Guitarist Chris Poland recently reflected on his time with Megadeth and shared what he thought about Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ when it dropped during that period in a recent chat with Ultimate Guitar.
“Oh yeah, I was so bummed out,” Poland commented on the 1986 record. “Our record had just come out, and when I heard the production on ‘Master of Puppets,’ I was so pissed. And I knew it was because those guys were focused. We were not focused. We were drug addicts.”
When Metallica put out ‘Master of Puppets,’ Megadeth was still making ‘Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying?’ At the time, Dave Mustaine was still feuding with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, and the rivalry between the two bands was intense.
While ‘Peace Sells’ was a successful record, earning two platinums, ‘Master of Puppets’ was an international sensation with six times platinums in Canada and the U.S. each.
“I mean, they wrote great songs,” the ex-Megadeth guitarist continued. “And we pulled [Megadeth’s songs] off, but we weren’t saying, ‘Maybe we should retube that amp and get it biased?’ We weren’t thinking like that. And plus, those guys were in Europe. Everything was running at 240, even the console. I think that had something to do with why that record sounded so good. And the producer [Flemming Rasmussen] was just freaking amazing. That record is my favorite Metallica record.”
Poland played guitar on Megadeth’s early records: 1985’s ‘Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!’ and 1986’s ‘Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?’ But shortly after the latter’s supporting tour wrapped up, Mustaine fired him and drummer Gar Samuelson.
After his departure, Poland took a job as a waiter while Megadeth rose to fame with ‘Peace Sells.’ “When you think about it today it is pretty crazy because Megadeth was beyond gold, Peace Sells was really like a train and here I am bussing tables in the middle of the night at Denny’s,” he once said about the situation.
Megadeth’s most recent album, ‘The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!’ came out in 2022. They’re currently set to headline two festivals: Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN, and Tons of Rock in Oslo, Norway.
