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Rob or Jason
- Thread starter gcres
- Start date
Not really. From what I've read about the band and the interviews I've seen, Metallica has always seemed like the James & Lars show. Kirk gets to write his solos (except on St. Anger) and whoever is on bass (with the exception of Cliff) plays what James and Lars tell him to.
There are isolated bass tracks on YouTube. Interesting to hear.
Honestly, Cliff was rather sloppy. Of course, he was only 24 when he died , so...
Jason was a much tighter player than Cliff. And I enjoyed his stage persona. He balanced the band with a bit of humor and fun.
Rob's isolated bass track sounds great. But it was recorded in an age of far better technology and editing abilities.
Even on live recordings, it's hard to compare fairly. The new live recordings with Rob are far more posh and flattering than the crude soundboard tapes of Cliff or even stuff with Jason. And the whole band was kinda sloppy in Cliff's day. Rob has the advantage of experience and playing with a matured drummer/band.
Stick_Player
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- Nov 13, 2009
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Fat Steve
The poodle bites, the poodle chews it.
Nuance? In a discussion about Metallica and their bass players? I never thought that was possible!
I agree.
Ive heard Trunillo miss notes and butcher songs and solos that cliff did. Anesthesia pulling teeth with trujillo is terrible. Most I hear the tone difference. I dont like any of the threes tones. Cliffs is muddy and staticky, jasons is scratchy and thin on most of their stuff, and trujillo is super low with little definition. I think I could pespi challenge them all playing the same songs and tell who is playing.
I believe someone had it correct about lars and hetfield writting all the bass and guitar parts. Mustaine wrote most of fhe guitar riffs on their first album and Im shre they have been trying to fill that roll. I could not be in a band that told me what to play like that. Well... I could fir millions of dollars like trujillo but... Id feel very unsatisfied as an artist.
I believe someone had it correct about lars and hetfield writting all the bass and guitar parts. Mustaine wrote most of fhe guitar riffs on their first album and Im shre they have been trying to fill that roll. I could not be in a band that told me what to play like that. Well... I could fir millions of dollars like trujillo but... Id feel very unsatisfied as an artist.
There's a Guitar Hero version out there that has all the songs without being "masterfully clippinated" the way they were in the album. I wonder what the heck happened in there? Never upset a sound engineer, I guess.
On topic: Rob
He's slowly but surely bringing Metallica back to their early thrash metal roots. Death Magnetic is a great departure from the weird Load/Reload/St. Anger phase. Plus the new song, Lords of Summer, sounds awesome and if it's a hint of what the new album will sound like, it will totally rock!
Jason went with the flow on Load, Reload and that "Hey, hey, hey!" song I hated so much. St. Anger, however, was nobody's fault. I'm not saying those albums are bad, but that's not the Metallica I knew since I was a little kid.
i like cliff's song writing contribution. i like jason's stage presence, and backing vocals. i like rob cause he's technically the best among the 3 ...
i guess i'd have to go with jason for metallica... although i cant help but wonder if Cliff might have stopped the load, reload and st. anger albums?
i guess i'd have to go with jason for metallica... although i cant help but wonder if Cliff might have stopped the load, reload and st. anger albums?
You know... load and reload has some alright music on them. It wasnt metal, in fact one was flat out country 
but they had some alright music on there. The albums I cant listen to are garage ink, st anger, LuLu, and death magnetic.
The song everyone is talking about is "I disappear".
but they had some alright music on there. The albums I cant listen to are garage ink, st anger, LuLu, and death magnetic.The song everyone is talking about is "I disappear".
You know... load and reload has some alright music on them. It wasnt metal, in fact one was flat out country
The song everyone is talking about is "I disappear".
And this proves how subjective it all is. Garage Inc and Death Magnetic are two of my favorites. Not sure if Garage Inc can count as it's cover songs. But Death Magnetic won me back after I had given up hope (after load, reload, and st anger).
Although I've often felt the Load albums would've been alright if the songs were edited down to normal durations instead of rambling on and on.
St Anger, maybe. But Load and Reload were written in the stars. They would have probably been generally better, but not much different.
They're all great, but the nod goes to Jason for me. I loved some of his more melodic lines, and tone wise his was the most appealing as a whole. All IMO of course.
Trujillo is by far a better musician. not even a contest as the dude can play anything. Even his flamenco guitar is killer.
Trujillo hasn't recorded a big song for Metallica to this point though.
I like Jason as a better fit in the band but too bad you can rarely hear bass on anything recorded after Master of Puppets.
Trujillo hasn't recorded a big song for Metallica to this point though.
I like Jason as a better fit in the band but too bad you can rarely hear bass on anything recorded after Master of Puppets.
I would rather see Jason in the band, but when it comes to versatility Rob blows him out of the water. Jason is a rock bass player, that's about it.
