Metallica’s Black Album Sent Jason Newsted on Six-Month Ego Trip

Jason Newsted looked back at his six-month spending spree following the success of Metallica’s 1991 Black Album. He said all four band members went through a period of adjustment as a result of their financial success but that he eventually calmed down and realized he was acting in a manner that wasn’t really him.

“All of us experienced some kind of swelly head at different levels for different amounts of time through this three-year span,” Newsted said during a four-part interview with Metallica fan club So What! He described the period as “inevitable" because they were "only flesh and bone."

“I went shopping with Kirk [Hammett] in Paris, and he took me to a couple of nice, nice stores, and I threw down a lot of money for some nice clothes and shoes and stuff," he explained. "I’d never done that before, and I thought I was the shit!”

You can watch the interview below.

The bassist reflected that he "did get caught in a moment. I think I’ve been really, really frugal with my earnings, and so that’s why I still have them. But I did have a couple of moments there.” He believed the period in his case lasted “five to six months” and that he was “walking on air” the whole time. “Everywhere that you went, in the 55 countries that we played in, they're waiting for you when you [get] there. What are you supposed to do?”

Newsted said it all changed when he “came back home on the one break to be with my girl again.” “I just realized that that’s not who I am," he noted. "I pretended I was gonna get this fancy car and all that shit. I’m like, ‘Dude, you know that you’d rather have a '65 Mopar, '68 Mopar, than you would that fucking Lamborghini bullshit anyway.’ But those guys were driving Porsches and fancy cars and stuff, and I'm like, ‘I can afford that, too!’”