In a new chat with Blabbermouth, Dave Mustaine talked about Gene Simmons trying to copy his business idea.
“When Megadeth, Arizona was launched, a lot of people went there because they couldn’t understand, the same way that I couldn’t, what all of these rooms were on the internet and having a chat room and so on,” the guitarist said, referring to their first-ever band website on the Internet.
He continued, “So it was really exciting one by one as we would hear people that noticed it and I was blown away when I heard from one of my favorite musicians and rock stars, Gene Simmons. Legend has it, he said, ‘I want a web site just like Mustaine’s,’ and you can imagine how stoked I was to hear that.”
“And I had asked his manager, Doc McGhee, and I had gotten a video sent back to me of Gene repeating what he had said. So hats off to you, Gene. Love you guys!” Mustaine then added.
Mustaine previously recalled the time when Megadeth became the first band to have an official website, speaking to 3Sat. He explained, “[We had] the first band website. The website we had was called Megadeth Arizona; it came out on October 31, 1994 with Capitol Records. This was so bizarre – when we first got it, I saw what a chatroom was. I don’t think I blinked for a week.”
The rocker added, “I was typing and typing and typing and typing and… typing and typing. And then people would do these scripts where they would come to the chatroom. There was this one guy named Sh*t; he would go in there and just type the word sh*t. Sh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*tsh*t. It was like, OK, we had to figure out how do you catch the frame, get his IP, block the IP…”
“Here I am, a guy that was homeless and just beating on a guitar – in a matter of a couple of fortunate decisions and being at the right place at the right time, all of a sudden, I’m at the forefront of innovation in music and communicating with your fans. We’ve really, really, really taken our fanclub, the internet, social media, all that stuff, to the extreme,” Dave also noted.
Megadeth just finished their U.S. tour, after successful shows in Latin America and Europe. Next, they will go into the studio to record new music and will announce more tour dates for 2025.
