10 Biggest Band Blowups In Hard Rock
2. Jason Newsted - Metallica
From the first day he joined the band, Jason Newsted was always known as the new guy in Metallica. With the band still grieving over the loss of founding bassist Cliff Burton, the band took all of their anger out of Newsted, from their mistreatment of him on the road to even turning down the bass on his first record with the group, And Justice For All.
Though Newsted weathered these blows remarkably well, fans were shellshocked when a press release came out announcing Newsted would be leaving. Initially crediting the departure to not taking physical care of himself, that was only one of the many problems Newsted was having with his place in the band. After not being able to contribute music to the band, Newsted tried to let out his musical inspirations through sideprojects.
When he finally finished a record with his own outfit Echobrain, James Hetfield approached Newsted and told him that he couldn't put the record out. Not wanting to deal with the controlling nature of the band anymore, Newsted promptly exited, which led to the band spiraling in the documentary Some Kind of Monster. The band may have recovered with bassist Robert Trujillo, but the damage that had been done to Jason Newsted was too much for him to bare.