Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo has revealed the song he believes is the best to introduce to prospective new fans of the metal icons.
Across a 40-year career and 10 studio albums, the band have shared hundreds of songs, and Trujillo picked a somewhat off-the-wall choice for what he believes is the best one to play to listeners you hope to convert.
“For me that’s pretty easy,” Trujillo told Revolver when being asked the question as part of the publication’s ‘Point Of Entry’ series, which asks bands which song of theirs they would use to introduce the band to a new listener.
After picking ‘Master Of Puppets’ track ‘Disposable Heroes’, he explained: “The reason is because it’s really in a lot of ways – especially in metal – the perfect balance of what I call ‘power groove’.”
“I liked that song before I even joined the band,” he added. “I used to go running in the hills in the Santa Monica mountains to prepare for Suicidal Tendencies tours. I had three or four cassettes that motivated me: one of them was ‘Master Of Puppets’, and then, like, [Slayer‘s] ‘Reign In Blood’ and [Metallica’s] ‘Ride The Lightning’ were in there, too. That’s how I really, really dissected and discovered ‘Master Of Puppets’.”
Going on to explain about his choice further, Trujillo said: “‘Disposable Heroes‘ has that groove that leans more in that sort of headbanging kind of funky zone… Slayer has that, too, with certain songs. And then at the same time it shifts gears, and you get the speed in there.
“It’s very well-crafted and has a little bit of everything, well, not even a little bit, it’s got a lot of everything. It’s always one of my go-to classic Metallica songs. Now, I know some people call it a deep cut … but ‘Disposable Heroes‘ would be my go-for-broke Metallica classic song right there, ’cause it has everything.”
The somewhat unexpected track is also the favourite Metallica song of Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, who said earlier this year: “I flipped the [‘Master Of Puppets’] tape and that first song is fucking ‘Disposable Heroes’ and all of a sudden I just had my head ripped off.
“I was just like, ‘This is the greatest fucking song.’ That riff is so stupid rad. I can’t even fucking explain it. The song just kept building and building and building… yeah, to this day it’s my favourite fucking Metallica song. It’s so rad.”
Elsewhere, last weekend (September 24) saw Metallica joined by country singer Mickey Guyton at a New York performance for a powerful rendition of ‘Nothing Else Matters’.
Guyton joined the band’s headlining set at Global Citizen Festival, which took place at New York City’s Central Park. “Finally a real singer!” James Hetfield remarked on Guyton’s appearance, before the singer belted through the song’s verses and delivered a riveting duet with Hetfield on the track’s chorus.
