...And Justice for All is American heavy metal band Metallica's fourth studio album released August 25, 1988, by
Elektra Records. It is the first studio album to feature bassist Jason Newsted and without former bassist Cliff Burton, due to his
death in September of 1986. The front cover depicts the statue of Lady Justice cracked and
bound by ropes, with both of her scales filled with dollars and one of her breasts exposed. The
words '...And Justice For All' are graffitied to her right.
History
Like those of previous albums, the lyrics on ...And Justice for All discuss politics and
social issues; however, lyricist James Hetfield is more direct than ever before in his
views. At the same time, and despite Hetfield's aggressive singing style, the lyrics refrain from overt confrontation or ringing
calls for revolutionary change. Instead, as drummer Lars Ulrich explained it, the ideas
expressed in the lyrics merely represented "interests"1 of the band, and were meant
largely to be "documentary"2 in nature.
...And Justice for All continues the development of the modular song structure so characteristic of thrash metal. Like
those on Master of Puppets, the songs on this album are long and have many
different, unique riffs, particularly during the middle (or bridge) sections. Furthermore, the
actual production of the album marks an important development in the recorded history of metal for its clean and crisp
atmosphere. Ulrich's kick drums don't "thud" so much as "click" (by boosting the higher frequencies and/or by using a coin (e.g.,
a New Zealand 50 cent coin taped to the bass drum for when the beater head hits, providing the "Metallica click;" this will
provide the sound but damage the drum skin quickly), while Hetfield's guitar timbre is processed by a complex equalisation scheme
that dials out almost any sense of mid-range frequencies, while boosting portions of the treble & low bass frequencies. And,
in one of the more famous of Hetfield and Ulrich's controversies with bassist Jason
Newsted, the album's production almost completely lacks identifiable bass
(although a remixed version with bass added has been circulating around peer-to-peer networks). The standard explanation for this
combines Newsted's absence from the mixing sessions (where he might have asserted his opinion) and the lingering issue of his
"newness" within the band following the tragic death of Cliff Burton in September 1986.
As said by the band in their magazine SO WHAT!, they wish that they could re-mix the entire album because the drums and
guitar overpower the bass completely. Some believe this is because Jason Newsted was new to the band and they wanted to frustrate
him, though many, including Newsted himself, have stated this is due to the bass lines copying the rhythm guitar parts too
closely.
Unusual production aside, ...And Justice for All was Metallica's breakout album and reached No. 6 in the
Billboard charts. Though it would soon be over-shadowed commercially by the band's
following album (1991's Metallica, aka "The Black Album"), this album nevertheless confirmed Metallica's large-scale arena
status.
The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance in 1989, but
with much controversy, it lost to Jethro Tull's Crest of a Knave. In 2007, the win was named one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history by
Entertainment Weekly.[2]
"One" was Metallica's first music video and incited much controversy among
Metallica fans, who had valued the band's apparent opposition to MTV and other forms of obvious
commercial metal.
In 1990, "One" received the first-ever Grammy award for Best Metal Performance, as well as being Metallica's first Grammy
award.
The album was ranked at number nine in IGN's Top 25 Metal Albums.[3]
The album continues the trend of previous albums Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets with a fast heavy song as the first
track, the title track as the second track, a fast ending complex ballad as the fourth track and having a lengthy instrumental
among the last tracks.
Live performance
The song structures on ...And Justice for All were so complex that the band apparently had some difficulty reproducing
the songs precisely for their Damaged Justice tour shows. The band stated many times in
subsequent years that this kind of difficulty was the primary reason for the relatively simpler song structures on their next
album, Metallica. Hammett said: "One day after we played 'Justice' and got off
the stage one of us said, 'we're never fucking playing that song again.'" On June 28, 2007, Metallica played the title track for
the first time since October 1989, nearly 18 years ago in Lisbon, Portugal on the first show of
their Sick of the Studio '07 tour and have made it a set-fixture for the
remainder of that routing.
In spite of this, the song "One" quickly gained a permanent fixture in the band's live playlist since the release of the
album.
To date, "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" and "To Live Is to Die" remain the only songs that have never been performed live in
their entirety. Instead, the band played segments of them during solos or impromptu jams.
As of the group's 2003–2004 Madly in Anger with the World Tour,
many of the songs from the album have begun to appear in the group's live performances, with in particular "Dyers Eve" making its
live debut.
Personnel
Track listing
All songs written by Kirk Hammett, James
Hetfield and Lars Ulrich except where noted.
- "Blackened" (Hetfield, Newsted, Ulrich) – 6:42
- "...And Justice for All" – 9:45
- "Eye of the Beholder" – 6:25
- "One" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 7:26
- "The Shortest Straw" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 6:35
- "Harvester of Sorrow" (Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:45
- "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" – 7:44
- "To Live Is to Die" (Hetfield, Cliff Burton, Ulrich) – 9:48
- "Dyers Eve" – 5:13
The Japanese version of the album contains "The Prince", a Diamond Head cover
that the band felt did not musically belong or fit in on the album. It was also released on the Harvester of Sorrow CD single, and later on the Garage
Inc. covers album.
Singles
Charting positions
Album
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1988 |
The Billboard 200 |
#6 |
| 1988 |
UK Albums Chart |
#4 |
Singles
References
- ^ interview
mentioning One on One studios.
- ^ "Grammy's 10 Biggest
Upsets" (http). EW.com (2007). Retrieved on February 13, 2007.
- ^ [1]
Footnotes
- Richard Harrington, "Metallica’s Platinum Overdrive: The Band and Its High-Decibel Departure From the Heavy Metal Mind-Set,"
The Washington Post, Thursday, 9 March 1989, Style section,
p. C1.
- Phil Nicholls, "The Terminator Race," Melody Maker, Vol. 64 no. 35 (27 July
1988), pp. 36.
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