Watch Jason Newsted Unbox Metallica’s ‘The Black Album’ Box Set + Tell Stories
Metallica announced a massive Black Album box set earlier this year to commemorate the record's 30th anniversary, and the band have uploaded a video of former bassist Jason Newsted unboxing it and telling stories about the process of making the album.
In the video, Newsted is seen sitting on a porch in a cowboy hat, with the box on a table in front of him and a bass guitar leaning against the rail behind him.
"Okay so, 30 years ago this weekend," he said as he tore off the wrapping. "Just so you know, I haven't seen any of the preliminary anything on this — I'm seeing it for the first time. All of it. I haven't even listened to the record for years."
Newsted joined Metallica on bass after the death of Cliff Burton in 1986. He remained in the band until 2001.
The box set consists of the remastered Metallica album on double LP, several CDs of live performances, demos and other unreleased content. It also comes with tour laminates, lithos, guitar picks, a 120-page book of photos and stories and some other collectibles.
"So one of the really cool things that happened back in the day, James [Hetfield] would protect the lyrics a lot," Newsted reflected as he picked up the replica lyrics sheet.
"And he'd make all these little sketches on there and stuff. And then finally, as he got past the [sings] melody that he would emulate what was to come, we would all get to see the lyrics for the first time just like fans. All of us, everybody in the band, Bob Rock — everybody. We would just get to see this stuff for the first time completed," he continued. "And it was always, for me personally, a great thrill to see the sketches. The way he built stuff was a really big deal."
Newsted then presented the magazine cover copies and cited what event they were promoting at the time. "I remember all of these like they were yesterday, actually," he remarked.
The $240 box set is available for pre-order now, and is expected to be out on Sept. 10. Order yours here now, and watch the video below to hear the rest of Newsted's memories.