Enter Night_ A Biography of Metallica - Mick Wall [142]
Jason Curtis Newsted was born on 4 March 1963, in Battle Creek, Michigan. Growing up on the family’s horse farm, his parents bought him his first bass guitar for his fourteenth birthday. Like practically every other American boy of his generation, Jason grew up as a Kiss fan, basing his first school band, Diamond, on their songs. His second band, Gangster, had barely begun practising when the Newsted family moved from Michigan to Phoenix, Arizona. Flotsam and Jetsam, which he joined in 1982, were heavily influenced by Metallica and were the first self-styled thrash metal band in Phoenix, down to encoring with a version of Metallica’s ‘Whiplash’ – which Jason would sing. But then he was always more than just the bass player in the group. He was the organiser, the leader, the one who wrote the lyrics and took care of the day-to-day business; the one with the energy and ambition; the Lars and James of the group all rolled into one.
The only time Newsted had seen Metallica play before he joined them had been in Phoenix on the W.A.S.P. tour two and a half years before, standing there in his Metallica T-shirt, eyes fixed the whole night on Cliff. When a friend had phoned him at six in the morning to tell him that Metallica’s bassist had died in an accident, Jason couldn’t believe it. It was only after he’d read it in the paper that it really hit him. ‘I remember tears hitting the paper and watching them soak into the print,’ he later famously recalled. As a mark of respect, all of Flotsam wore black armbands at their next gig.
Jason Newsted never had the pleasure of actually meeting Cliff Burton. When it became known he’d got the job in Metallica, Cliff’s family made a point of wishing him luck. ‘They were the first ones to embrace me. His parents, especially. They came down to meet me the very day I joined Metallica. His mother held on to me for a while and didn’t let go. She said in my ear, “You must be the one because these guys know what they’re doing,” and wished me luck. Very warm, wonderful people.’
Understandably perhaps, his former bandmates in Flotsam did not share in his joy. ‘There was a lot of animosity. But as time went by, they accepted it. Who wouldn’t have tried out for Metallica? My heroes became my peers.’ He did, however, agree to go back and play one final show with them, on Halloween. Ironically, he said, ‘It was probably the best show I ever had with them because I didn’t have the pressure of the business shit going on. This time I just got up there and did it and it felt good. I had plenty on my mind.’ Not least when he sang ‘Whiplash’…
Jason Newsted’s first show with Metallica was on 8 November at the Country Club in Reseda, an unannounced Saturday night opening slot for Metal Church before a couple of hundred in-the-know fanatics and genuine Church fans. Essentially an extension to the solitary week of rehearsals he’d had, they performed a full-on thirteen-song set that included material from all three albums and an extended solo spot from Kirk. A second show the following night at Jezebel’s in Anaheim was shorter but provided the band with a final tightening of the screw before the official start of Jason Newsted’s career in Metallica. Flemming Rasmussen was at the Country Club show. ‘That place was packed. They tried to keep it a secret but word had gone out.’ Not seeing Cliff there, ‘It was pretty terrible.’ Seeing the new guy, ‘It was strange but I was happy that they were going on, that they weren’t stopping, because I thought they had much more in them.’
The five-date Japanese tour took place, as scheduled,