Metallica Initiated Jason Newsted Into the Band With Two Epic Pranks

When Jason Newsted became Metallica’s new bassist, the thrash legends decided to pull not one, but two epic pranks on him. It all happened during a dinner in Japan, just 11 days after Newsted joined Metallica.

Kirk Hammett initiated Stage One of the prank on Newsted. Well into some hard drinking, Hammett threw a giant glob of wasabi into a dish and encouraged Newsted to try some special Japanese “mint ice cream.”

“I was so hammered,” Newsted recalled in a 2017 interview with Loudwire. “If it was ice cream, it would have melted [but] I’m like, ‘Okay.’ I took a freaking spoonful — I couldn’t use chopsticks yet — and ‘Fuuuuuuuu————kkkk!”

Stage Two of the prank took place after Newsted was finally able to shake off the pain from the wasabi. “I look up and I don’t know anybody at the table. Everybody’s gone, but the table is full,” the bassist says. “[The waiter] brings the bill. I was making $500 a week, but the bill comes and it’s got zeros like 0000000000. They [Metallica] were f-cking with me. They were watching me from upstairs somewhere.”

Metallica – How Jason Newsted Was Initiated Into the Band

Watch the video above to find out how the infamous Wasabi Story ends and make sure to subscribe to our new YouTube channel — Loudwire Clips — for more epic stories from over 10 years of Loudwire video interviews.