Metallica is probably the most well-known heavy metal band of the last century or so. Naturally, getting a spot in the band is no easy feat. And some musicians managed to get into the band before abruptly getting the boot soon after. Let’s look at a few musicians who were outright burned and spurned by Metallica!
1. Dave Mustaine
Back in Metallica’s early era, they got kind of a bad rap for their members’ penchant for alcoholism. Out of all of them, Dave Mustaine was the one who would get the most out of control. After getting drunk, trashing places they could crash, and even treating fans terribly, the band decided they had enough. James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich gave Mustaine the boot and a bus ticket home.
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Mustaine was obviously mad about it, leading to a years-long “beef” of sorts between Metallica and Mustaine’s newly-formed band Megadeth. If Mustaine had just kept it together, he probably would have been part of Metallica for years to come.
2. Les Claypool
The mind behind Primus almost made it to Metallica’s coveted lineup. After Cliff Burton passed away, Jason Newsted was a shoo-in. However, there were a few other musicians who made the shortlist, notably Primus’ Les Claypool, who happened to be a friend of Kirk Hammett.
Claypool admittedly knew nothing about Metallica’s particular brand of music. When he auditioned, he unfortunately sounded and looked out of place. Metallica spurned him by not giving him the big, but it is worth noting that the band thought he was “too good” of a musician to join. Claypool even admitted to being pretty broken up about it when he didn’t get called back, and thought the band believed he was a “freak”.
3. Danny Lohner
Danny Lohner of Nine Inch Nails was unfortunately spurned by Metallica back in the day. Allegedly, the band liked his particular bass tones and started playing with him to flesh out how well he played.
Unfortunately, it was a bit of a mess. Footage of his time with the band is featured in Some Kind Of Monster, which shows how hard of a time Lohner had keeping up with the song “Battery.”
Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/WireImage
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