{"id":436970,"date":"2026-05-07T13:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/436970\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T13:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:49:08","slug":"jason-newsted-reveals-addiction-struggles-played-a-part-in-metallica-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/436970\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason Newsted Reveals Addiction Struggles Played A Part In Metallica Exit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"pvc_stats_365842\" class=\"pvc_stats total_only  pvc_load_by_ajax_update\" data-element-id=\"365842\" style=\"\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" title=\"Jason Newsted Reveals Addiction Struggles Played A Part In Metallica Exit 2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776766446_388_ajax-loader-2x.gif\" class=\"lazyload\" data-eio-rwidth=\"32\" data-eio-rheight=\"32\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has revealed that his struggles with addiction played a part in his departure from the band.<\/p>\n<p>Newsted revealed this while speaking to YouTuber Dean Delray, saying that he was a &#8220;horrible addict&#8221; around the time of his Metallica exit in 2001.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, he left the band, citing \u201cprivate and personal reasons and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\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. And so I just said, \u2018You guys, can I have a minute? Please give me a minute.\u2019 And they said, \u2018No&#8221;, Newsted stated.<\/p>\n<p>The musician continued: \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 f****** night&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo it\u2019s like, you know, \u2018I wear our shirt every night. I fly my colours 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 f****** history.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s real. 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&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Back in 2022, Jason Newsted had revealed that he was approached about touring as part of an all star Van Halen band by none other than Alex Van Halen. The tour would be a tribute to the late Eddie Van Halen who passed away in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Revealing that it would be difficult to properly justify Eddie Van Halen&#8217;s legacy, Newsted said: &#8220;There&#8217;s nobody that can top it, so how do you show it honor? I didn&#8217;t want it to be viewed as a money grab. And then it kind of just all fizzled&#8221;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>More on this <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nova.ie\/jason-newsted-was-approached-by-alex-van-halen-to-tour-last-year\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has revealed that his struggles with addiction played a part in his departure&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":436971,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[93,61,60,278],"class_list":["post-436970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436970","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=436970"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436970\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/436971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}