Ongoing History Daily: A disastrous Metallica audition

After Metallica bass player Cliff Burton died in a tour bus accident in September 1986, the band re-grouped and began auditioning for a new member. Many people turned up, including Les Claypool, the future leader of Primus.

Unfortunately, Les didn’t do his research on Metallica’s popularity, and he completely misread the room. He showed up with a blonde Mohawk and two different coloured sneakers, a bad look for a band that had long hair and tight jeans. After playing a song or two, Les asked if the guys wanted to jam on some old R&B music. Lars Ulrich reportedly said, “You’re not really used to this kind of music, are you?” And that was that.

Later, Metallica would say that Les was just too good for what they were doing, which is a nice way of saying, “You just don’t fit in, dude.”