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Credit: Achim Raschka<\/p>\n
Jason Newsted<\/a>, who played bass in Metallica from 1986 to 2001, has revealed that he is \u201cfree and clear\u201d of throat cancer, speaking about his diagnosis for the first time.<\/p>\n The 63-year-old appeared on the Let There Be Talk<\/a> podcast, where he opened up publicly for the first time about his experience with cancer. Luckily, it was caught early by doctors.<\/p>\n As per Blabbermouth<\/a>, the musician shared that on May 8th, it will be exactly a year since he \u201cunderwent a procedure for throat cancer\u201d.<\/p>\n He continued, \u201cAnd so they took a bunch of shit outta here and then they went in with lasers this way and took a bunch of shit out.\u201d<\/p>\n Newsted added gratefully, \u201cSo the 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. So I beat it.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the diagnosis meant that he had to change the way he navigated through life. He went on, \u201cI promised myself I was going to rest, and that was the first time I\u2019ve done that in my life. I\u2019m usually just on or off. And so I promised myself I was gonna take the gravity off and lay down for the right amount of hours.\u201d<\/p>\n Therefore, the musician now feels \u201cmore clear-headed than I\u2019ve ever been in my entire adult life\u201d, mainly because he was forced to quit many of the habits he\u2019d maintained throughout recent years.<\/p>\n He went on, \u201cAnd there\u2019s no way, with my arrogant, spoiled ass that I would\u2019ve stopped smoking weed, that I would\u2019ve stopped drinking, that I would\u2019ve stopped doing all the things. But the great spirit got my attention and said, \u2018That\u2019s not good right now, man.\u2019 And so it pulled me off it.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2021, Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield revealed that Newsted was \u201cthe only member of Metallica who has ever left willingly,\u201d a fact that \u201cwe weren\u2019t equipped<\/a> at the time to do a deep dive into\u201d.<\/p>\n As for Metallica, they have been touring in full force, with a UK and European tour<\/a> slated for later this year, as well as a special two-night stint in Uncasville to mark the Mohegan Sun Arena\u2019s 25th anniversary. <\/p>\n
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<\/a> The Far Out Music Newsletter<\/p>\n