Maps of Music

...And Justice for All (1988)

Where the lyrics of ...And Justice for All take you, and where it was really made.

Metallica's bassist Jason Newsted's bass was mixed so low it is nearly inaudible, and the band's own frontman and drummer asked for it.

Key places

Where the album was recorded in 1988 (1988)

Recording site One on One Recording Studios — Metallica recorded the album with producer Flemming Rasmussen over four months in early 1988 at this studio in Los Angeles. Recording ran from January 30 to May 23, 1988. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• ...And Justice for All: fourth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica
• Released September 7, 1988 by Elektra Records; Vertigo Records in the UK
• First full-length studio album with bassist Jason Newsted, after Cliff Burton's death in 1986
• Burton received posthumous co-writing credit on "To Live Is to Die"
• Thrash and progressive metal record with long, complex songs and few verse-chorus structures

Background

• Newsted had previously played on the 1987 EP The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited
• Recording was planned earlier but was delayed by many festival dates in summer 1987, including the European leg of Monsters of Rock
• Hetfield's arm injury from a skateboarding accident was another reason for the delay
• Master of Puppets (1986) was the last album under the contract with Music for Nations

Recording

• Recorded from January 30 to May 23, 1988 at One on One Recording Studios in Los Angeles
• Produced by Flemming Rasmussen, who was first unavailable, so Mike Clink was hired at the start
• Clink's sessions did not go well; the band recorded two cover songs during that time as B-sides
• Rasmussen joined in March, six weeks into the recording, and first adjusted the guitar sound
• Mixing was done by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero, without Rasmussen present
• Newsted's bass made almost inaudible in the mix at Hetfield and Ulrich's instruction

Cover

• Depicts a cracked statue of a blindfolded Lady Justice bound by ropes, with scales overflowing with dollar bills
• Created by Stephen Gorman from a concept developed by Hetfield and Ulrich
• Gorman used the Fountain of Justice in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, as a model

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, later based in San Francisco for most of its career.
• Founded as one of the "big four" of thrash metal alongside Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer.

Members

• Current lineup: Hetfield, Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo.
• Former members include Ron McGovney, Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted and Dave Mustaine.

Career

• Commercial breakthrough with Master of Puppets (1986), often cited as one of the best metal albums of all time.
• The self-titled 1991 album moved the band toward a more mainstream audience and became its best-selling record.
• Returned to thrash roots with Death Magnetic (2008) and released 72 Seasons in 2023.
• Led the lawsuit against Napster in 2000.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009.
• Sold more than 163 million albums worldwide as of 2023.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Acclaimed by music critics for depth and complexity; the dry mix and nearly inaudible bass guitar were criticized
• Rolling Stone's Michael Azerrad called the music "a marvel of precisely channeled aggression" in a contemporary review
• Spin's Sharon Liveten called it a "gem of a double record" and found the music both edgy and technically proficient
• Tom Moon praised the album in The Philadelphia Inquirer, writing that Metallica had "redefined its genre"
• Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave a less enthusiastic review, saying the album "goes on longer" than Master of Puppets
• Billboard predicted the album would satisfy fans but lack radio appeal with its grim themes and ferocity of playing

Reappraisal

• Retrospective reviews rank it among Metallica's best works
• Pitchfork's Sean T. Collins argued it is Metallica's best album
• Ultimate Classic Rock wrote that the thin production remains a big sticking point
• Mick Wall was critical of the progressive elements and believed that, apart from "One" and "Dyers Eve", most of the album sounded clumsy
• Remastered and reissued as an expanded box set in 2018

Records

• Peaked at number six on the Billboard 200, its best-selling album upon release
• Topped the charts in Finland
• Certified eight-times platinum by the RIAA in 2003
• Certified three times platinum by Music Canada for shipping 300,000 copies
• 1.7 million copies sold in the US by the end of 1988
• Awarded gold by the British Phonographic Industry in 2013 for shipping 100,000 copies in the UK
• Nominated for the 1989 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance; lost to Jethro Tull

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• Hetfield and Ulrich instructed that Newsted's bass be made almost inaudible, and Rasmussen said he had no idea why they wanted that.
• Metallica added a sticker to later pressings of the album reading "Grammy Award LOSERS" after losing the 1989 award to Jethro Tull.
• The album title comes from the last four words of the American Pledge of Allegiance.
• Mike Clink, hired at first, had produced the Guns N' Roses debut Appetite for Destruction, but the sessions with him did not go well.
• Stephen Gorman used the Fountain of Justice in Frankfurt am Main as a model for the Lady Justice cover artwork.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

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