rk on their third album. They decided to go back to Copenhagen for the recordings. After months and months of work their third album, "Master of Puppets" is released in March of nineteen eighty-six. This album is the one acknowledged by many as the one that put Metallica into the mainstream scene. Various problems, though, would soon surface as the band prepared to go back on tour. (Krgin 57)Shortly before one of their first shows on their latest tour James Hetfield, lead singer and rhythm guitarist, broke his wrist while skateboarding. This did not seem a big deal and the band got a friend, John Marshall, to fill in while James healed. This event though was a bit of foreshadowing of what would happen later on in the tour. About three months later, in September of nineteen eighty-six, tragedy struck Metallica. While the band was on the way to Copenhagen Metallica's bus overturned. James, Lars, and Kirk all suffered some bumps and bruises but were utterly shocked when they finally exited the bus. Outside they saw bassist Cliff Burton's body lying limp underneath the bus wreckage. Cliff was tossed out of the window by the bunk where he slept when the bus overturned and was caught underneath. Totally discouraged and in mourning, Metallica returned to the United States to consider the future of their band. (Doughton 75-78)After a few months of heavy soul-searching Metallica decided to begin auditions for a new bassist. The auditions proved to be an amazing test of patience on the band considering what they had been through in the previous months. It took Metallica about two months of auditions to finally find a bass player they could deem acceptable. This bassist was a Phoenix, Arizona resident named Jason Newsted. Jason, who was formerly in a band called Floatsam and Jetsam, felt this was an opportunity he could not pass up and so he eagerly accepted. After playing a few shows the band decided to give Jason one last test....
