Les Claypool’s audition with Metallica went badly

The frontman of Primus, Les Claypoolin an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian, among other things, talked about his audition, which failed miserably, to enter the Metallica as a substitute for Cliff Burton.

According to him, what caused him to miss that opportunity was his unfortunate joke. There was a moment during the hearing when, in an attempt to make light of things, Claypool said something he believed to be completely harmless and funny. The 62-year-old American musician explains: “I didn’t know how famous they were. We played a couple of songs and I said: ‘Hey guys, do you want to play something by the Isley Brothers?’ Nobody laughed.”

The hearing took place when i Metallica they were looking for a replacement for Cliff Burton after the tragic death of the bassist following an accident with the band’s tour bus in Sweden in September 1986. In the documentary “Behind the Music” the frontman of Metallica James Hetfield gave a different version of how the audition went Les Claypoolstating very simply: “He was too good.”

Claypool’s revelation about his misplaced joke thus dismisses the story behind the hearing Metallica which is much more complex. Guitar World reported that Les Claypool he was invited to participate in the audition by his friend from high school Kirk Hammett. At the time, Claypool was working as a carpenter and wasn’t particularly immersed in the metal scene, making him an unlikely candidate. The cultural and stylistic incompatibility between Claypool and the Metallica it was immediately evident. Louder Sound noted that Claypool’s eccentric appearance featured a blonde mohawk, baggy skater pants, and mismatched shoes. This look contrasted sharply with the image of Metallicamade of long hair and tight pants. This visual discrepancy led James Hetfield to consider Claypool a freak, although the band behaved politely during the audition.

In more recent interviews, Les Claypool he refuted the fictionalized version of his refusal, rejecting Hetfield’s claim about “Behind The Music”that he was “too good” or “too talented,” calling it an untruthful historical revision. The leader of the Primus instead he argues that it simply didn’t fit with the aesthetics and musical direction of Metallica.

The relationship between Claypool and the Metallica it didn’t end with that 1986 audition. Louder Sound revealed that the Californian band dropped out Les Claypool even after the abandonment of Jason Newsted in 2001, choosing Robert Trujillo as it is more in line with their style. For his part, Claypool was never upset about those rejections; after all, those ‘failures’ allowed him to pursue his eccentric artistic vision with his Primus.