Metallica Wanted A Ramone
CJ Ramone was asked to join the band twice in the early 00s
Metal Hammer reports that the former Ramones member was approached twice after Jason Newsted left Metallica in 2001.
"I was approached about joining Metallica not once, but twice," he claims in this interview. When Jason Newsted first left the band, they approached me. A while had gone by and they were having a hard time finding someone, so they approached me again. At the time my son had been diagnosed with autism and there was just no way I could leave him."
"Johnny Ramone was actually the one who hooked me up with the audition because he was friends with Kirk Hammett," he adds. "I talked to my son's doctor and explained the opportunity and that I could bring my family out on the road and even hire a nurse. The doctor just told me that my son needed to wake up in the same place every day, he needs to have meals at the same time every day and he needs to go to school everyday and be around other kids. He said that anything other than that could be a detriment."
Metallica did not recruit a replacement for Newsted until 2003 after producer Bob Rock played bass on the St Anger album. Former Ozzy bassist Rob Trujillo was recruited after three months of auditions and has since appeared on one studio album (Death Magnetic).