![Les Claypool Reflects on His Challenging Audition with Metallica]](https://backingtracksfullcollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Les-Claypool-Reflects-on-His-Challenging-Audition-with-Metallica-758x426.jpg "Les Claypool Reflects on His Challenging Audition with Metallica] 1")
Les Claypool may be lauded as one of the bass’ undisputed virtuosos and most influential innovators.
However, according to the man himself, this wasn’t enough to earn him a spot in Metallica when he auditioned back in late 1986, following the death of Cliff Burton.
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“We played a song or two and I said, ‘Hey, you guys want to jam on some Isley Brothers?’ Nobody laughed.”
In a 2005 Bass Player interview, Claypool spoke more on the experience. “I can’t really remember what songs we played, but I didn’t fit in, that was really obvious,” he said.
“No, it wasn’t that – I just didn’t fit in,” he later told Kerrang! “I had a blonde Mohawk and baggy skater pants and two different coloured tennis shoes – and this was back when they had long hair long hair and tight pants.
“I told him he was full of it, and thought I was a freak! That was why he didn’t want me! And he [Hetfield] just laughed, because it was true. I wouldn’t have fit. They’re not dumb.”
