Robert Trujillo explained why the $1 million signing-on payment made to him by Metallica wasn’t high in his priorities when he joined the band in 2003.
The moment is captured in the band’s Some Kind of Monster documentary after they spent months trying to recruit a replacement for Jason Newsted and Trujillo had auditioned during that period.
His mind was focused on having to learn a catalog of music as fast as possible. But first, he had to tell Ozzy Osbourne he needed to quit the Black Sabbath icon’s band after seven years.
READ MORE: Metallica Didn’t Want to Show Rob Trujillo’s $1 Million Deal in ‘Some Kind of Monster’
“Well, that was weird and that was surreal,” Trujillo told The Surfer’s Journal of the day he joined Metallica. “Everybody says, ‘Wow, man.’ After taxes, it’s a little different than a million dollars. I guess I got so consumed with the workload … in my head, I’m like, ‘It’s time to get to work – I’ve got this mountain of catalog to learn.’
“And then there was this new album, St. Anger, that they hadn’t even played live yet. … I just saw it as like, ‘I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. … I’m not gonna think about the money. I’m not gonna celebrate what’s going on because I’ve got work to do.’”
You can listen to the interview below.
Trujillo said he received a call from Osbourne a few days before that, which was unusual. “Ozzy never called me,” he noted. “You’d always hear from someone from the management team or maybe Sharon might call.
“And I get this call from him – ‘Hey, Rob … let’s go on the road, man. I’m ready.’ … I hadn’t heard from Metallica [and] I wasn’t working.” Then things changed again: “I get a call from Lars [Ulrich], saying, ‘Hey, we want you to come up here and we want to talk to you.’ So I’m like, ‘OK, they’re not telling me I got the gig.’ … They’re the kind of guys that would have you fly up there to tell you you didn’t get the gig. Like, ‘We just wanted to tell you in person.’”
On arriving at Metallica’s HQ, Trujillo received the reverse message. And while his thoughts turned to his new duties, he was also thinking about Osbourne.
Lars Ulrich’s Ultimatum to Robert Trujillo
“I don’t even know why I said this … I was always trying to be loyal to Ozzy and Sharon … I was, like, ‘Well, I don’t think I can do those dates. But when I finish my commitment with Ozzy I’ll jump on board.’ And I remember Lars goes, ‘We respect your loyalty. It’s very honorable. But this train is leaving … you’ve gotta jump on board and jump on with us.’”
Accepting the situation, Trujillo immediately arranged to visit the Osbournes. “I flew home that night, and I actually went to Sharon and Ozzy’s house and met with Sharon and said, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna join Metallica.’ … It was just heavy … it’s hard when you’re losing a team member. … So it was difficult – but I also felt that I needed to be there in person to tell him and tell her.”
He said there was no negativity. “Usually when that happened in the past, it could get pretty ugly with anybody. I mean, you’re leaving a team, and it’s not good. Like I said, my life changed. All of a sudden I was a part of a new family, and I was living in a new area and it was just a different existence.”
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Gallery Credit: Rob Carroll
