guitar World

“I don’t think Metallica wants to say I am an original member”: Why Metallica’s forgotten guitarist believes he isn’t considered the heavy metal legends’ OG guitar player

Lloyd Grant jammed with Lars Ulrich and helped record an early demo of Hit the Lights – but isn’t recognized as an original member of Metallica

Guitar World

“Please tell the bass players of the world to go easy on me. I did my best to represent you well!” Bob Rock made bass history on Metallica’s St. Anger – quite a feat, since he “never really played bass” before

Producer Bob Rock on making St. Anger, the legacy of Cliff Burton and why he used Loverboy’s bass guitar on every track

Guitar World

“Jason and I were always battling for the same space in the mix”: The controversial mixing of Metallica’s …And Justice for All wasn’t a hazing of Jason Newsted. This is James Hetfield’s explanation

The band's first album with Newsted, ...And Justice for All was marked by the band's increasingly progressive and technically intricate bent – and barely audible bass parts

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