The Ramones' Chris Ward turned down Metallica gig
Christopher Ward of The Ramones has revealed he twice turned down the chance to replace bassist Jason Newsted of Metallica
The rocker, aka CJ Ramone, admits he was honoured to be asked but his family commitments forced him to turn down the offer.
He tells blog TheGreatSouthernBrainfart.com: "When Jason first left the band they approached me. A while had gone by and they were having a hard time finding someone, so they approached me again. At the time my son had been diagnosed with autism and there was just no way I could leave him.
"I talked to my son's doctor and explained the opportunity and that I could bring my family out on the road and even hire a nurse. The doctor just told me that my son needed to wake up in the same place every day, he needs to have meals at the same time every day and he needs to go to school everyday and be around other kids. He said that anything other than that could be a detriment.
"There was just no way I could do it. The beautiful part about it all is that now my son is in regular classes at school. He's on the high honour roll and he's even starting his own band now with a couple of friends of his. The change in him from when he was a kid is amazing... If I had not been here, I don't know that the outcome would have been as good - and that totally justifies my decision.
"I have no regrets but it would've been great to play with Metallica after being in the Ramones."