Rob Trujillo, the current bassist of Metallica, is known for his unique and iconic crab walk dance move that he performs on stage.
Trujillo revealed in a podcast interview with Howard Stern how the dance move came to be.
He explained that it all started when he attended a Black Sabbath show in Las Vegas and Ozzy Osbourne got in his face, and they started doing a sumo wrestler-like dance that eventually turned into the crab walk.
Trujillo expressed his gratitude towards Ozzy for providing him with the inspiration for the dance move, and for their sincere friendship.
He first met Ozzy when he was working on Suicidal Tendencies’ side project Infectious Grooves, and Ozzy ended up singing the chorus part of their song ‘Therapy’ in their debut album ‘The Plague That Makes Your Booty Move.’
Later on, around the late 90s, Trujillo started playing in Ozzy’s band.
“It’s a performance move that I’ve been doing up until this day and I enjoy doing it. Sometimes Kirk and I do it during ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls.’ So, thank you, Ozzy, thanks for providing me with your choreographed ingenuity and helping me turn on my stage performance with the crab walk. I appreciate you for that.”
Ozzy also had high praise for Trujillo, calling him a great friend, a great bass player, and a great guy.
He appreciated that Trujillo did things the right way when it came time to move on from his band, giving him time to find a replacement.
Trujillo’s crab walk dance move has become an integral part of his stage performance, and he continues to perform it to this day.
He even sometimes does it with Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett during their performance of ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls.’
“Rob has always been a great friend of mine. He’s a great bass player and a great guy; he’s the only guy who, when it came time to move, did things the right way. I always ask that the guys who play with me, if they get another offer and want to move on, that’s fine, just don’t drop me in the shit, give me time to get a replacement. Rob’s the only guy who ever did things right by me for that. “
