Jason Newsted Leaves Metallica!

[Zonplayer]

Metallica regrets to announce that after 14 years as Metallica's bass player, Jason
Newsted has chosen to leave the band.

Jason Newsted: "Due to private and personal reasons, and the physical damage that I have
done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love, I must step away from
the band. This is the most difficult decision of my life, made in the best interest of my
family, myself, and the continued growth of Metallica. I extend my love, thanks, and best
wishes to my brothers: James, Lars, and Kirk and the rest of the Metallica family,
friends, and fans whom have made these years so unforgettable."

Newsted joined Metallica from Flotsam And Jetsam in the fall of 1986 after the tragic
death of bassist Cliff Burton. He participated in the recording of 6 Metallica albums
(...And Justice for All, Metallica, Load, Re-Load, Garage Inc., and S&M) which have sold
over 55 million copies worldwide to date. In addition, he played on numerous worldwide
tours to millions of fans representing over 1000 gigs in all. While with Metallica, the
band won countless awards including 5 Grammy Awards and 2 MTV Video Music Awards.

James Hetfield: "Playing with someone who has such unbridled passion for music will
forever be a huge inspiration. On stage every night, he was a driving force to us all,
fans and band alike.

His connection will never be broken."

Lars Ulrich: "We part ways with Jason with more love, more mutual respect, and more
understanding of each other than at any other point in the past. James, Kirk and I look
forward to embracing the next chapter of Metallica with both a huge amount of appreciation
for the last 14 years with Jason and the excitement of rising to the challenges that lay
ahead to make Metallica shine brighter than ever."

In the spring, Metallica will begin writing and recording a new studio album with release
sometime in late 2001 or early 2002.

Kirk Hammett: "Jason is our brother. He will be missed."

[Willie Dizon]

Wow!! I'm completely dumbfounded.Jason must have real good resons for leaving.Whatever he does in the future will be received with the utmost respect.Now the big question is:"Who will take his place?"

[Zonplayer]

Hopefully someone from Talkbass ;-)

[Willie Dizon]

Originally posted by Zonplayer
Hopefully someone from Talkbass ;-)

Well...if some of you are missing from this site,we'll know where to find you.That would be cool!!! I know of someone from my hometown who auditioned for Judas Priest and got the job!!It could happen to any of us.The show must go on.

[Blackbird]

Jason Oldsted.... Paging Jason Oldsted...

Will C.

[JWC]

I still say they should have gone with Les Claypool in the first place. Then maybe we wouldn't have to put up with the constant load of **** that comes out of Lar's mouth anytime they stick a camera in his face. Les would do the talking.

[rickbass]

And another reason, "And more money than I can light matches to."

Seriously, I hope he continues to be musically productive. Since he is not greedy, apparently, if I was in his situation, I think I would move on, too. Besides the reasons he stated, he may well be ready for significant musical growth. And with Mettalica's proven formula for success, they'd be crazy to stray far from what they do so well. They can cut the hair and they can record with the symphony orchestra, but "the song remains the same."

Plus, the road thing. In years past, I did it on a much smaller scale by a long shot than Newstead. After the initial excitement wore off, it all became a blur. Sometimes, I didn't care or know which town we were in...soundcheck, sleep, play, party, sleep, travel, soundcheck, sleep, play, party, sleep, travel, soundcheck...ad nauseaum.

Sad to see him go, but now maybe some relatively unknown, fresh talent will get their shot.

[Erlendur Már]

Too bad...he was kinda cool..but does any1 know what he´s gonna do now?

[sn0wblind]

if you want talent to take place of Jason!?!!??!!? guess I'm out of the question.. but if you need a guy to play Cliff's songs, Im your man!!!!!
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long Live CLIFF!!!!!

[The Mock Turtle Regulator]

wow, that's a bit of a shock.
having said that, I don't blame him for leaving- Metallica's songwriting has gone seriously downhill since the Load album.(some might say since the Masters Of Puppets album).

maybe Jason could now open a store selling basses- just what does he do with all those Spectors, Alembics, ESP's from the previous tours?

I wouldn't mind having one of those Spectors

[blong1]

NO!!! say it ain't so!!! i wish him the best in whatever he does. as far as his future, i heard something about him recording on a project called Echo Brain. anybody know anything about this? anyway, much respect to a truely talented bassist from a longtime fan.

[Brendan]

I hope whatever he does is good. And, maybe with a new Voice in the band, Metallica might kick it up a notch. Jason Newsted is one of the reasons I got into bass. I hope things work out on both sides! Hey, maybe he and Les would trade places! That'd be funky, wouldn't it?

[relman]

Hey! Maybe he was caught by his other band members downloading bootlegs of their live shows!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously though, THAT SUCKS!!!!!!!!!!! I mena, who expected it? As the song says...SAD BUT TRUE!

[SantasCabanaBoy]

Seeing how Kirk Hammet and Les Claypool are buddies, and Claypool tried out for the posisition 14 years ago, i see a good chance of Claypool landing the position. Even though Metallica style bass work is not his style it is still very possible, after all he did play on the "Tuesdays Gone"
track of Garage Inc. As of right now Primus is out of action, so it is an excellent oppurtunity for both Claypool and Metallica.


I guess we will have to wait and see.

And somebody commented about Metallica's song writing going down hill since load. The first half of reload was good the second half...ugh, and garage inc. and S&M were a good packages. I disapear was pretty lame. Metallica Records 5 or 6 not so good songs and all of a sudden their song writing has gone down hill? No Leaf Clover was pretty kick ass, wasnt it?

[jrthebassguy]

ouch.....as a huge metallica fan....i am deeply saddend. but, we all must move on into the next step of life. Although i would never want a another bassist to replace jason, but since he left, im hoping Claypool gets the job. since after all he and kirk were best friends in high school and that Primus has kinda hindered away. but, whoever replaces him, i hope its for the best. i will greatly miss him, as some other of my metalli' friends

or, as a metallica fan could quote the song title "sad but true" ...at least thats how i see the situation...

[Edited by jrthebassguy on 01-17-2001 at 09:14 PM]

[Dave Castelo]

Les would make a good replacement...if metalica is wanting to change to a whole new style that would kick ass.

if they want to sound the same...an audition again would be nice (this time a lot more people will apply though)

i think they will choose someone a bit famous or a long time friend...my bet is that they are not going to do a casting like the last time...or do a national casting taking "the best" of each mayor state...

i still want claypool to do that new album.

[backtoschool]

Jason's probally thinking "flotsam and jetsam here I come!"

It is a loss for the bass community. I've got a friend who is a metallica freak and when he heard the news he went out to smoke a pack of cigarettes. I'm sure whoever metallica finds to fill in the void they'll be pretty damn good. Good luck to metallica and I hope they win some more law suites.

[freddylang]

Putting Claypool in Metallica is like putting Manring in Matchbox 20. Too creative and way to weird. It would be a good kick in the a#@ for them though. Man, they thought the last audition was crazy! Here's my first choise: Billy Gould. (EX-Faith No More.) Another Zon endorser w./ San Francisco conections who is about the same age. He would really enfuse some life into them and probably get Mike Patton to do some guest choking on the next album!

[jcadmus]

Originally posted by JWC
I still say they should have gone with Les Claypool in the first place. Then maybe we wouldn't have to put up with the constant load of **** that comes out of Lar's mouth anytime they stick a camera in his face. Les would do the talking.

Yeah that would be an improvement -- instead of putting up with the constant load of **** from Lars' we could put up with the even more annoying constant load of **** that comes from Clay Cesspool, er, Les Claypool. I'm always doin' that...

If you're into the guy, that's cool for you. Personally, I find his playing sloppy, and his attitude bogus -- from the interviews I've read he seems more interested in impressing everyone with how cool he is than contributing anything musically.

"Ooh, I got drunk with Alex Lifeson...ooh, I used to skip music class to have sex with my girlfriend...ooh, I went to high school with Kirk Hammett..." Blah, blah, blah. What a bonehead.

Too bad about Jason leaving, though. I'm not a huge Metallica fan, but Jason's always been one of my favorite metal bassplayers. And not a moron, which is cool.

[Edited by jcadmus on 01-18-2001 at 03:51 PM]

[steamboat]

No disrespect meant to any Metallica fan out there, but I really hope that Les never joins Metallica. All politics aside, Metallica is just not my cup of tea. I really want Primus to start making records again (though I like the Frog Brigade stuff a lot), and with Les in Metallica, that wouldn't happen. It's bad enough that Brain left Primus, but at least Herb might come back eventually. If Les joined Metallica there'd be no more Primus for probably quite sometime.

There's plenty of bassists out there that would not only suit their current and older styles well, but would also be creative enough to help take them in new directions... probably quite a few here on Talkbass.