The long, complicated history between Megadeth vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine and his former bandmates in thrash metal legends Metallica dates back decades. In the early 80s Mustaine was ousted from Metallica mid-tour, with his worsening attitude and his problems with substance abuse often being cited as the reason for his firing.
Decades of bad blood and on-again, off-again periods of friendship would ensue, but it would appear that a mid-2010s royalty dispute over writing credits of the Metallica‘s earliest works severed the lines of communication between the two parties for good.
While there’s been some prickly commentary made in the press since by Mustaine about his former bandmates, he insists that there’s no actual feud still flaring. With Mustaine having gone on to kickoff Megadeth‘s farewell tour , while also having covered Metallica‘s “Ride The Lightning” on Megadeth‘s final studio album earlier this year, Mustaine has often talked about “closing the circle” with that nod to his past.
In a recent interview with Ibagenscast, Mustaine spoke about his decision to cover that track, just ahead of debuting it live. In that conversation, he also insisted that he has put the feud to bed with his former bandmates, namely Metallica vocalist/guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich:
“…Going back to why we did [‘Ride The Lightning‘] — it’s kind of closing the circle, paying my respects to the band that I was a founding member in. And love me or hate me, they’ll never be able to erase me. And I think that when people can look with acceptance and fondness of the two bands and not try and keep something that I don’t wanna keep going.
I don’t wanna have a feud. I’ve put that to sleep so many years ago. So, yeah, I wanted to do something that was — just show some respect, ’cause it doesn’t matter to me if he cares, if he likes it; it matters what I do and that I show respect and close the circle.”
[via Blabbermouth.net]
