Mutterfuckin' Jason Newsted

my friend of misery...

This story over at metalsucks.net, regarding a recent interview where Lars Ulrich discusses Metallica's regrets over Jason Newsted got me thinking.

Ya' see, I have soft spot in my heart when it comes to Metallica. Before I accidentally downloaded "Whiplash" off Napster sometime in the early 00's, I was a modern rock radio type kid and listened to whatever the hell the local DJ's played. I was familiar with Metallica for that "...now I lay me down to sleep," song and the one pussy tune with the violins all the girls at school liked, because even then at the dawn of the new millennium (and even now strangely enough), songs from the Black Album still dominated the air waves. So there I was in a Napster chat room listening to Rage Against the Machine or Everclear or someshit when the sky came falling down, they announced that Metallica was shutting down Napster. The chat rooms where fucking livid. I decided I would steal some of these assholes' music in protest, as much as my beloved 56k connection would allow (remember that shit?!). First song I heard was "Whiplash" off Kill Em' All. Life was changed. Metal head was born. I ended up buying so much of their merch/cds/dvd's/binge & purge bullshits over the years I think I paid for their kids' college education instead of my own. Yeah, I showed them who's boss.

The funny thing is I became a Metallica fan(actic) at the point in time where they were the MOST douchebag-ish in their history. The post Load/Re-Load, short hair, sue the internetz, play with an orchestra, pre- St. Anger period...aka the Metallica Dark Ages. In spite of all this bullshit, the power of the connection I made with their old back catalog was so great that even today I cannot completely turn my back on this band. Every time I hear James sing out of key I picture him chopping his breakfast on a mirror, roaring like a madman on "Master of Puppets." Every time Kirk flubs a solo I think: hey, this is the dude who took that riff from Exodus and made "Creeping Death" the greatest fucking song of all time. Whenever I see/hear Lars halfassing the drums I remember that at one point in his life, this dude played double bass on "Dyer's Eve." So yeah, I defend and put up with Metallica's bullshit because I love their past musical out put so much I put up with the abuse. And this is why my friends, I love Jason Newsted.

sad but true

I identify with the pains and struggles he endured as the band's whipping boy for 14 years. In regards to Metallica, he's like Jesus (with a cool shaved sides haircut), dying for their sins. When I read that Lars felt bad for shitting on Newsted throughout the 80's and 90's, it sort of felt like he was apologizing to ME for Garage Inc. and the Mission Impossible 2 soundtrack. During the dark ages, Newsted was Metallica's only ray of light. The only dude with integrity and any common fucking sense within the group. Years have passed and both Jason and I have moved on, beyond Metallica's glorious thrashy roots and despite all the bullshit, we both still support the once mighty "Four Horsemen" to this very day.

So heres to "mutterfuckin' Jason Newsted," (as Lars in the immortal Camp Chaos cartoon refers to him) and his awesome backing vocals. You are missed.

*Watch Jason own the shit out of this video...epic!