Which Metallica album song was written from a guitar riff by bassist Jason Newsted?

“My Friend of Misery” was developed from a guitar riff written by Metallica bassist Jason Newsted.

Newsted created the main riff during the writing of The Black Album. The piece was originally intended to become an instrumental, continuing a pattern in which each of Metallica's previous albums had included an instrumental track. It ultimately became a vocal song instead.

James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich were the primary songwriting partnership for the album, with Hetfield generally writing lyrics and Ulrich contributing to the arrangements. Kirk Hammett and Newsted also supplied ideas, and “My Friend of Misery” is the clearest example of Newsted's musical contribution shaping a finished album track.

The song appears as track eleven on the standard twelve-track album, immediately before “The Struggle Within.” It is sometimes overlooked beside the record's biggest singles, but its origin makes it especially significant in discussions of the band's internal songwriting roles.