Robert Trujillo talked about why the $1 million signing bonus that Metallica gave him wasn’t a big deal to him when he joined the band in 2003.
The moment is recorded in the band’s documentary Some Kind of Monster. It came after months of trying to find a replacement for Jason Newsted, during which time Trujillo had been auditioning.
The only thing on his mind was how to learn a lot of songs as quickly as possible. Before he could leave Ozzy Osbourne’s band, he had to tell Ozzy that he had to leave after seven years.
He told The Surfer’s Journal, “Well, that was weird and that was surreal” about the day he joined Metallica. “Everyone says, ‘Wow, man.'” It’s not quite a million dollars after taxes. I guess I got so busy with work that I forgot to breathe. In my head, I was telling myself, “It’s time to get to work—I have this mountain of catalog to learn.”
“Then there was St. Anger, their brand-new album, which they hadn’t even played live yet.” I just thought, “I have a lot of work to do.” I’m not going to think about the money. I’m not going to enjoy what’s happening because I have work to do.
Trujillo said that Osbourne called him a few days before, which was strange. He said, “Ozzy never called me.” “Someone from the management team would always call you, or Sharon might.”
“He calls me and says, ‘Hey, Rob. Let’s hit the road, man.'” “I’m ready.” I wasn’t working because I hadn’t heard from Metallica. After that, things changed again: “Lars calls me and says, ‘Hey, we want you to come up here and talk to us.'” I thought, “OK, they’re not telling me I got the job.” People like that would want you to fly up there and tell them you didn’t get the job. Such as, “We just had to tell you in person.””
When Trujillo got to Metallica’s headquarters, he got the wrong word. Thoughts of Osbourne were also going through his mind as he thought about his new responsibilities.
Lars Ulrich’s Last Words to Robert Trujillo
“I have no idea why I said that…” I always tried to be true to Ozzy and Sharon… “Well, I don’t think I can do those dates,” I told myself. But I’ll jump on board when my deal with Ozzy is over. I remember Lars saying, “We appreciate your loyalty.” That is very honorable. But this train is going… You have to “jump on board and jump on with us.””
Trujillo quickly made plans to visit the Osbournes because he understood what was going on. “That night I flew home and went to Sharon and Ozzy’s house. I met Sharon and told her, ‘Yeah, I’m going to join Metallica.'” It was just heavy. Losing a team member is hard. But I felt like I had to be there in person to tell him and her, even though it was hard.
He said there was no bad stuff. “When that happened in the past, things could get really bad with anyone.” You’re leaving a team, which is not a good thing. My life did change, as I said. Everything changed all of a sudden. I joined a new family, moved, and my life was completely different.
