10 Hard Rock Musicians Who Were Almost In 2 Legendary Bands
3. Les Claypool - Metallica
The entire metal scene was absolutely gutted when Cliff Burton was killed in a bus crash on Metallica's tour through Sweden. Much like Geezer Butler and Steve Harris before him, Cliff's amazing way with melody and muscle behind the low end brought a different dimension to Metallica's sound that would never be heard again. Though Jason Newsted settled in as well as he could amid the thrash titans, the sound of Metallica going forward had the potential to be a whole lot funkier.
Coming back to San Francisco to bury their friend and bandmate, every member started calling around to see if they could find the right guy. Despite holding auditions, Kirk Hammett remembered one of his old school buddies who played bass, which wound up being Les Claypool from Primus. At the same time, this audition was pretty much doomed right from the start, with Claypool's look not being anywhere close to the right fit in Metallica.
Though Les had the technical chops to play every member of the band under the table, it was clear his vast array of influences was not going to work going into what would become And Justice for All. Going ahead with Newsted, Claypool waited a few years to ignite Primus, all while Jason had to fight to have his bass heard on Metallica's records. We have seen plenty of musicians try and fail to get into their favorite bands, but Claypool may be the one bass player who was way too overqualified for the position.