Jason Newsted is credited with writing the main riff of “My Friend of Misery” on Metallica’s The Black Album.
Newsted joined Metallica in 1986 after the death of bassist Cliff Burton, making The Black Album his second studio album with the band. Although James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich wrote most of the album’s material, Newsted contributed the central riff for “My Friend of Misery.”
The composition was originally intended to be an instrumental, continuing a pattern in which each previous Metallica album had included an instrumental track. It ultimately received lyrics and became the album’s eleventh song, with a running time of 6:49.
The song is notable because it gives Newsted a distinctive songwriting contribution within a record largely shaped by the Hetfield–Ulrich writing partnership. Newsted is also credited as the bassist on the album’s personnel list.