80’s Metallica…that era truly was untouchable. Ask any Metallica or metal fan about those first three records and most will say those are un-fuck-withable. Now of course you don’t need me to tell you about the death of bassist Cliff Burton unless you’ve lived under a rock in which case send me an email. But it does beg the question what if Cliff Burton had lived?? Would he have been onboard with the direction they went after Master Of Puppets?? Would his bass have been audible on And Justice For All??? Another question that could also be asked is did Metallica make the right choice choosing Rob Trujillo?? Let’s take a look……
Obviously the biggest question out of all of this is what would Metallica be like had Cliff Burton survived?? Would he even be in the band or would he have been keen on the direction that they took with Load up until now?? Personally, I think he would’ve embraced the change. You have to remember, Cliff was into country, jazz, and blues so he was probably (at that time) the most well rounded musician out of all of them. He brought melody to the band which played a huge factor in getting them where they are today. Just imagine how much more melodic And Justice For All would’ve sounded. Imagine how much more melody and even blues-y albums like Load, Reload, and even the latest one 72 Seasons would have. So yes I think Cliff would’ve absolutely been on board with the direction they went after Ride. In fact I think he would’ve been the first one to say “let’s go in this direction.”
Now the question is did Metallica make the right choice in picking Rob Trujillo?? Lars Absolutely they did. To be honest, they couldn’t have made a better choice. He just fits in so perfectly and I honestly think he was that shot of positivity that the band needed. According to Robert on a 2016 podcast, he was actually hung over because Lars invited him out to go drinking the first night he auditioned. He goes on to say “We played ‘Battery’, and I think it helped me not be nervous,” he recalled. “And that’s what you see in the film, and everybody seems to think it was pretty slamming. But other than that, I was brain dead. If I could play, I was fine. But in communicating with Hetfield, ’cause he would come over to me and ask me questions, and I would come up with really stupid answers, because, literally, I was not all there. When I watch ‘Some Kind Of Monster’, I see myself wearing this brown Armani t-shirt, which I would never own in my life. You know why? ‘Cause it’s not mine. It’s Lars’s. His wife at the time, Skylar, gave me that shirt, because the one I’d been wearing, which was probably pretty funky, was not happening.”
The fact that he could play a song as fast and intense as “Battery” while hungover really does show that Metallica made the right decision. My favorite part in the Some Kind Of Monster DVD is the bass player auditions because it’s also interesting to think about who else could’ve been chosen. I mean can you imagine if they got Danny Lohner or even Twiggy Ramirez?? Or…..imagine if they actually had Les Claypool from Primus??
It should be no secret that had Rob not been the one, the next in line was Pepper Keenan. In fact, according to Pepper, that whole situation came to be by just being good friends with James and the guys. He goes on to say in an interview with Guitar World “There was one part in the movie where they made me play bass on a new song, I guess they were trying to stump me with something I’d never heard before… St Anger or some shit like that. It was a drop-tuned song and I hit the blower knob on my bass and just blasted through. They were like ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ It sounded as heavy as lead to me, totally ripping from all the overdrive on my short-scale SG bass set to the front pickup. I can still see them shaking their heads. I knew I’d lost the gig right there.”
At the end of the day, this has to be one of the most interesting What If scenarios. Metallica is the biggest band in the world so just picturing a different guy on bass can be a lot of fun. I will say that if Pepper had been picked, the backing vocals would’ve been amazing. Of Cliff had lived and was still with the band just the melodicness of the albums after Puppets…..just wow!!!!
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