Metallica’s iconic singer and guitarist, James ‘Papa Het’ Hetfield had a new interview with So What and responded to criticism about the band’s legendary album “… And Justice for All.”
This is what James Hetfield told fans asking to remix the album and make the bass more audible.
“All this [bass discussion] is after the fact, and it’s, like, who gives a shit, man, really? And why would you change that? Why would you change history? Why would you all of a sudden put bass on it?
“There is bass on it, but why would you remix an album? You can remaster it, yes, but why would you remix something and make it different? It’d be like… I don’t know.
“Not that I’m comparing us to the Mona Lisa, but it’s, like, ‘Uh, can we make her smile a little better?!’ You know?! Why?“
He continued:
“We wanted the best-sounding record we could make. That was our goal. We were burnt. We were frigging fried. Going back and forth. Playing a gig. No earplugs, no nothing. You go back into the studio, your hearing is shot.
If your ears can’t hear any high-end anymore, you’re gonna turn it up. So we’re turning the high end up more and more and more and all of a sudden, low end’s gone. So I know that played a bigger part than any hazing or any ill feelings towards Jason, for sure. We were fried. We were burnt.”