Former Megadeth bassist/vocalist David Ellefson recently shared an interesting tidbit regarding the lengthy dispute his ex-Megadeth bandmate Dave Mustaine has had with Metallica. While Mustaine and his own past bandmates in Metallica have had a rocky relationship over the past several decades, Metallica‘s attempted deluxe re-release of “No Life ‘Til Leather” is thought to have once again blown apart their relationship.
A longtime point of contention for Mustaine, a legal dispute over the songwriting credits for that 1982 demo from the thrash metal legends is understood to have once again driven a lasting wedge between Mustaine and Metallica.
Back somewhere around 2015-2017, Metallica had begun laying plans for a re-release of that 1982 demo, however, they had intended to do so with apparently newly adjusted writing credits, which according to Mustaine, would have been at his own expense. The Megadeth frontman, who played for Metallica until his infamous ousting in 1983, went on to dispute that new arrangement.
To that end, he publicly fired back against Metallica, claiming the band was trying to have him give up a percentage of his songwriting credits on several tracks to Metallica‘s drummer Lars Ulrich. The disputed tracks in question were “Mechanix“, “Jump In The Fire“, “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia“.
It is understood that royalty dispute eventually forced Metallica to shutter their plans for a deluxe 27-song re-release of that demo. In late 2024, further details regarding that contentious dispute cropped up via legal proceedings filed between Mustaine and his former managers in Corey Brennan and 5B Artist Management.
One claim Mustaine had put against the aforementioned former managerial staff hinged around that songwriting dispute, with Mustaine‘s complaint stating of the matter:
‘In 2017, Mustaine informed [5B] that he intended to pursue his interest in songwriting credit and royalties for songs that he wrote or co-wrote as a member of Metallica, and for which he was owed royalties. [5B] participated in discussions with Mustaine regarding these credits and royalties and were aware that they were responsible for pursuing this matter to ensure that Mustaine was appropriately credited and compensated for his work, they failed to do so.’
Now, in a new conversation with Ellefson‘s ‘The David Ellefson Show‘, the former Megadeth bassist claimed that around 2018, Mustaine had gone so far as seeking to re-record the “No Life ‘Til Leather” demo. Ellefson posited that his own refusal to take part in Mustaine‘s plans was likely the initial fissure in the currently final era of their relationship, which ultimately once again fractured after Ellefson was relieved of his services in 2021 after being embroiled in a sex scandal.
On an interesting note, this new chat on ‘The David Ellefson Show‘ also finds Ellefson joined by Testament, etc. bassist Steve Di Giorgio, whom Mustaine would go on to hire to record his own bass parts in place of Ellefson‘s on “The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!“, after scrapping Ellefson‘s parts in the wake of his aforementioned firing.
However, for now we’ll focus on the seemingly lingering dispute with Metallica, which Ellefson had the following to share of:
“…There was clashes all the way down, and for me, it started in 2018 when Dave came in to — we started a tour in Oslo — and he came in and he said he wanted to re-record ‘No Life ‘Til Leather‘ demo. I’m, like, ‘Are you kidding me? This is where we’re at? After all this time? We’re supposed to be writing a new album and new songs. And I was just, like, ‘I am not down with that.’
As fun as it would be to play those songs, ’cause that’s one of my favorite Metallica recordings, I was just, like, ‘Yeah, I’m fucking… I ain’t down with that.’ I’m sorry. I couldn’t kiss the ring for that one. I was, like, ‘I’m out.’ And so I think our problem started then. So as we went into the record, he knew I wasn’t willing to just fucking say, ‘Yes, Dave,’ and go along with shit. So eventually I’m out of the band. You know what I Mean? So it goes. Bands are what bands are, and it is what it is.”
