Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine has once again weighed on his decades-long on-again, off-again feud with his former Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. The lengthy relationship between that trio has been chronicled many times, having initially been fractured after Mustaine was kicked out of the band for his substance abuse issues back in 1983.
Years of rivalry and outright bitterness followed, while Mustaine and Ulrich would seemingly bury the hatchet in anan emotional meeting in Metallica‘s 2004 documentary ‘Some Kind Of Monster‘). While The Big Four touring that took place in 2010-11 found the two acts burying the hatchet for a string of widely-attended shows alongside Slayer and Anthrax, it would appear that the relationship between Mustaine and Metallica once again began to deteriorate in the years since.
A dispute with Mustaine over songwriting credits of early Metallica material forced the thrash metal behemoths to shelf their “No Life ‘Til Leather” set plans back in 2017. In the years since, Mustaine has also tossed some passive-aggressive barbs Metallica‘s way.
That trend has continued in a new interview with Guitar World. While Mustaine asserted that he is not in competition with Metallica, he does not enjoy the way he perceives his input and impact on the band has been downplayed. He said of that:
“Remember, Metallica got a big head start, and they did so on the back of what I helped create. They became one of the biggest bands in the world, and here’s one of the biggest bands wasting their breath trying to discredit me by saying, ‘Dave‘s not a good guitar player.’
‘Excuse me, what the fuck did you say?’ I think I wrote many of the songs that made you famous, so you probably should recheck that bullshit statement. But this is the shit those guys say, and you’ve got the sheep who follow them around believing it.”
When asked later what he thinks about his lasting influence on Metallica, Mustaine responded:
“In the early days, I was the only guitar player in the band and wrote some of the songs that ended up on their earlier records. So for a guy who ‘couldn’t play guitar,’ I sure did fucking influence things. The only reason James [Hetfield, Metallica vocalist/guitarist] even played guitar early on was that we couldn’t find anyone else.
Also, early on, James was terrified to talk to the crowd, and I would look at him and say, ‘Talk, man. Get up there and fucking talk,’ but James didn’t do it. He stayed in the background, and he’s the fucking singer… That’s how it was until I left, James only started talking to the audience after I left; he had no choice.
And most of what I said on stage was things James would then copy after I left. So how do I view my influence on Metallica? It’s pretty fucking deep.”
Speaking further on his relationship with Metallica now, he offered:
“I wanted things to be reconciled and to be friends. But for whatever reason, they didn’t. And Metallica is represented by the same agent as Megadeth, and I’ve asked our agent, ‘You’re Metallica‘s agent, too; why won’t those guys play with us? What are they afraid of?
The fact is simple: The world wants to see Megadeth and Metallica play together… Does Megadeth need Metallica? No. But Metallica talks about their fans, but they don’t give them what they’ve been asking for. What are they afraid of? I don’t know. It’s not me; it’s them.”
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