Which Metallica musician wrote the original main riff for “My Friend of Misery”?

Jason Newsted wrote the original main riff for Metallica’s “My Friend of Misery.”

The song appears as the eleventh track on The Black Album. Newsted originally developed the riff for an instrumental composition, but it was eventually turned into a vocal song during the album’s writing process. It became one of his clearest compositional contributions to Metallica.

The track is notable because earlier Metallica albums had included an instrumental: “The Call of Ktulu,” “Orion,” and “To Live Is to Die.” “My Friend of Misery” was initially envisioned as a continuation of that tradition, but the finished version includes James Hetfield’s vocals and lyrics.

Listeners sometimes assume every major riff on the album was written by Hetfield and Ulrich, who handled much of the band’s songwriting. Newsted’s contribution is an important exception and helps explain the song’s distinctive bass-centered character.