“My Friend of Misery” contains the main riff that Jason Newsted originally intended as an instrumental on The Black Album.
Newsted developed the main riff and initially imagined it as an instrumental. Instrumental pieces had appeared on each of Metallica's previous albums, but the idea was ultimately developed into a vocal song for Metallica.
The finished track appears as the album's eleventh song. Its prominent bass-centered writing makes it especially notable in discussions of Newsted's creative contributions, even though the album's songs were mainly composed by James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich.
This fact is often confused with “The God That Failed,” another Black Album track involving distinctive ideas from the recording process. The Newsted-originated riff specifically belongs to “My Friend of Misery,” not to the album's other songs.