...And Justice for All (album)

...And Justice for All is Metallica's fourth album, released September 6, 1988, by Elektra Records.

Overview

The final album in the loose trilogy of Metallica albums that includes Ride the Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986), ...And Justice for All, is the most musically complex of the band's classic thrash metal in the 1980s. For many fans and rock critics, the album is the end product of the evolution of Metallica and stands as the apex of the band's development of the thrash metal style. Like those of previous albums, the lyrics on ...And Justice for All discuss politics and social issues while avoiding mysticism and the occult. 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 riffs, particularly during the middle (or bridge; also known as 'the middle eight') 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 eg: a New Zealand 50 cent coin; taped to the bass drum for when the kickdrum hits; providing the "Metallica click" note: this will provide the sound but damage the drum skin quickly), while Hetfield's guitar timbre dials out almost any sense of mid-range frequencies. And, in one of the more famous of Hetfield and Ulrich's controversies with bassist Jason Newsted, the album almost completely lacks bass guitar. 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.

Unusual production aside, ...And Justice for All was Metallica's breakout album and reached No. 6 in the Billboard charts. While overshadowed commercially by the band's following album (1991's Metallica, aka "The Black Album"), this album nevertheless confirmed Metallica's large-scale arena status.

Song Notes

"...And Justice for all", the title song of the album, is Metallica's third longest song, with 9:43 minutes. Only the instrumental song "To Live is to die" (see below) at 9:51 and the song "The Outlaw Torn" at 9:47 are longer.

"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. Importantly, Metallica chose a slower, more introspective song for their first video (rather than a generically consistent thrash song). Nevertheless, the video, in the course of presenting the storyline of the song (based on Dalton Trumbo's 1939 anti-war novel Johnny Got His Gun), primarily presents the members of Metallica as a close-knit group of highly skilled musicians. "One" was covered by nu metal band Korn on Take A Look In The Mirror (2003).

"To Live Is to Die" is a tribute to their former bassist Cliff Burton. Though the track is considered an instrumental track, it contains a few lyrics near the end of the song written by Burton which are spoken by Hetfield.

The chanted melody heard near the beginning of "The Frayed Ends of Sanity" is the "marching cadence" of the palace guards in the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz.

Miscellaneous

The song structures on ...And Justice for All were so complex that the band apparently had some difficulty reproducing the songs precisely for their live 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.'" However as of their last tour, the band has started playing songs from the album more often. The song Dyers Eve made its live debut during the tour.
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.
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.

Album line-up

James Hetfield - Rhythm Guitar / Vocals
Lars Ulrich - Drums
Kirk Hammett - Lead Guitar
Jason Newsted - Bass

Track listing

"Blackened" (Hetfield, Newsted, Ulrich) – 6:42
"...And Justice for All" (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 9:45
"Eye of the Beholder" (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 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" (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 7:43
"To Live is to Die" (Burton, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 9:48
"Dyers Eve" (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:13

Chart Information

1988 ...And Justice for All (album) The Billboard 200 No. 6
1989 One (single) The Billboard Hot 100 No. 35

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.

External links

Album lyrics

Metallica albums | 1988 albums | Elektra Records albums

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