Metallica: The Shortest Straw (Washington, D.C. - July 17, 1992) 

I swear, in his prime, it hardly looked like James was even trying to play his guitar. He just willed the notes out of it and the guitar obeyed.

Jason's backing vocals are so clean that it did my laundry

Jason is a freaking monster on the vocals, he was the perfect guy for the job.

The best album Metallica ever made …. In my opinion.

Holy shit Jason's high up in the mix! Justice has been served.

White drum kit, loud bass, explorer hetfield, flying v kirk omg love it

that's a real concert. Lars is actually putting the effort to DO double basses And Jason's bass + vocals are audible

A lot people give Lars crap, but man, he was writing such good drum parts in those first four albums and this is definitely one of his best masterpieces.

I'm a simple man I see longhair hetfield headbanging I click it

Jason’s voice is perfect with James

Jason´s revenge on bass.

It's insane to think that they are almost a billion dollar band. A BILLION.... Edit: this comment is 2 years old. Now they ARE a billion dollar band. 🤘🤘🤘🤘

Woow when Jason Newsted sing with James at same time it make Hetfields voice 10 time stronger

In 1990 my parents moved to a new house. I was 10, didn't know metal existed. The previous tenants had left some trash, including a small box of cassettes, no cases and no marks on them. I played them all in the old National-Panasonic stereo and only one had music on one side (just 30 mins), the other side being blank. I could not figure out what the hell was that noise but I was instantly hooked for life by that pounding DA-DA-DA.. DA-DA-DA-DAAA-DA-DA in the first song, and specially by the haunting inexplicable mournfulness of an instrumental piece at the end of those glorious 30 mins of strange music that had fallen upon my innocent hands by pure chance. A couple years later, already becoming a metalhead and after listening to it a few million times, I finally realized I had been listening to the side two of ..and Justice For All. Now, almost 30 years later, every single time I listen to this song, I get goosebumps at the realization that this is the first metal song I ever heard and came to deeply love, without even knowing who played it. Peace.

I actually have never seen Kirk sing any backing vocals except here. Jason’s a very capable singer and sounds great

Unreal how low Hetfields guitar is back in those days. We need a year by year comparison of guitar height and back curvature! Love this song. The tempo just never lets up and it’s great to see Lars not struggle and look fluid (comments about how he sounds not necessary).

Can we spend a second to talk about how Kirk absolutely smoked that solo? Love the single pickup V with the Floyd

3:00 The Cliff Burton head banging technique

The period from 1989-94 was absolutely peak live Metallica, Binge & Purge is essential to see how powerful they were back then. Their Woodstock ‘94 set is bone-crushing

Kirk's a beast... Lars also hitting really hard and consistent.

Love these vintage uploads. James looks like a viking possessed. 💪😎🤘

I was there. Way in the back. 15 years old, 2nd Metallica show, 1st time smoking a joint. Good fun.

Jason’s contribution was really phenomenal

Jason's backing vocals were amazing and that's why I came back to this video. But I'm just realizing how great his facial expressions are while singing, too. He actually looks like hes full of hate when singing the backup vocals, it's awesome.

Metallica in the early 90´s would eat alive anyone on their sight.

James is a poet. Any metal band can speak obvious tongue but I always loved how James used analogies to deepen the meaning of his songs and make it more open to interpretation. Lyrically, he is the most superior and diverse of the top 4 when it comes to covering a plethora of emotions!

0:30 One of the Greatest Riff and Sound in the History

... and I don't care what anyone says. Jason Newsted was a much deeper part of who Metallic used to be, vocally, presentation, sound, energy, and playing style. I have been mourning this band for a very long time.

1:22 Dave singing The Shortest Straw

I enjoy this better than the album because I can hear Jason with the bass.

One bad ASS solo getting straight down!! Kirk is a badass !!! Just a great band best lineup imo Jason killed the backup vocals!!

James looks so tired he can't even headbang properly 🤣🤣

3:56: There is nothing cooler on this world than holding the guitar so low as James here. Really love his stage acting.

This video is like a drug to me. I watch it everyday.

probably the guy who gets the least credit is Jason Newstead. He literally became the face of this band in the 90s and was the most approchable. He also showed up with a completely different style, that still screamed metallica. It just was. Some of his best stuff is a nd justice for all and he was one hell of a backup vocalist too. Everyone loved or knew about cliff, but i still think everyone thinks still that Jason got screwed from the moment he joined until he left. Muted bass, what is that?

When I was at the sixth grade, almost twelve years old (1989), I read Metal Hammer a lot but the only cassettes I owned had Guns n Roses and ACDC. So I decided to go to the record store to buy something new. I was between Metallica and Motorhead, just for their names, without knowing nothing about their music. I decided to go for Metallica just for the name. I went to the store and asked the man there: "Do you have any new cassettes of Metallica?"(sic!) I thought that anything old was slow and soft. So he showed me a few. I remember I saw Kill Em All and something with lIghtnings on the cover! I finally picked something other and when I went to pay I did not have enough money. I said to the man: "Wait for me to get home and get more money" He said: "Wait I ll give you something else and you wont have to pay that much". So he gave me an untitled rewritable tape! And I paid for a rewritable tape! But when I went home and put the tape to the player, the sound of a very formidable music filled my ears. Some years later, and as I already listened to the tape with no titles and no sign whatsoever for thousands of times, I realised that the record was the ...And Justice For All. The tape brings me great memories, even if Dyers Eve was slaughtered because it did not fit in the tape!

Hetfield and Newstead have to be two of the most badasses to walk the earth.

Heaviest song on Justice. All the riffs are strong enough to be the main riff of a song. Metallica riffs just be hitting different than other bands lmao.

The BASS lives!!! One of their most badass songs. Groovy, heavy, rhythmic, and technical.

i love how loud the bass is in the mix

Imagine Dyer's Eve being played in this era.

Kirk just played one of their hardest solos with 0 emotion XD

God damn jasons a beast live! Love the tone and attack he has with his pick. Also epic back up vocals

I’ve never seen them look “tired” on stage before until now. Mfs look EXHAUSTED

The Best ERA!! The Best Hetfield! The Best bass player! The best Energy! The Best Drums! The Best Look!! THE BEST METALLICA!!!!

Hetfield and Anselmo were such badass front men

Damn, this song has aged like a fine f-ing wine! Can’t stop listening to this particular performance either! Props to em all-Newsted blasting out the backing vocals, Lars timing great, Kirk nailing that solo, & James with the “c’mon mutherfukers” & “Yeahhhh”-then playing in that literal swamp of DC in July when it’s miserably hot & humid-f-ing badasses-all of em!

I can’t stand people that say Lars is a bad drummer! The guy is a Musical Drummer that Literally Writes awesome drum parts to a song!

jason's and james' voices went so well together in this song

Stuck on an island. Can only have one album. ...And Justice For All.

Lars was quite good around this time and still is one of the most influential drummers of all time❤️

Great to see this song live....and at the their prime. Amazing

4:22 slap guitar? Damn

Crushing GnR every single night of that tour! Goosebumps watching them at the height of their game!

1:41 is just one of the most in your face coolest things I’ve seen

Just so happy Kirk did the solo justice. Truly a masterpiece of his time.

I've been watching James fingers on that guitar, & though Kirk is lead guitarist, James stays busy on his guitar also. Usually the rhythm guitarist will do some chords, not saying it's easy. But James takes rhythm guitarist to a whole new level.

4:20 that technique! Never seen it before from James. Love it.

Any time i see old metallica, makes you realize jason brought so much energy to their live show also those metal backing vocals!! and robert....has that crab walking thing and sometimes spins around on the spot that some people like lol

You can really hear the bass and Jason was a beast on vocals, killed me when he left but I love Rob. Love the raw sound of the entire band.

It still baffles me on how James actually pulled this off... Doing intricate rhythms and singing at the same time... Goddamn, dude's a God

I could watch this song with only Jason in frame, his energy is amazing!

Jason truly had a face for metal... And the neck of a Marine who’s got some questionable kills😂

Little Story: I'm a guy with Autism. One of the things my particular kind of Autism does, is mess with my eye hand coordination. Which basically killed every chance of me playing guitar. But when I heard this song, I wanted to play it so bad, or at least just the main riff. So I taught myself to play electric, like Jeff Healey. I had taught myself to play power cords, tuning strings to different notes, WAY DIFFERENT from normal tunings, but it worked for the way I played. I started, and deemed this one too hard, so i started with "The Game" By Motörhead. I crushed it, and played it beautifully. Soon, I was playing Motörhead like no tomorrow. Which then it was time for the real test. I started with Metallica, playing Enter Sandman. And, I got good at all kinds of Metallica, at all ages. REALLY GOOD. Up until last week, where i tried to do the full Justice album (Can't play blackened, that riff just doesn't Cooperate lol.) And when I heard this song, I took the time to learn it, and now I play this song like a dream. Friends I know dont even DARE to attempt the songs I can play. I EVEN LEARNED DYER'S EVE. Don't let ANYTHING STOP YOU FROM ACHIEVING YOUR DREAMS!!!

4:30 Yup, the double-bass sounds pretty tight!

2:06 Love that James's 'metallic' voice

Double kick during solo is tight as hell

It's really awesome that after watching a shit ton of old videos in the late 80"s and 90's Metallica that Jason is always the topic of interest. He deserves it very much so . He's fuckin Awesome and well respected in my eyes and alot of other people.

nice snare sound!! good to hear Jason finally.

Jason’s backup vocals are sorely missed when Metallica plays live these days. Kirk and Robert don’t get it done. On a side note, Kirks solo on this track is so odd- it’s like he had all these techniques that he’d been waiting to fit into a song

I was lucky enough to see them on this tour. I was 14 and it blew my mind and ears to kingdom come.

Love this song with bass lol That said the album version has a special place in my heart

I remember being like 15 hearing and justice for all for the first time and just totally f*cking loved Metallica and that started my love for metal, getting into slayer, Megadeth,Black Sabbath,Dio, Motorhead😝🎸💀🤘🤘🤘

Jason best back vocals ever in Metallica, what a powerful voice

Metallica fan for nearly 40 yrs now.............Dont even tell me Lars is a bad drummer, not the best granted but he fits the riff and Metallica perfectly

Love the way James holds his guitar at 0:11 lol. It’s like he’s saying “LOOK WHAT I CAN DO”

Mettalica was the best when Jason was the bassist and backup vocals.

Best live American metal band!!! Made me proud to be a metalhead and still am

The songs sounds awesome with Jason's thick bass🤘⚡ Love you Metallica

Favorite album

This song should never be played without Jason on bass and backing vocals.

This is finally a true Metallica! AJFA their best album forever!

The pinnacle of metal, right here.

Amazing james can sing and keep the rhythm going without a slip..i am in awe!!

Glad to see Jason back in the band :)

Amazing quality for 1992 👌👍

Jason are pure heavy!!!!

That bass!! 🤘🏼🤘🏼🤘🏼

This song is so badass! That riff sounds like an angry locomotive! 🤘🏻

I’ve come to the realization that I like Newsted Metallica better than Trujillo Metallica. Rob’s a great bass player but the band seemed more tight and energy filled with Jason.

This band was a monster back in the day. James was a total beast, he had such fire in him he was unstoppable.

Its the best shortest strew ever. Jmz vocal is so deep and hard. And Jasons back...OMG!!!

When I was a kid I thought they were saying 'go to store'.

How have i not seen this until 2020?

The bass here is very loud and it brings entire new energy to the song. The bass between 1:40 and 1:47 is something I've never heard before. Went to check bass-only track after this and it rocks.

The Golden Era of Metallica ❤️

Love this raw footage! Don't need 4K when the band rips like this!

Probably the best song off the album ! That main riff is one of their best

One Of My Favourite Riffs!

Indescribably great