How did Robert Trujillo become Metallica’s bass player?

In the most recent episode of Jack Osbourne and Ryan Drexler’s video podcast, “Trying Not To Die,” Jack and Robert Trujillo discussed Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, and one of the most amazing rock music careers, as per Blabbermouth. Robert shared behind-the-scenes tales from each stage of his career from the Los Angeles music scene to Suicidal Tendencies, Ozzy’s band, and finally Metallica. He also talked about his intimate relationship with Ozzy, the enduring connection between their families, and the unexplainable paranormal encounters that had a profound effect on him. Robert stated this while thinking back on his 2003 resignation from Ozzy‘s band to take Jason Newsted’s place as bassist for Metallica, as shown in the documentary “Some Kind Of Monster.”

Well, [me joining Metallica] was similar [to how I landed the gig with Ozzy] in that it took a while before I knew what was going on. And in these situations, decisions like that, they don’t always just sort of happen overnight. There might be like three months and you’re, like, ‘What’s going on?’ And I know it took some time with your dad [Ozzy]. I don’t know why, but it took a minute, and then it took a minute again with Metallica. And that could’ve been because they were working on records and just life, business, and all that. But your dad had called and said… Maybe he knew something I didn’t know, because he called and said that he was gonna go on the road and do Ozzfest and, ‘Let’s go.’ And I was, like, ‘Yeah, let’s go.’

And then like the next day Lars called and said, “Hey, we want you to come up to San Francisco. We gotta talk to you.’ So it’s just kind of weird how in those sort of 48 hours, there was two of the most powerful individuals in hard rock looking for me. And I remember going up and saying… They were like, ‘Hey.’ They gave me the gig and I said something like I wanted to make sure that I took care of your dad and went on tour and fulfilled my commitment. And they were, like, ‘Well, the train’s moving and it’s moving fast.’ ‘Cause Metallica had a new album coming out and all that. So it was just one of those rare moments where there’s two incredible things happening at the same time, and you have to make a decision for the future. And that was sort of that. But again, in a weird way, things happen at the same time, and you can’t explain why. Like I said, your dad actually called me. Your dad didn’t call me every day. And then Lars called me, so it was that kind of a situation.