Robert Trujillo Shares Ozzy’s Reaction To Him Joining Metallica

A memorable moment in Metallica’s history was captured on film when the band offered their then-vacant bass position to longtime Ozzy Osbourne and Suicidal Tendencies bassist Robert Trujillo. The band’s “Some Kind Of Monster” documentary shows the band clapping for Trujillo as he enters the room, and the group went on to offer him a $1 million signing bonus.

On a recent episode of the “The Surfer’s Journal’s Soundings” podcast, Trujillo recalled the experience which he called “weird” and “surreal.”

“I guess I didn’t believe it,” he said. “It didn’t seem real. It’s funny, ’cause you don’t actually ever… It’s there, but it’s not there. Everybody says, ‘Wow, man.’ After taxes, it’s a little different than a million dollars. I guess I got so consumed with the workload to where I was, like, ‘Okay, that’s cool.’ But then in my head, I’m, like, ‘It’s time to get to work. I’ve got this mountain of catalog to learn.'”

Trujillo said his focus became on learning the band’s new material from “St. Anger” and their extensive catalog. “And I just saw it as, like, ‘I’ve got a lot of work ahead of me. I’m not gonna worry about… I’m not gonna think about the money. I’m not gonna celebrate what’s going on because I’ve got work to do.’ I remember I didn’t go home for, like, six months, almost. I might’ve gone home for a night or two to go get some clothes or whatever I needed and to bring it back up north, but I basically moved to San Francisco right at that moment. And my life changed forever.”

Trujillo was scheduled to perform with Ozzy on that year’s Ozzfest tour, but his plans obviously changed. “I actually went to Sharon and Ozzy’s house and met with Sharon and said, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna join Metallica,’” he said.

“And it was heavy. Yeah, it was just heavy ’cause I think when it’s all said and done, every musician, you’re writing music, you’re creating, you’re performing, so it’s all passion-driven. So it’s hard when you’re losing a team member. Especially I had been playing with Ozzy for, like, seven years. So it was difficult, but I also felt that I needed to be there in person to tell him and tell her. And so that’s basically kind of how that went down. There were never any bad vibes… 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. And then, again, 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.”