{"id":430853,"date":"2026-05-03T22:45:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/430853\/"},"modified":"2026-05-03T22:45:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-03T22:45:11","slug":"former-metallica-bassist-jason-newsted-reveals-throat-cancer-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/430853\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted reveals throat cancer battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former\u00a0Metallica<\/a>\u00a0bassist Jason Newsted\u00a0has revealed he has recently been declared \u201cfree and clear\u201d after a battle against throat cancer.<\/p>\n

Newsted succeeded the late Cliff Burton on bass for the metal icons in 1986, playing on many of their most successful records until walking away from\u00a0the band in\u00a02001.<\/p>\n

During a\u00a0recent\u00a0appearance on the\u00a0Let There Be Talk\u00a0podcast, Newsted\u00a0opened up\u00a0for the first time\u00a0in public about his diagnosis, confirming that doctors were able to catch it early and that he has now been declared cancer-free.<\/p>\n

He told host Dean Delray that on May 8, it will be exactly one year since he \u201cunderwent a procedure for throat cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd\u00a0so\u00a0they took a bunch of shit\u00a0outta\u00a0here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of shit out,\u201d he explained (via\u00a0Blabbermouth<\/a>).\u00a0\u201cSo\u00a0the cavern inside my head is different than it was, but we got it early. And I got my \u2018free and clear\u2019 about three weeks ago.\u00a0So\u00a0I beat it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outlining the effect the events have had on his life, Newsted continued:\u00a0\u201cI promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0done that in my life.\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0usually just on or off. And\u00a0so\u00a0I promised myself I was\u00a0gonna\u00a0take the gravity off and lay down for the right\u00a0amount\u00a0of hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0no way, with my arrogant, spoiled ass that I\u00a0would\u2019ve\u00a0stopped smoking weed, that I\u00a0would\u2019ve\u00a0stopped drinking, that I\u00a0would\u2019ve\u00a0stopped doing all the things. But the great spirit got my attention and said, \u2018That\u2019s not good right now, man.\u2019 And\u00a0so\u00a0it pulled me\u00a0off it. And so now\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0more clear-headed than\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0been in my entire adult life. And\u00a0so\u00a0there\u2019s blessings within everything. The lemonade\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0making this summer, bro \u2014 mm. Sweet. Ooh.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021,\u00a0Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield admitted they \u201cweren\u2019t equipped\u201d to deal with Newsted\u2019s departure from the band in 2001<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cJason is the only member of Metallica who has ever left willingly,\u201d Ulrich said. \u201cAnd that\u00a0in itself is\u00a0a statistic. And the resentment from James and I was just so\u2026 You\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0do that. You can only leave if\u00a0we want you\u00a0to leave. And then we\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0equipped at the time to do a deep dive into why he was leaving. So of course, now you can see 20 years later, it makes complete sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newsted had previously\u00a0said that his sudden departure in 2001 \u201cenabled\u201d the band to continue<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey would not be doing what they\u2019re doing now if I hadn\u2019t made that move\u00a0then\u00a0and I knew what was best for everybody at the time,\u201d he said. \u201cWhether I was prophetic and saw these things ahead of time, that I knew the inner rumblings, what would take place and what would unfold\u2026 I knew about people\u2019s\u00a0issues and stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Metallica are re-releasing their seventh album \u2018Reload\u2019 on June 26<\/a>, featuring unreleased material and loads more. Find out more\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0They have also announced a huge residency at\u00a0the Las Vegas Sphere<\/a>, which will run from October 2026 to March 2027.<\/p>\n

Before heading to Las Vegas,\u00a0Metallica will also embark on a UK and European tour later this year<\/a>. This includes two nights at the London Stadium in July, following dates in Dublin, Glasgow and Cardiff. Find any remaining tickets here<\/a>\u00a0(UK and Ireland).<\/p>\n

Metallica will\u00a0also be heading to Connecticut for a special two-night stint<\/a>\u00a0at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, to mark the venue\u2019s 25th anniversary. Taking place in November this year,\u00a0Suicidal Tendencies<\/a> will\u00a0open for the band\u00a0on the first night and Spiritbox <\/a>supporting on the second.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former\u00a0Metallica\u00a0bassist Jason Newsted\u00a0has revealed he has recently been declared \u201cfree and clear\u201d after a battle against throat cancer.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,637,278],"class_list":["post-430853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-metal","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}