Today we will tell you about the musician Jason Newsted:
(Photo: Ragnar Singsaas)
1. He was born on March 4, 1963, in Battle Creek Michigan as Jason Curtis Newsted.
2. He grew up in a musical family, his mother was a piano teacher and one of his brothers played the trumpet.
3. The first instrument he played was the guitar. He started playing at the age of nine.
4. He switched to bass guitar only at the age of 14.
5. The bassists who have influenced him the most are Geezer Butler, Steve Harris, Geddy Lee, and Lemmy.
6. The first album he released was "Doomsday for the Deceiver" as part of the band "Flotsam and Jetsam", it was in 1986 and Jason wrote most of the lyrics to the album's songs.
(Photo: Last.FM)
7. The fourth song on the album was called "Fade to Black", but it is not a cover version of a song of the same name by "Metallica".
8. By chance "Fade to Black" is also the" Metallica" song that Jason loves the most.
9. After the tragic death of Cliff Burton, "Metallica" auditioned about 50 different bass players, including Les Claypool and David Ellefson. Newsted was recommended to "Metallica" by Metal Blade president Brian Slagel and was the one who was finally accepted into the band in the fall of 1986.
10. Cliff Burton's parents were involved in the decision. They were also part of the press release revealing the new bassist of the band.
11. His first appearance with "Metallica" was on November 6, 1986, in Reseda California.
12. Newsted's first release with "Metallica" was the mini-album "The $ 5.98 E.P .: Garage Days Re-Revisited".
13. His first full album with "Metallica" was "...And Justice For All" from 1988.
14. During his 14 years with "Metallica", Newsted has played on six of the band's albums:
"...And Justice For All", "Metallica", "Load", "Re-Load", "Garage Inc" and "S&M". He has performed with it on more than 1,000 shows around the world.
15. Newsted's last appearance with "Metallica" took place on November 30, 2000, during a performance at the VH1 Music Awards.
16. He officially left Metallica on January 17, 2001.
17. After leaving "Metallica" he focused on his side project - "Echobrain" which also formed the seed of controversy that caused him to leave "Metallica". The band's first album, also named after it, was released in 2002, and later released another EP and a second studio album in which Newsted served as producer.
18. At the same time, Newsted was a member of the Canadian band "Voivod" with whom he released three albums, from the album named after the band from 2003 to the "Infini" album from 2006.
19. With bassist Robert Trujillo joining Metallica, Newsted replaced him as Ozzy Osbourne's bassist, until the end of the 2003 Ozfest Festival.
20. In 2006 he joined the reality show Rockstar: Supernova, to select the singer for the band of the season of the same name which he formed together with guitarist Gilby Clark (Guns) and drummer Tommy Lee (Motley Crue). Following the selection of singer Lucas Rossi, the band released one album in 2006.
21. On October 23, 2006, Newsted was injured while trying to grab a bass amp head. The accident caused a tear in his left shoulder and right arm. He underwent a lengthy recovery process during which he began painting. He was later reported to have been addicted to painkillers.
22. In 2009 he entered with "Metallica" into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
23. In October 2009, Newsted joined Tony Iommi, Ian Gillan, Jon Lord, and Nicko McBrain to form the "WhoCares" supergroup.
24. This supergroup released in 2011 the single "Out of my Mind" and later also released a full album to raise funds for the rehabilitation of Armenia, after the earthquake that befell it in the late 1980s.
25. In 2012 he set up his own band called "Newsted". In 2013 the band released an EP as well as an album called "Heavy Metal Music".
(Photo: Newsted)
26. Newsted also collaborated with the following ensembles: Sepultura, Unkle, Papa Wheelie, Moss Brothers, Gov't Mule, and more.
27. In 2019, Newsted announced that his doctors had ordered him to stop doing "headbanging" during the shows since he had caused himself neck injuries (whiplash).
28. Jason was known for the background vocals, or rather the background roars in his performances with "Metallica", and ironically among other things in the song "Whiplash".
"This is a series of guitar picks that I caught from Jason Newsted himself! These are some shows I've been to since 1992 or so... there's only one pick, the one with the snake, that I got in a direct handshake from Jason when I was at Snake Pit's. Metallica! Club members participated in the raffle, and whoever had a ticket to the show, entered the raffle to get a badge in a domain area on the stage itself! So I got the pick from Jason. "
