Two phone calls arriving a day apart decided the next two decades of Robert Trujillo‘s career. One came from Ozzy Osbourne. The other came from Lars Ulrich.
The Metallica bassist laid out the sequence on the latest episode of “Trying Not To Die“, the bi-weekly video podcast hosted by Jack Osbourne and Ryan Drexler. The conversation covered Trujillo‘s route from the Los Angeles club circuit through Suicidal Tendencies and Osbourne‘s band to Metallica, along with his friendship with Jack‘s father and the paranormal experiences he says stayed with him.
Trujillo was Osbourne‘s bassist when Metallica came calling to replace Jason Newsted. The negotiation, and the awkwardness of leaving one employer for another, was filmed for the 2004 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 [Ulrich] 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,” he said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
The album in question was St. Anger, which arrived in June 2003. Newsted had left in January 2001. Trujillo was confirmed in the February 2003, with the documentary capturing Ulrich presenting him a one million dollar signing bonus, a scene that became one of the film’s most discussed.
Trujillo played in Osbourne‘s solo band from 1996 to 2003 and co-wrote material for 2001’s Down To Earth.
The relationship went back further. Osbourne took an interest in Infectious Grooves, the funk metal project Trujillo ran alongside Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir, and contributed backing vocals to their song “Therapy“. He then put the band on the road as support on his “Theater Of Madness” tour in 1991 and 1992, before they were ready for it.
Writing on Instagram in July 2025, the day before Osbourne‘s funeral, Trujillo described what that had meant: “Ozzy was the conduit for so many new relationships both creative collaborations and real, lasting friendships. I mean, Joe Holmes is Lullah’s godfather, and Mike Bordin is Tye’s godfather both of those connections came directly from my friendship with Ozzy. Because of Oz, Infectious Grooves was able to tour back in ’91 as a brand-new band and at the time, it wasn’t even really a band, just some fun songs we had recorded. We weren’t ready to hit the road, but he made us step up and make it happen.”
Osbourne died on July 22, 2025 at 76. Metallica had performed alongside him weeks earlier at “Back To The Beginning” in Birmingham, his final concert. Trujillo attended the funeral in the same city on July 30.
Trujillo was born on October 23, 1964 in Santa Monica, California. He joined Suicidal Tendencies in 1989 and stayed through 1995, playing on records including Lights…Camera…Revolution! while running Infectious Grooves in parallel.
The two bands crossed paths with Metallica long before he joined. Trujillo recalled in a 2021 interview that during a shared 1993 tour, Suicidal Tendencies made a habit of finishing off whatever catering Metallica left behind.
He has now been Metallica‘s bassist for 23 years, longer than Newsted, Cliff Burton and Ron McGovney combined. He was inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with the band in 2009.
Burton died in September 1986 when the band’s tour bus overturned in Sweden during the “Damage Inc.” tour supporting Master Of Puppets.
