Hazing: More than just a college issue (A Jason Newsted Story), by Cassidy Gordon

In 1988, Metallica released their long-awaited fourth studio album, titled …And Justice For All. The cover art was Lady Justice wrapped up in ropes and being pulled down, breaking towards her middle. It was a political statement. 

However, something missing from the album made even more of a statement: you couldn’t hear the bass track.

Clifford Lee Burton joined an up-and-coming Californian thrash metal band called Metallica in 1982. The band was founded by drummer Lars Ulrich and rhythm guitarist/singer James Hetfield. Burton replaced the former bassist, Ron McGovney, who quit because of tensions with fellow bandmate and lead guitarist, Dave Mustaine. Mustaine was later fired, so Kirk Hammett was hired in his place.

Burton played on the band's first three studio albums: “Kill ‘Em All,” “Ride the Lightning” and “Master of Puppets.” Burton was known for his crazy headbanging, flopping his hair while vehemently plucking at his bass. Arguably, his most iconic track is “(Anesthesia) – Pulling Teeth.” Half of the song is Burton’s bass solo, then he is accompanied by Ulrich on drums for the second half.

On a cold September night, while in Sweden for their Damage, Inc. Tour, the Metallica tour bus was traversing on icy roads. Hammett and Burton got into a dispute about sleeping arrangements, so they drew cards. Burton drew the ace of spades and told Hammett, “I want your bunk.” So, Burton and Hammett switched bunks for the night.

In the early hours of the morning, the bus started to skid. The driver overcorrected, and the bus flipped. Burton was ejected from his window, and the bus landed on him. Other people were trapped under the bus, so it was lifted. However, the bus slipped out while it was being lifted, crushing Burton underneath it for a second time. 

He died September 27, 1986, in Dörap, Sweden. 

The remaining members of Metallica didn’t have a lot of time to grieve the death of their bandmate and friend before they were pressured by their management to start touring again. The auditions for the next bassists began in mid-October of 1986. One of the auditionees was 23-year-old Jason Newsted of the metal band Flotsam and Jetsam. Newsted had been a fan of Metallica and was completely honored to audition for his heroes.

Newsted had gotten to the audition site at 7:30 a.m. after his flight landed in San Francisco at 6:30 that morning. He practiced the whole time until the band arrived  at 10 a.m. Newsted had written out and memorized the set list from their show in Tucson, Arizona. He handed it to Hetfield and said, “Name one.”

“He names one and we play it, play another and another, bam, bam, bam!” Newsted said to Metal Hammer in an interview.

Newsted played three days with the band and outlasted all the other bassists, then the “elders” were brought in. This group consisted of Torben Ulrich — Lars’ father — and the Burtons — Cliff’s parents. Newsted played a couple more songs, some of the bands most famous at that point, in front of this group. After Newsted unplugged Cliff’s amp, Jan Burton approached him.

“Great job, son,” she said as she embraced him. “You’re the one, you must be the one. Please be safe, we love you.”

Newsted joined the band officially on October 28, 1986, and played his first show on November 8, in Roseda, California. Newsted was expecting to be hazed a bit since most groups have something of an “initiation,” but Metallica had so much anger and grief about the sudden passing of their bandmate. And they had just found a new target for all that pain.

One of the first ways Metallica hazed Newsted was while they were in Japan, a couple weeks after their tour had started up again. Newsted said they were in this fancy restaurant and Hammett told him to try some “mint ice cream.” Newsted was so inebriated that he didn’t think about how the “ice cream” should’ve been melted at that point, so he took a heaping spoonful. Turns out, it was wasabi. 

After composing himself from the amount of spice he consumed, Newsted looked up at the table and realized he didn’t recognize anyone. The band had left the bill for Newsted, but it was way too much money compared to what he had. Their tour manager eventually sorted everything out, though. 

Later in New York, Metallica was staying at the same hotel as Danzig or Samhain. Newsted was asleep when one of those bands came pounding on his door at 6 a.m.

“Son of a bitch, I know he’s in there!” one of them yelled.

The door busted off the hinges and the guys barreled into his room. They began to throw everything in sight and even flipped the bed Newsted was sleeping on, which could’ve killed him. To make things worse, they also threw broken pieces of furniture on the bed. 

Fans also heckled Newsted after joining the band. They, too, were grieving the death of the iconic bassist. Therefore, Newsted was given the nickname, “Newkid.”

The first release Newsted was featured on was The $5.98 E.P. — Garage Days Re-Revisited ,a collection of covers made in 1987. This meant that fans hadn’t really heard what Newsted could do with new music.

The band released their album ...And Justice For All on August 25, 1988. Sound mixer Steve Thompson who worked on the album said that Ulrich had told him to turn Newsted’s bass down on the album to “where you can barely audibly hear it.”

“But I guess it was like a college prank thing or whatever," Thompson said. “But I didn’t understand the politics of that until later.” 

Newsted still stands behind that album, recognizing that it still affected people without his bass in it. 

“Historically, it stands up over time,” Newsted said in an interview with Loudwire. “Maybe not the mix, but the songs do.”

Metallica’s documentary, A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica was filmed during the creation of the Black Album and their tour that followed and was released in 1992. There’s a part where Hetfield had just told Newsted that he was yelling too much over a part in the song “Master of Puppets.” Ulrich and Hammett piled on, telling him to fix what he was doing. Newsted turned to the camera and began to talk about the fans and how much they get into the music.

“But those guys don’t- they don’t understand it,” Newsted said. “It’ll come to them later, probably when they’re about 40 or something — if they live til then. Give them until 40, then they’ll realize where it’s at, you know. But it’s okay, because I put up with them. I have to, I have to. It’s for the kids.”

That little bit shows what kind of person Newsted is. Newsted understands the fans on a deeper level because he was a fan of Metallica himself. 

In a recent interview, Hetfield said the band resented Newsted for being a fan.

“I think he was such a fan, and we hated that,” Hetfield said. “We hated that part. We wanted to un-fan him and become as hard as we were. Trying to beat the fan out of him.”

After making numerous albums together, Newsted decided to start a side project called Echobrain. Many people in Metallica’s office were coming up to him, telling him how great this was. Then, Hetfield heard about it. He was upset because he thought it would affect Metallica and no one in the office mentioned this project to him again. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back for Newsted.

“The people I had counted on for 15 years to help me with my career, help Metallica, take care of my money and do all of those things, told me ‘your new project is fantastic, we’d like to help you with it,’” Newsted said in an interview with GHTR. “James heard about it. Manager calls me back a couple days later, ‘sorry we’re not going to be able to help you out with Echobrain.’”

Newsted left the band soon after.

Newsted poured his heart and soul into Metallica. He saved that band twice. Once by joining it and becoming their new bassist, and again by leaving. He was never meant to “fill Cliff’s shoes” as so many like to say. He was his own person who brought so much life into the band. His backing vocals added dimension to their live shows. He came up with the riff for “My Friend of Misery” and “Blackened.” By leaving the band, Newsted prompted Metallica to finally see a therapist and confront their issues as a group. 

Newsted never would’ve replaced Burton — but he wasn’t trying to, either. That narrative was thrust upon him by everyone who surrounded him because they wanted Burton back. There’s a tribute video Metallica made in 1987 called “Cliff ‘Em All!” which includes bootleg footage of Burton and his amazing but short life. Burton’s memory will never be forgotten by fans or the band members themselves.

Hetfield did an interview in 2017 with Little Punk People and was asked what he would say to Burton if he could hear him.

“Oh he hears me,” replied Hetfield. “I know he does. What would I say is ‘yeah man, I miss you, man. I miss you, brother.’ He is dearly missed by a lot of people.”

In the wake of a tragedy, Jason Newsted stood up and overcame so much to perform for fans. Fans that he related to so much. Fans that didn’t accept him or appreciate him til he was gone. He did all of this in a band that didn’t care for him much either. Yet, he continues to be so humble through all of this.

I’m a Jason Newsted defender ‘til I die, and you should be, too.