The Traumatic Departure of Jason Newsted from Metallica: The Crisis That Almost Ended the Band

Following the tragic deаth of their bassist, Cliff Burton, in a traffic аccident in Sweden during a band tour, the remaining members of Metallica were cоmpelled to find a replacement just three weeks after their friend and bandmate’s passing. Still mourning the loss, Jason Newsted, an ardent fan of the band, became the target of all the frustrations and pаin felt by Hetfield and company.

In his first album with the band, ‘…And Justice For All,’ the bass is virtually inaudible. This stems from two reasons; firstly, the instrument is recorded in the same frequency as James Hetfield’s rhythm guitar, both playing identical notes. When recording his part, Newsted encountered a sound engineer who simply instructed him to play, without the opportunity to discuss the mix with the rest of the group. However, Metallica members, particularly Lars Ulrich and James, forced the sound engineer to lower the level to a minimum, rendering the bass line nearly inaudible.

However, this was not the only ordeal; numerous pranks and mistreatment of their bandmate became a constant within the group. One of the early incidents occurred in Japan, where, after just 11 days in the band, Newsted, experiencing one of his first parties as a member of Metallica, was allegedly heavily intoxicated. Kirk Hammett decided to play a cruel joke by convincing him to try a spoonful of delicious “mint ice cream,” which turned out to be wasabi, an extremely spicy radish-based condiment. The musician, obviously inebriated, began choking and coughing. Upon recovering, he realized the band had left him alone at the dining table. Then, a waiter appeared with a bill, reaching an exоrbitant amount. Jason looked around in disbelief. Fortunately, it was all an elaborate prank, and soon, his road manager appeared to handle everything.

Another “welcome” gesture from his bandmates involved tossing all his clothes and belongings out of the hotel window, followed by trashing his room, filling it with toothpaste and shaving cream. “Welcome to the band, man!” they shouted as they ran off, leaving Newsted alone and humiliated.

When the bassist left the band in 2001, he had become an institution in the history of rock. Noteworthy is his contribution to the recording of ‘…And Justice for All,’ the ‘Black Album,’ ‘Load,’ ‘Re-Load,’ and ‘Garage Inc.’ Despite his energetic performances and arguably the best backing vocals in Metallica’s history, his compositional contributions, at least according to his bandmates, were considered somewhat limited. This doesn’t imply that Newsted was a poor musician; rather, he never quite integrated fully into the band. In fact, all his creative restlessness led to an alternative project, Echobrain.

This band showed great promise and, with Metallica members taking increasing amounts of time off, it was entirely compatible with Newsted’s duties as Metallica’s bassist. Everything seemed to be going smoothly; different managers and advertising teams had committed to supporting Jason’s alternative project, which had a distinct style from his main group. However, James Hetfield learned about what was happening, and his reaction was the worst possible. Echobrain suԀԀenly faced a ban from everyone associated with Metallica, and the bassist made the decision to leave the band.

In the documentary ‘Some Kind Of Monster,’ which portrays the band’s rebuilding process, the recording of the ‘St. Anger’ album, and the numerous challenges the band members faced during that period, Jason Newsted is mentioned several times. This includes a moment when the band decides to play together again, and he leaves them a rather angry voicemail. They criticize him and decide that he has no chance of rejoining the group.

His initial replacement was not Robert Trujillo, who had already played with great musicians like Ozzy Osbourne at that time, but Bob Rock, responsible for recording the bass lines for the ill-fated ‘St. Anger.’ However, after an exhaustive audition, Trujillo was chosen to join Metallica. It seems that, with the passage of time and experience, this musician has indeed found a comfortable and permanent place within the lineup. Nevertheless, Jason Newsted’s story in Metallica will always be that of an artist who, despite contributing significantly to the band, never had the opportunity to be a full-fledged member.