10 Most Underrated Metallica Songs
8. My Friend Of Misery
While Metallica's musical ventures are known as a group effort most of the time, no one denies that James Hetfield is the one that steers the ship. The man is an absolute phenomenon who creates classic riffs at the same rate most of us breathe. The songwriting prowess is definitely secure, but that didn't mean they couldn't recognize great riffs from other members.
On the back half of the band's highly acclaimed Black Album, Jason Newsted brought one of his bass showcases to the table as a potential idea. The band loved the cascading chord progression, but were unsure of where to go beyond that. Though the band wanted to release it as an instrumental, Bob Rock kept pushing the band to turn it into a full-blown sung track.
As a result, "My Friend of Misery" is one of the most brilliant displays of musicianship on the entire record. The vocals are actually the weakest part of the song in this case, with the fantastic bassline complimented on the other side by atmospheric clean guitar by Kirk and one of James' most impressive harmony guitar features on record. The song may have missed its calling as an instrumental, but the results are still a great palette cleanser in between the darker cuts.