Dave Mustaine, vocalist, guitarist and mastermind behind Grammy Award-winning thrash metal legends Megadeth, doesn’t look back fondly on the height of the nü-metal movement back in the late ’90s and early 2000s.
Speaking recently with WSOU 89.5 FM, Mustaine elaborated on the seismic shifts in the metal scene his band has survived through over the years and his thoughts on them:
“You know, in 1992, when Nirvana and Def Leppard and Pearl Jam and Soundgarden all happened to radio in America, radio in America changed. You either had to be an alternative band, or you needed to be a glam kind of band. Remember Warrant, Poison, Def Leppard, all these bands — God, there’s millions of them.
All these glam bands, and then you think about all the alternative bands — well, what happened to the metal bands that were on the radio at the time? Well, they kind of got swept up into the dark, and only the strong survived.
For us, we went through a period where like I said, admittedly so, we were trying to do what we were told. And it backfired. I mean, why would you pay a manager if you’re not going to listen to them?
And so, there were several situations where we would make decisions [that] were presented to us in a way kind of, like, ‘You got to do this,’ or ‘That’s just how it is.’ I can’t tell you how much we would laugh about the bands that we were forced to take out on tour with us, especially during the nu-metal period that we went through years ago. You know, all these bands that wouldn’t play solos and stuff.”
Korn frontman Jonathan Davis was seemingly one of those musicians who drew some of Mustaine‘s trademark ire at the time, telling ExploreMusic back in 2011 (as reported by Blabbermouth.net) of their time touring together back in 1995:
“It was hard touring with Megadeth because at that time Dave Mustaine was really mean and just had attitude. It was scary being on there. I was drinking at the time and I got him drinking again, which I shouldn’t have done, but that was Dave Mustaine and I was this young, little kid, and I’m like, ‘That’s Dave Mustaine and he wants to drink. I’ll give him a drink.’
I respected him and everything, but I kind of got my feelings hurt, because he was mean at times. I don’t have any ill will towards the guy now, ’cause you know how it is — now you’re older and you’re wiser — but at the time it was really scary. And plus, we were pissed off at getting all these metal tours.”
Megadeth also took part in the ‘Ozzfest ’98‘ festival tour, hitting the stage alongside the likes of a then bevy of nascent nü-metal stars, including Limp Bizkit, System Of A Down, Soulfly, System Of A Down, Coal Chamber, Snot and many more.
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