As you all probably know, Dave Mustaine was a member of Metallica before forming Megadeth. In an interview with Guitar World, Mustaine shared his perception of the comparisons between the two metal giants while adding that he would prefer to be friends with his former bandmates rather than let rumors roam around.
Mustaine played as Metallica’s lead guitarist, but his tenure didn’t last long as he constantly had conflicts with the remaining members. When the band was full of alpha males that wanted to lead the band, it resulted in Mustaine getting fired and eventually him forming Megadeth.
Although Mustaine didn’t stick around for long years as the lead guitar player, the musician shared that Metallica partially owed their success to him. So, besides all the drama and the comparisons between the two acts, Mustaine feels like he was a part of that journey to being one of the biggest bands in the scene when Metallica had a head start.
The Megadeth leader also stated that for the feud to resolve, his former bandmates first needed to acknowledge his contribution to the band and respect him as a competent guitar player. So, even if he wanted to reconcile with Metallica, the guys didn’t want to take the stage together and refused to give the fans what they had been asking since the dawn of time.
Dave Mustaine’s words about the rivalry between Megadeth and Metallica:
“In my mind, there is no competition between Megadeth and Metallica. We’re different bands, and I believe Megadeth has been more consistent. But the sad thing is that the drama between us has been more popular than the music ever was. And 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 f*ck did you say? [Laughs] I think I wrote many songs that made you famous, so you probably should recheck that bullsh*t statement. But this is the sh*t those guys say, and you’ve got the sheep who follow them around believing it.”
He continued talking about the problems between them:
“The issue is that people don’t know their history and take sides. I never wanted to take sides; 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?’
And they’ve confirmed they’re going out [this summer] with Five Finger Death Punch and the Pantera thing, so it’s clearly about the money. The fact is simple: the world wants to see Megadeth and Metallica play together. And in case anyone is wondering: there’s f*cking money in that. The fans want to see Metallica and Megadeth share the stage. 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.”
At the end of the day, from Mustaine’s perspective, Metallica is afraid to share the same stage even though fans would love the opportunity to see the two bands together. Although the two bands work with the same agent, even the thought of a show together hasn’t been on the radar for Metallica. Do you think the bands will ever come together and reconcile for good?
