The story on why Jason Newstead left Metallica

The Metallica part starts around the 30 minute mark.

http://loudwire.com/jason-newsted-why-he-left-metallica/

Jason Newstead is a musician.

His EP was pretty crap apart from the lead single, but i have to hand it to Newsted, he’s a very loyal guy holding his tongue for so long. Metallica, as much as i love them, treated him very poorly. It just seems like the treated him like shit for pretty much his whole time with them, mainly because he wasn’t Cliff Burton.

well it was widely known that it was the overall state of the band and that echobrain thing as main reasons for his leave but yeah here he just brings out more details.

was summarized by him (he menstions it in this recent interview) in the movie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krsogBxVKpo&t=1m22s

seems like the treated him like shit for pretty much his whole time with them, mainly because he wasn’t Cliff Burton.

Anyone got a better reason?
I like Newsted. He’s always seemed like a solid dude with great integrity. But I think he’s kind of a funny phenomenon in the Metallica/anti-Metallica world.

Echobrain was crap. Newsted’s “Metal” has some tolerable metal-by-the-numbers bits on it (from what I checked out on YouTube) but nothing mind-blowing or special.

I think people tend to inflate their idea of Newsted solely because he LEFT Metallica, and that represents some kind of rebellion or middle-finger statement to them.

Whatever. I wish him well, and yeah, I’m sure he was Metallica’s whipping boy (which they have acknowledged too). I just can’t be bothered to give a crap.

Yeah, outside Metallica i have no real interest in his music, i heard a tiny bit of Echobrain and didn’t like it and don’t care for his new band either. Good luck to him, i think he’ll probably have a long enough career if he wants to, mainly because of people’s goodwill for him from the Metallica days. I think he was liked in part because he had big shoes to fill and he did it with passion and good humour, he was obviously the butt of their jokes and some nasty treatment, but he got on with the job, pulled his weight and didn’t complain about it.

i thnk partly because he wasnt ‘tormented artist’ kind (james) or massive annoying ego maniac (lars) or amoeba (kirk)… he was just down to earth guy i guess - he was just y’know, doing his job, doing it well, giving his all, he’s a workaholic anyway. quickly browsing thru their live stuff from all newsted years i’d say that the only people who didnt deteriorate perfomance-wise were james and jason… (hammet became too wah-wahey and just looks fuckin bored and plays solos wrong all the time, and lars has been kinda suckin on drums for i dunno, ten years now at least?)

the only questionable move from Jason was participation in that stupid Rock Star Supernova thing

and yes echobrain is meh so is his new metal stuff.

the only questionable move from Jason was participation in that stupid Rock Star Supernova thing

and yes echobrain is meh so is his new metal stuff.

You’re so right, hahaha, that was absolutely terrible! I’d totally forgotten about that.

Metallica is no longer relevant musically. They haven’t put out anything groundbreaking or even decent in almost 25 years. They are now fully rooted in the nostalgia circuit. Next thing you know they will be playing county fairs.

Their new stuff may not be musically relevant, but that doesn’t make the band itself irrellevant, does it? Are the Beatles musically irrellevant too? The Stones?

Take a survey of successful new metal bands and ask them if they think Metallica is irrellevant to them.

They don’t need to be groundbreaking in 2014. They broke enough ground in the early 80’s. Do you expect them to create a new genre/template for heavy metal every couple years?

Are Sabbath irrellevant too? Just curious. They had a good handful of crap mixed in with their gold as well.

As far as Newstead goes, people leave employers for all kinds of reasons - better pay, poor treatment, better offer, etc. I wasn’t surprised Newstead left. I also don’t think he is particularly talented as a bassist. I don’t think he is bad or anything, just decent, not great. He was certainly the most enthusiastic of the 4 and that is certainly worth something.

So, he left for any number of reasons and he wasn’t bad or great, but decent and enthusiastic. All right, then. Thanks for your in-depth report on Metallica. I can’t wait to hear some amazing revelations on other bands you may have to share with us.


People crap on Metallica for making albums that don’t sound like the first four records. Then they accuse them of riding the nostalgia circuit for playing those first four records live or making music that sounds anything like the first four records.

I don’t particularly care if people like Metallica or not, but many “haters” don’t actually have anything valid to say and it is tedious to read.

I know some people don’t care for it at all, but i thought Death Magnetic was great. Loved it. It completely restored my faith in Metallica, i’m just annoyed they may have let the energy and momentum built up with that album dissipate by not striking while the iron was hot and recording a follow up in the next couple of years after it came out.

Anyway, i always look forward to a new release from them. I’ve laid into them myself, during the Load/Reload era, that horrible orchestra bullshit they did with Michael Kamen (whose music i loved - in films, not with Metallica), and other stuff, but they have some of the greatest metal albums ever recorded in their back catalogue, so i’m pretty forgiving. Live, they’re great. They seem to try to make sure they air tracks that haven’t been heard for a while, they don’t repeat a setlist when they play again at a venue, and they let fans have a say in what they play.

People hate Lars, but i think he is genuinely appreciative of his life and the fans who have put him there. James seems, these days at least, uptight as fuck and uncomfortable in his own skin. His playing is amazing, but it seems like he probably wishes he hadn’t let it all out in Some Kind of Monster, and i think he’s wary of talking to fans now. If you ever see footage of him talking to them, he seems on the verge of recoiling, as if they were lepers who wanted to tongue kiss him or something. I think he’s probably just a private person and without the drink he’s maybe not as sociable as he used to be. Kirk… i dunno, he’s just Kirk, he always seemed quite positive, but in the documentary he came over as a non-entity caught between two powerful forces, James and Lars. He’s played some great solos, then he played with to much wah, then he played no solos at all (on St Anger) but now i appreciate his playing again. Trujillo - crab man. Solid. Good player, not much to say. He’s a fan and he has huge enthusiasm.

Anyway, i fucking love Metallica and i think some people hate them just for the sake of saying they hate them. A lot of people probably wish they’d never done The Black Album, but i’m happy they did, even though it led to a long shit period. It brought a lot of people to metal, to playing instruments, it brought metal into the mainstream, which i don’t think is so bad. When i was a kid if you saw a guy with long hair (or a shaved head) and he wore a jacket with AC/DC, Iron Maiden or Motorhead patches, people would automatically think he was a bad person. I was shit-scared of rock and punk fans when i was a kid, because even adults were wary of them. People thought they were fucking devil-worshippers! Metal was frowned upon, hahaha. It’s weird how things change. Metallica is responsible, in part, for breaking that down and making it more palatable to the “normal” folk.

I love DEATH MAGNETIC. Very solid album.
I didn’t bother with their Beyond Magnetic EP or whatever it was called as it just seemed like floor sweepings left from the DM sessions, but I’ll check it out some day when I find it in the $2 bin.

Live . . . . Metallica always delivers. And, yes! You are right. They don’t repeat the set list . . . especially if they are doing multi nights at the same venue.

But then there was Lulu. . .

I love DEATH MAGNETIC. Very solid album.
I didn’t bother with their Beyond Magnetic EP or whatever it was called as it just seemed like floor sweepings left from the DM sessions, but I’ll check it out some day when I find it in the $2 bin.

Live . . . . Metallica always delivers. And, yes! You are right. They don’t repeat the set list . . . especially if they are doing multi nights at the same venue.

Beyond Magnetic was ok, but i only listened to it twice because the production is an absolute disgrace. I’m not one of the people to complained about Death Magnetic’s production, but it’s really amateur hour on Beyond Magnetic. It’s the worst-produced big release i’ve ever heard. I think parts of the songs on there might have been used on Death Magnetic as well, although i could be thinking of the new tracks they played live before recording the album.

@Acid, thanks for reminding me! Somehow i’d managed to get Lulu out of my mind, but you’ve brought it all back, hahaha

I never liked Metallica…I don’t hate them,I just feel there is so much better stuff I would rather hear…I don’t dislike them because it’s trendy either…I just never saw the big deal…I have a big time aversion to Hetfield’s vocals and that is probably the impetus of it…I must say if I were a fan of that band then Some Kind of Monster would have been the tipping point…everyone involved in that should feel such embarrassment…I felt embarrassed for the fans…I always thought it would have been great as a Spinal Tap-ish parody…but it isn’t and as it is,it’s just bad…really really bad…really bad.

Fair enough, you gave them a chance. Some Kind Of Monster probably did put a lot of people off too, i’d imagine. You want you metal people to be sure of themselves, unwavering and not afraid to say whatever the fuck they want, not weeping candyasses who need a shrink to tell them whose turn it is to speak.

Amazingly, i enjoyed it!

It just reeked of so much excess and I just wanted to punch the therapist right in the neck…and Lars and his art collection ugh…I just couldn’t take it…

It just reeked of so much excess and I just wanted to punch the therapist right in the neck…and Lars and his art collection ugh…I just couldn’t take it…

Yeah, it must be a hard old life having so much money at your disposal, to have everything you ever wanted, and still be a whiny dick who blames everyone else, like Hetfield. I thought he came off worst of all, i always knew Lars was a bit of a nob, but James surpassed Lars’ dickery in that film. And the therapist was such a clingy weirdo!

Yeah Hetfield definitely wins the biggest tool award…

Hetfield was definitely the biggest tool in “Monster” (unless we can include Mustaine as well).

We can laugh at Lars, but ultimately he really wants to make it all work, wants everyone to do their fair part and I think he genuinely cares about people’s feelings and such (or that’s what it seemed like in the film).

But Hetfield just doesn’t even seem to care. He seems to think he’s above his own band even. Oh, hey, screw you all, I’m gonna go shoot bears in Siberia for the next 6 months. See ya later! Don’t work on any side projects or talk about me while I’m gone or develop any ideas without me!

I love the movie too. At first it was a bit of a crotch punch, though. Whoa! What happened here? These hard ass metal dudes are all a bunch of whiny pussies!

But I think it’s very interesting to see them go through that process of trying to rebuild the band with a third party “helper” and to see the dynamic of Phil and his own dependency on them.

The part where they finally decide they can put their big boy pants on and fire Phil is the funniest, most awkward, and amazing part of the movie. Watching this man struggle to keep his seat on the gravy train is just pure magic.

“No, you guys aren’t ready. You can’t fire me. You’re too vulnerable. You’re going to lose everything. DON’T DO IT!!!”

I can’t remember the exact obscene amount they were paying that dude, but I think it was like $30K a month if I remember right.

I was joking with a friend the other day who said she regretted some Metallica tattoo she got 14 years ago that I would like to get a kickass backpiece that had Phil Towle with one of his amazing yellow patterned sweaters.

We can laugh at Lars, but ultimately he really wants to make it all work, wants everyone to do their fair part and I think he genuinely cares about people’s feelings and such (or that’s what it seemed like in the film).

But Hetfield just doesn’t even seem to care. He seems to think he’s above his own band even. Oh, hey, screw you all, I’m gonna go shoot bears in Siberia for the next 6 months. See ya later! Don’t work on any side projects or talk about me while I’m gone or develop any ideas without me!

Yeah, rather than make me dislike Lars more, it actually gave me a lot of respect for the guy. He really was the only one of them that gave a damn about keeping it on the rails, i think he cares about the fans, and his feelings about Hetfield (“Every time i see you i just wanna shout “FUUUUUUCK!” in your face. FUUUUUCKK!!”) were exactly how i felt about James too. James is such a big crybaby, he blamed the band for everything. He missed his child’s birthday because he went to Russia to kill bears, yet he comes back after 6 months and blames them for it! How does that work?

He’s a sullen moron who cannot accept responsibility for anything and can’t let anything go. He has to try to dominate everything even when he’s flat out of ideas and can’t move forward. The not moving forward even has to be done at the pace James dictates. It’s shocking how much time Metallica has wasted over the years, and they’re not getting any younger. I just lost all of my considerable amount of respect for James after that, transferred it all right over to Lars, haha.

I even had a little bit of respect for Phil Towle - he did seem to bring them back - but lost it again when he clung on for dear life to them, that whole lyric-writing shit that he came out with, wow! Metallica was down to 2 men (James and Lars) and maybe half a man (Kirk) and Phil thinks he can start throwing lyrics in? Fucking hell.

In the end i think Phil, for all his touchy-feely bullshit, deserves some credit, but it’s obvious that once they feel ok again and drop him like a hot rock, he’s become attached and is hurt. I wonder what his self-help guru books say about that?

I came away with a lot of respect for Lars, which is something i never thought would ever happen. I didn’t hate him before, but i thought he was a dick. Now i think he’s the driving force, i realise how much he appreciates success, how much he loves the fans, and how fucking hard it must be dealing with Hetfield’s negativity all the time. When he has to tell James the riffs he’s playing are crap, that great. “It’s just… stock”. And he’s right, those riffs were not worthy of Metallica and it took a non-guitarist to point that out to Mr Huffy James. Thank God Death Magnetic was jammed with tasty riffs!

Oh, i must say also, i loved seeing Mustaine cry. That guy is an absolute nobhead, as much as i like his music. I didn’t like seeing poor Kirk wiping a tear from his eye when he’s caught between James and Lars though. He has no balls whatsoever, and that is sad.