Metallica’s original bassist was Ron McGovney, who was part of the band from 1981 until 1982 and then the group had their first classic bass player, Cliff Burton. He was a fundamental part of the band’s sound and songwriting but his career was tragically cut short when he died in a bus accident in 1986.
From that year until 2001, Metallica had another important member, Jason Newsted, who was a big contribution for the more commercial years the band had, even recording their best-selling album in 1991. It was in 2003 that the band finally recruited the ex-Ozzy bassist Rob Trujillo to join them and since then he has been a member of the Thrash Metal group.
In an interview with Bass Player, Trujillo talked about Burton and Newsted, saying that there are not many bassists around that could play in Metallica and do his job.
Rob Trujillo says there are not many bassists who could play in Metallica
“I feel like I’ve had so many challenges. You know, I live in Los Angeles, but since I joined the band I’ve been spending more time in the Bay Area, and I actually really like it. Los Angeles has become so overpopulated and blown out. San Francisco has such a nice balance, almost like a funky ’70s flavor to it. The way LA used to be back in the Cheech & Chong days!”
“But the biggest challenge has been with my bass playing. I’m not being disrespectful to all the bass players out there, but there aren’t many bassists that could do this job. Playing with Metallica is the most demanding gig there is,” Rob Trujillo said.
About Cliff, Trujillo said that he was amazing for the band because his ideas and presence were important for taking Heavy Metal to another direction.
“(…) His stage presence – he was such a physical player. He played what he felt, and that was the bottom line. His approach was, ‘I’m gonna play what I feel, and if you don’t like it, screw you!'”
He continued:
“He used to ask Kirk to show him Lynyrd Skynyrd guitar solos so he could play them on bass, and not many bass guitar players were doing that back then. I thought that was so cool. Cliff was a force on a lot of different levels,” Rob Trujillo said.
About Newsted, Rob said that he really appreciates his work and he loves the fact that all the bassists in Metallica were quite different from each other.
