...And Justice for All (album)

...And Justice for All is the first Metallica album to feature bassist Jason Newsted after the death of Cliff Burton in 1986; Newsted had previously played on the 1987 Metallica EP The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited. Metallica had intended to record the album earlier, but was sidetracked by the large number of festival dates scheduled for the summer of 1987, including the European leg of the Monsters of Rock festival. Another reason was frontman James Hetfield's arm injury in a skateboarding accident. Metallica's previous studio album, Master of Puppets (1986), was their last under their contract with the record label Music for Nations. Manager Peter Mensch wanted them to sign with British record distributor Phonogram Records. Phonogram manager Martin Hooker offered them "well over £1 million, which at that time was the biggest deal we'd ever offered anyone". He explained that the final figure for combined British and European sales of all three Metallica albums was more than 1.5 million copies. ==Recording==

(pictured in 2013). His bass parts are noticeably inaudible in the mixes. ...And Justice for All was recorded from January to May 1988 at One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles. Metallica produced the album with Flemming Rasmussen. Despite this, the sessions with Clink were not completely wasted; rather, the band spent time warming up and fine-tuning sounds in the studio ahead of Rasmussen's arrival to start the record properly. Two cover songs were recorded — Budgie's "Breadfan" and Diamond Head's "The Prince" — for use as B-sides on the album's singles, as well as drum tracks for "The Shortest Straw" and "Harvester of Sorrow" which were kept. Eventually, Rasmussen became available to work with the band, joining six weeks into the album's recording in March and relieving Clink from his production duties. Hetfield wrote lyrics during the recording sessions; these were occasionally unfinished as recording began, and Rasmussen said that Hetfield "wasn't really interested in singing" but instead "wanted that hard vibe". At Hetfield and Ulrich's instruction, Newsted's bass guitar was made almost inaudible. According to Rasmussen: "After Lars and James heard their initial mixes the first thing they said was, 'Take the bass down so you can just hear it, and then once you've done that, take it down a further three dBs.' I have no idea why they wanted that, but it was totally out of my hands." As per Newsted, the bass sound achieved had little low end to begin with, with Hammett adding that it interfered with Hetfield's guitar sound when blended, so they turned the bass down. Newsted was not satisfied with the final mix and was unhappy that the bass was inaudible. In 2019, Hetfield and Ulrich said they had mixed the bass low not to belittle Newsted, but because their hearing was "shot" following heavy touring and so they "basically kept turning everything else up until the bass disappeared". Newsted added they did not fully understand at the time how frequencies worked in the mix. Rolling Stone Kory Grow noted how the bass parts were separated in the mix for the video game Guitar Hero: Metallica, which Grow believed some fans used for their own remixes. In 2013, Newsted received a remix of the album with the bass parts intact from a fan, to which Newsted showed appreciation, but believed the right version of the album was released. ==Composition==

Music {{quote box|width=27%|salign=right {{quote box|width=27%|salign=right ...And Justice for All is a musically progressive album featuring long and complex songs, fast tempos and few verse-chorus structures. Critic Simon Reynolds noted the riff changes and experimentation with timing on the album's intricately constructed songs: "The tempo shifts, gear changes, lapses, decelerations and abrupt halts". According to journalist Martin Popoff, the album is less melodic than its predecessors because of its frequent tempo changes, unusual song structures and layered guitars. He argued that the album is more of a progressive metal record because of its intricately performed music and bleak sound. Music writer Joel McIver called the album's music aggressive enough for Metallica to maintain its place with bands "at the mellower end of extreme metal". According to writer Christopher Knowles, Metallica took "the thrash concept to its logical conclusion" on the album. Loudwire stated that the album represents a release in the technical thrash metal subgenre. Lyrics The album title was revealed in April 1988: ...And Justice for All, after the final words of the Pledge of Allegiance. The lyrics address political and legal injustice as seen through the prism of war (including nuclear war) and censored speech. The majority of the songs raise issues that differ from the violent retaliation of the previous releases. Tom King writes that for the first time the lyrics dealt with political and environmental issues. He named contemporaries Nuclear Assault as the only other band who applied ecological lyrics to thrash metal songs rather than singing about Satan and Egyptian plagues. McIver noted that Hetfield, the band's main lyricist, wrote about topics that he had not addressed before, such as his revolt against the establishment. Ulrich described the songwriting process as their "CNN years", with him and Hetfield watching the channel in search for song subjects—"I'd read about the blacklisting thing, we'd get a title, 'The Shortest Straw,' and a song would come out of that." Concerns about the state of the environment ("Blackened"), corruption ("...And Justice for All"), and blacklisting and discrimination ("The Shortest Straw") are emphasized with traditional existential themes. Issues such as freedom of speech and civil liberties ("Eye of the Beholder") are presented from a grim and pessimistic point of view. "One" was unofficially nicknamed an "antiwar anthem" for its lyrics, which portray the suffering of a wounded soldier. "Dyers Eve" is a lyrical rant from Hetfield to his parents. Burton received co-writing credit on "To Live Is to Die" as the bass line is a medley of unused recordings Burton had performed before his death. Because the original recordings are not used on the track, the composition is credited as written by Burton and played by Newsted. The spoken word section of the song was erroneously attributed in its entirety to Burton in the liner notes. The first line was actually from the film Excalibur ("When a man lies, he murders some part of the world.") while the second line comes from ''Lord Foul's Bane'', a fantasy novel by American writer Stephen R. Donaldson ("These are the pale deaths which men miscall their lives."). The second half of the speech ("All this I cannot bear to witness any longer. Cannot the kingdom of salvation take me home?") was written by Burton. ==Release==

Artwork The album's artwork depicts a cracked statue of a blindfolded Lady Justice, bound by ropes with her breasts exposed and her scales overflowing with dollar bills, with the title in graffiti style. with the cover songs "Breadfan" and "The Prince" as the B-sides. It reached number 20 on the UK singles chart. "Eye of the Beholder" was released as the second single in the US only on October 30, with "Breadfan" as the B-side. The title track was released in edited form as a promotional single in 1988, but failed to chart. "One" appeared as the third single on January 10, 1989. The US single had "The Prince" as the B-side, while the UK single replaced that with a live version of "Seek & Destroy" (1983), recorded in Dallas, Texas, on February 9, 1989. After years of refusing to release music videos, Metallica released its first for "One". The video features the band performing the song live in a hangar in Long Beach, California, scenes directed by Bill Pope, interspersed with footage from Dalton Trumbo's 1971 film Johnny Got His Gun. Metallica acquired the rights to the film, after which Michael Salomon edited the footage together. The video was controversial among fans, who had valued the band's apparent opposition to MTV and other forms of mainstream music. Slant Magazine ranked it number 48 on their list of the "100 Greatest Music Videos", saying that Metallica "evoke a revolution of the soul far more devastating than that presented in the original text". Commercial performance ...And Justice for All was released on September 7, 1988, by Elektra Records in the US and Vertigo Records in the UK. Although Metallica's music was considered unappealing for mainstream radio, ...And Justice for All was highly successful in the US. It became Metallica's best-selling album upon release, peaking at number six on the Billboard 200, where it charted for 83 weeks. More than 9,700,000 copies have been sold in the United States since 1991, when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales. It was certified platinum nine weeks after it was released in stores, and 1.7 million copies were sold in the US by the end of 1988. The group broke through on radio in early 1989 with "One", which was released as the third single from the record. According to Billboard, the accompanying Damaged Justice tour evolved the band into arena headliners, while significant airplay was garnered by "One" and by the group's first music video. It was awarded gold by the British Phonographic Industry in 2013 for shipping 100,000 copies in the UK. ...And Justice for All was surpassed commercially by the band's following album, Metallica (1991). Grammy controversy The 31st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 22, 1989, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. ...And Justice for All was nominated for the inaugural Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance. The band performed a five-minute version of "One" at the ceremony, marking the first time a heavy metal group had performed at the Grammy Awards. Hammett recalled the band being "very nervous" playing for the Academy: "We were like diplomats or representatives for this genre of music." Metallica was widely expected to win the award, but controversially lost to Jethro Tull's Crest of a Knave. Jethro Tull's win was controversial, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was widely criticized for the choice. Metallica added a sticker to subsequent releases of ...And Justice for All, reading: "Grammy Award LOSERS". At the following year's ceremony, the Academy separated Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance into two distinct categories: Best Hard Rock Performance and Best Metal Performance. Metallica won the latter award for "One". ==Critical reception==

...And Justice for All was acclaimed by music critics. In a contemporary review for Rolling Stone, Michael Azerrad said that Metallica's compositions are impressive and called the album's music "a marvel of precisely channeled aggression". Tom Moon praised the album in The Philadelphia Inquirer, writing that Metallica has "redefined its genre, creating music that is as consistently tense and arresting as the topics the sometimes convoluted lyrics address". Simon Reynolds, writing in Melody Maker, said that "other bands would give their eye teeth" for the songs' riffs and found the album's densely complicated style of metal to be distinct from the monotonous sound of contemporary rock music: "Everything depends on utter punctuality and supreme surgical finesse. It's probably the most incisive music I've ever heard, in the literal sense of the word." Neil Perry of Sounds magazine said the album was Metallica at "their most confident", while The Morning Call Len Righi called the album "a mind-boggling musical display that runs the gamut from thrashing power chords to classical melodies, plus salient lyrics to balance the scales." Billboard magazine predicted the album would satisfy fans and lack radio appeal with its "grim themes, curveball writing style, and general ferocity of playing". Borivoj Krgin of Metal Forces said that it was the most ideal album he has heard because of typically exceptional production and musicianship that is more impressive than that of Master of Puppets. Pitchfork Sean T. Collins argued ...And Justice For All is Metallica's best album, praising the songwriting as Hetfield and Ulrich's "most complex and vicious". Music journalist Mick Wall was critical of the progressive elements and believed that, apart from "One" and "Dyers Eve", most of the album sounded clumsy. Colin Larkin, writing in The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (2006), noted that, apart from the praiseworthy "One", the album diminished the band's creativity by concentrating the songs with too many riffs. Contrarily, Ulrich said that the album has retrospectively improved over time, and is well-liked among their contemporaries. The album was ranked at number nine on IGN's "Top 25 Metal Albums". Guitar World lists all of its tracks on "The 100 Greatest Metallica Songs of All Time". Kerrang! listed the album at number 42 among the "100 Greatest Heavy Metal Albums of All Time". Martin Popoff ranks it at number 19 in his book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums of All Time, the fourth highest ranked Metallica album on the list. It is featured in Robert Dimery's 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2015, Ultimate Classic Rock included the album in its list of the top 100 albums of the 1980s. Two years later, it was ranked 21st on Rolling Stone list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". ==Live performances==

Tour, 1989 Metallica supported ...And Justice for All on the Damaged Justice tour, a large-scale arena tour across North America, Europe, and Oceania. The tour featured multiple sell-out dates. The stage dressing was also more elaborate than previous tours, featuring a large replica of Lady Justice adorning the ...And Justice for All album cover. After the tour, the band began writing simpler songs, ultimately leading to the material found on Metallica (1991). In 2009, "The Shortest Straw" returned to the setlist during the World Magnetic Tour after a 12-year absence, and has been sporadically performed since. "Eye of the Beholder" has not been played live since 1989; one such performance appears on Metallica's live extended play Six Feet Down Under. "Dyers Eve" debuted live in 2004, sixteen years after it was recorded, during the Madly in Anger with the World Tour at The Forum in Inglewood, California. "To Live Is to Die" premiered at the band's 30th-anniversary concert in 2011 at The Fillmore in San Francisco. "The Frayed Ends of Sanity", the last song on the album to be performed live, debuted live in Helsinki on the Metallica By Request tour in 2014. ==2018 box set==

In 2018, ...And Justice for All was remastered and reissued in a limited edition deluxe box set with an expanded track listing and bonus content. The deluxe edition set includes the original album on vinyl and CD, three LPs with a remixed and remastered version of the concerts performed at the Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, Washington, on August 29 and 30, 1989 (originally included in the box set Live Shit: Binge & Purge), eleven CDs of live tracks, demo recordings, B-sides, rough mixes, and radio edits recorded from 1986 to 1989, and four DVDs of unreleased footage of the band. For the reissue, Hetfield opted not to remix the album, saying: "These records are a product of a certain time in life; they're snapshots of history and they're part of our story... And Justice for All could use a little more low end and St. Anger could use a little less tin snare drum, but those things are what make those records part of our history." This decision was received positively by Pitchfork Sean T. Collins, who stated: "By refusing to soften the blow and reshape the record's sonic signature into something more ear-pleasing, this reissue correctly implies that the music stands the test of time as well as the words. It does justice to every nightmare note." ==Track listing==

All lyrics written by James Hetfield, except for the spoken word section of "To Live Is to Die", posthumously attributed to Cliff Burton as it was adapted from four lines Burton authored. The bonus tracks on the digital re-release were recorded live at the Seattle Coliseum, Seattle, Washington on August 29 and 30, 1989, and later appeared on the live album Live Shit: Binge & Purge (1993). ==Personnel==

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. Metallica • James Hetfield – vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, harmony guitar, second guitar solo on "To Live Is to Die", production • Lars Ulrich – drums, production • Kirk Hammett – lead guitar • Jason Newsted – bass Production • Flemming Rasmussen – production, engineering • Toby "Rage" Wright – assistant and additional engineering • Mike Clink – drum engineering on "The Shortest Straw" and "Harvester of Sorrow" • Steve Thompson, Michael Barbiero – mixing • George Cowan – assistant mixing engineer • Bob Ludwig – mastering • George Marino – 1995 remastering • Reuben Cohen – 2018 remastering Artwork • James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich – cover concept • Stephen Gorman – cover illustration • Ross "Tobacco Road" Halfin – photography • Pushead – hammer illustration • Reiner Design Consultants, Inc. – design, layout ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications==