Metallica Finally Admits Why Jason Newsted Left The Band

Whether it’s Ron, Cliff, Jason or Rob; The most mature and level headed guy in Metallica has always been their bassist.

Summary: It took James & Lars 20+years to realize they're self absorbed.

This is ridiculous. Newsted left because James and Lars treated him like garbage. They never treated him like he was part of the band. They killed Newsted's creativity because they never accepted his ideas and they wanted to kill his side-projects. This isn't hard to understand.

I was a big fan for years, finally saw them live and had a back stage pass, my dream to meet them was about to come true…and then guess what? Only Jason came out to meet all of us and sign autographs (Tampa, FL). I was so impressed with Jason’s kindness and down to earth demeanor. From then on I was a fan of Jason. They didn’t deserve him. Once he left the band I spent my time listening to Megadeth. Even though back then I thought I really wanted to meet James and Kirk, I’m so grateful to have met Jason.

Translation: Our ego has clouded our minds for so long we just now realize he left cause of us.

They didn't respect who he was as a musician and Jason just basically had to leave because it was killing him. Unfortunately this happens in so many bands.

James: "Things happened and things happened but also things happened because they happened, things happened." Just, legendary quotes from the man. In other news, Newstead is a beast.

I’ve seen Metallica live 10 times. Saw them with Cliff, Jason and Robert. I have to say seeing the original line up was special however, Jason brought the energy every time. He swung that hair around and those vicious backing vocals. Jason was the reason Metallica was so popular and cool. It was a sad day to hear that he left the band. Robert is a good bass player and I know they’re all older now. I just miss the Jason days.

You can give Jason big money , big fame , being a member for Metallica but none of that matters if you dont give him one ounce of respect.

I thought it was cool of Metallica to let Jason do the official unboxing of the Black Album box set. He was emotional going back through the memories of the success of that album that he heavily contributed to. Happy for him. He deserves all the respect he gets.

"We were grieving Cliff" is such a lazy excuse. And James' assertion that Jason just mimicked his rhythm guitar parts has been challenged by producers. People forget that Jason came from a band where he was the primary songwriter. He also had incredible stage presence. James/Lars were most likely threatened by the fact that Jason wanted to bring ideas and energy to the band and wasn't content to play root notes in the background.

Not often mentioned is the backing vocals from Jason made a huge impact. You really notice it missing in the live shows.

Jason bought me a beer in Denver back in 87. They were playing Red Rocks, staying at the Marriott West. Most artists playing Red Rocks stayed there. I bumped into Joe Jackson in the elevator once. On this afternoon I saw Jason walk up to the bar with the wild hair flowing. Anyone who met him at this time will probably remember a distinctive way he walked. I just asked him how he was doing, not knowing who he was, or what I was in for. And I remember I looked totally square, very non-hip as this was after a day of work-when you wore suits. But I was in my 20's. Turns out his name is Jason. After some conversation, I find out he's the bassist for Metallica. I did offer to buy him a beer first and did know of Metallica, but not enough to act like a crazed fan. The other band members were roaming all around, but he and I just chatted for a few minutes about Denver, Red Rocks, Estes Park, the Rockies. He was a cool, nice, down-to-earth guy. I wasn't informed enough to act like a fan, but we swapped Led Zeppelin stories which gave me some credibility. He told the bartender to put my beer on their tab, and he left to get ready for their show. I had a few more, and the bartender informed me not just one beer, my whole tab was on Metallica. Pretty cool memory.

Back in the 90's, we met them backstage in Nashville, TN. Well everyone, except Kirk. He wasn't feeling well. Lars, and James were cool, but Jason actually took the time to have a conversation with us. The dude was, and always has been the coolest when it comes to the fans.

Jason was tired of feeling like he didn't matter and that he was just there to fill a spot. A mix of ego and sadness from the loss of a very talented friend. No one could fill Cliffs shoes for them at the time and unfortunately they lost another talented artist

I was too young to appreciate Cliff at the time. I grew up with Jason as the bassist of Metallica and while I love what Robert has done in the spot Jason will always be a part of Metallica in my head.

For 1 or 2 years is ok due to Cliff's death, but 15 years treating Jason as outsider is a sin.

That’s a pretty vague way of saying “yeah we treated him like total shit”

Jason loved being in Metallica more than anyone and when you realize that, you realize what a sacrifice he made to stand on his principles. Huge balls. I am so glad they came around to understanding and respecting that.

Metallica was NEVER the same without JASON😔