{"id":650967,"date":"2026-05-06T06:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650967\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T06:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T06:12:12","slug":"i-was-going-to-die","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/650967\/","title":{"rendered":"I Was Going To Die"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Newsted<\/a> insists in a new interview that the real reason he left Metallica<\/a> roughly 25 years ago is because had he stayed in the world\u2019s biggest metal band, he would\u2019ve died.<\/p>\n

The bassist told the Let There Be Talk podcast hosted by Dean Delray, \u201cThe reason I left Metallica is because I was a horrible addict. I was way up against myself and if I didn\u2019t get some kind of help, I was going to die.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get Jason Newsed Tickets Here<\/a><\/p>\n

He added, \u201cAnd so I just said, \u2018You guys, can I have a minute? Please give me a minute.\u2019 And they said, \u2018No.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

This revelation expands on the previously stated reasons for his leaving given over the years, such as feeling like he never belonged or being creatively stifled by the pressures of James Hetfield at the time, who reportedly demanded he cease work on his Echobrain project because it might steal away from Metallica.<\/p>\n

Related Video<\/p>\n

Newsted addressed those comments over the years in the same interview, saying, \u201cOne thing I want to straighten out, or just comment on, is the Echobrain thing. That was another project that I took to a certain level. I had 40 projects in the chophouse to a level of recording, composition, rehearsal, that kind of thing. This one was just more promising, and I took it to a different place. But it\u2019s not the reason I left Metallica.\u201d<\/p>\n

The veteran musician also elaborated on his struggle with addiction, saying, \u201cI said, \u2018I would rather live than be in your band. I love being in your band. I think it\u2019s kind of obvious. I wear your shirt every fucking night.\u2019 So it\u2019s like, you know, \u2018I wear our shirt every night. I fly my colors every night. I meet every fucking person that wants to meet and represent us for all the fans every fucking night. Don\u2019t tell me I\u2019m not committed. Don\u2019t tell me I\u2019m not loyal. Don\u2019t tell me. I\u2019m always the first one in and last one out. I\u2019m not saying the words. It\u2019s fucking history.\u2019 You can\u2019t give me that minute to get my head straight again. Then I have to go. Not that I don\u2019t love you, and certainly not that I\u2019m not committed to this band.\u201d<\/p>\n

As previously reported, in the same interview, Newsted revealed his recent battle with throat cancer<\/a>, saying he was diagnosed last year but recently was declared cancer-free.<\/p>\n

The bassist recently\u00a0announced a tour<\/a>\u00a0with his group Jason Newsted & The Chophouse Band. They will be playing headlining shows and dates supporting Blackberry Smoke, with tickets\u00a0available here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Check out Jason Newsted\u2019s appearance on Dean Delray\u2019s Let There Be Talk podcast below.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jason Newsted insists in a new interview that the real reason he left Metallica roughly 25 years ago…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":650968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,341],"class_list":["post-650967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/650968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}