Jason Newsted talked about leaving high school just three months before graduation to pursue music career, telling Loudwire (transcribed by UG):
“I was 18 years old… *turns towards camera* I don’t recommend most of this. *turns back* I was 18 years old and I quit school. I had three months to go.
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“I was in a band with guys that were 26-27 years old, and they wanted to go to California to be rock stars.
“I sold a lot of my record collection, got $300 together, got my bass amp in a suitcase full of stuff and told my parents I was rolling out.
“My dad was freaking, my mom was freaking more.
“But I went, got in the back of a U-Haul truck, with a sheep dog – a closed U-Haul truck with an English sheep dog named Rudy.
“I was working at a sandwich pizza place from 9 to 6, and then I’d go wash dishes from 7 to 2:30 in the morning – round and round and round. I’d go with my BMX back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and just tried to earn money and keep it together.
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“So I finally got to get away from most people, moved into another house…
“And five months after that, February of 1982, I went into a music store in Phoenix on the 16th street, and [drummer] Kelly Smith had an ad up on the wall there – it said something about Iron Maiden or something. And Rush I think it was.
“I called ’em up and he said, ‘Come on out,’ and we practiced in his dad’s office.
“February 10th, 1982, that was the beginning of Flotsam and Jetsam.”
Jason went on to be a member of Floatsam and Jetsam until 1986, the same year when he performed on the band’s debut studio album “Doomsday for the Deceiver.” That was also the year in which Cliff Burton died, and the year in which Jason joined Metallica.