Metallica fans have often wondered why Metallica were so disrespectful of bassist Jason Newsted after he joined the band following the death of Cliff Burton, and Lars Ulrich explained in a new interview with Brian Johnson on AXS TV’s A Life on the Road that part of the band’s behavior at the time was to make sure they wouldn’t have to deal with the loss of Burton. Alternative Nation transcribed Ulrich and Johnson’s remarks. Metallica revealed a miserable Jason Newsted photo yesterday.
Johnson said in narration, “Within two months of the death of Cliff, the band were back on the road with a new bass player, Jason Newsted.”
Lars Ulrich: We were so young that we were not able to process what had happened, and the only way that we could deal with it was to put the blinders on and just move forward, and just continue, and it was like because if we did that, we never had to slow down and think about what had happened. We never put ourselves in a place that was a chance that we would go, ‘Holy f**k we just lost one of our family members, one of our brothers.’
Jason Newsted reacted to a small crowd at a concert a few weeks ago. Johnson and Ulrich continued their conversation.
Brian Johnson: I don’t think anybody understands, with musicians when you’re riding that high and you enjoy what you’re doing, you have to carry on. You don’t have time to stop and pick up your wounded, really.
Ulrich: I think for us in our case, it had a lot to do with how young we were. If something god forbid, something similar happened 10 years later, but we were really young.
Johnson concluded in narration, “By 1988, with Jason Newsted firmly established in the band, Metallica were now headlining arenas in their own right, and were gearing up to take over the world.” Jason Newsted recently confirmed tragic Metallica news.
