Which Metallica bassist co-wrote “My Friend of Misery” on the band's 1991 album?

Jason Newsted co-wrote “My Friend of Misery” on Metallica's 1991 album, commonly called The Black Album.

Newsted contributed the song's central bass idea, and the final writing credits list him with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. The track was unusual in the band's catalog because Newsted originally imagined it as an instrumental, continuing Metallica's earlier tradition of instrumental pieces.

The finished recording added vocals and lyrics, but its bass-led opening remains one of its defining features. It appears as the eleventh track, immediately before “The Struggle Within,” which closes the original album.

This credit is sometimes overlooked because Hetfield and Ulrich handled much of Metallica's songwriting during the period. Newsted was also the bassist on the album, while Kirk Hammett played lead guitar. Robert Trujillo joined Metallica much later and did not participate in the 1991 recording.