Former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted has opened up about his long battle with painkiller addiction. The struggle spanned much of his time with the band, and he addressed it in a new interview with Spin Magazine.
Newsted spoke directly about his experience with painkiller dependency, linking it to serious physical injuries he sustained during his years with Metallica.
When asked, “You had to deal with painkiller addiction?” Newsted did not hold back.
“Very much so. In the mid- to late ’90s, I had a lot of pretty serious neck and spine issues. It’s easy to see the map of why this is f*cked up. In that time, I would start taking Vicodin and get through some days. I kept going and going and going,” he said.
Newsted went on to detail the full extent of his dependency, explaining how a series of surgeries prolonged his reliance on the medication.
“The injury was in a place that couldn’t really be repaired. Within the addiction, I would say probably 10 or 12 years on painkillers, off and on but 2004 to 2008, full on because the surgeries did what they did. I got out of one right back into another,” he continued.
He also described how breaking free from the drugs marked a turning point in his life, coinciding with the launch of his career as a visual artist.
“I finally got off that shit by the time I was just about to do my first exhibit. It was 16 years ago this week in San Francisco, May 2010. I had peeled myself off the drugs and started getting back to get back to myself again. That’s when the global art thing started happening for me and the Paris gallery representative. I had about 10 years of that,” Newsted said.
The candid remarks shed light on a difficult chapter in Newsted’s personal life. They also add important context to a departure from Metallica that was long shrouded in ambiguity.
Newsted served as Metallica’s bassist from 1986 to 2001, joining the band to succeed Cliff Burton following Burton’s tragic death. During his 15 years with the group, he appeared on some of the band’s most commercially successful records, including the landmark self-titled Black Album, as well as Load, Reload, and Garage Inc. When he announced his departure in January 2001, he cited “private and personal reasons and the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love.” In hindsight, that statement pointed directly to the addiction he is now addressing publicly.
Earlier this year, Newsted clarified that his inability to seek proper treatment for his addiction — due to his ongoing commitments to Metallica — was the true driving force behind his exit. This was not, as had long been reported, a matter of conflicts over his side projects. The revelation reframes one of rock’s most discussed band departures in a significantly more personal light.
A further physical setback compounded his struggles years after leaving the band. In October 2006, Newsted was injured while attempting to catch a falling bass amp head. The accident resulted in a torn anterior labrum in his left shoulder along with rotator cuff and biceps tears in his right. He underwent immediate surgery and endured a lengthy rehabilitation process. Unable to play bass during that period, he turned to painting — a pivot that would eventually define the next chapter of his life.
His recovery from addiction and his transition into visual art proved to be deeply intertwined. By the time he staged his first art exhibit in San Francisco in May 2010, he had freed himself from painkillers entirely. That exhibit marked the beginning of a decade-long global art career, including a partnership with a Paris gallery representative. Newsted has indicated that his forthcoming memoir will explore his addiction battle in even greater depth, offering a fuller account of one of rock’s most turbulent personal stories.
