Dave Mustaine

Dave Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is a heavy metal guitarist, songwriter, and singer. As the central figure of Megadeth, he is one of a handful of people considered to have pioneered thrash metal and speed metal.

Beginnings

David Scott Mustaine was born September 13, 1961 in La Mesa, California, United States. His parents divorced when he was seven, and he grew up bouncing around various low-income Southern California suburbs.

Metallica

In 1981, he left the band Panic to join Metallica, serving as lead guitarist for the young thrash band for two years. According to the story, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich had posted an ad in a local newspaper called The Recycler, looking for a lead guitarist. In his own words, Mustaine remembers his first meeting with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich: "I was convinced that I should be in the band and went to rehearsal. I was tuning up when all the other guys in the band went into another room. They weren't talking to me, so I went in and said, 'Well? Am I in the band or not?' and they said, 'You've got the gig.' I couldn't believe how easy it had been and suggested that we get some beer to celebrate."

Despite not being the vocalist of the band, Dave felt he was the leading member of Metallica and tended to speak into a microphone during their early gigs. In one show, from 1983, Dave is shown speaking in his trademark snarl and swearing drunkenly at members of the crowd who were throwing things. Making very little sense, at one point Hetfield even asks: "What the fuck are you doing, man?"

Mustaine's relationship with Metallica, however, would not last. Brian Slagel, an early manager of the band, recalls in an interview: "Dave was an incredibly talented guy, but he also had an incredibly large problem with alcohol and drugs. He'd get wasted and become a real crazy person, a raging maniac, and the other guys just couldn't deal with that after a while. I mean, they all drank of course, but I guess they could all hold their liquor better than Dave, and I could see they were beginning to get fed up of seeing Dave drunk out of his mind all the time."

Soon after this, in a drunken state, Mustaine walked into the building and poured a full can of beer down Ron McGovney's bass so it trickled into the pick-ups. When he next came to play it Ron was reputedly shocked and in his own words "blown across the room". He finally decided he'd had enough and quit.

One of the final straws for the band was on the road trip from San Francisco to New York to meet up with producer Johnny Z. The band nearly didn't make it: a crash with a jeep during a snow storm near Wyoming left the band's touring van in a ditch. Nobody in Metallica's van was hurt, but since the incident occurred while Dave Mustaine was driving punch drunk, the others members silently agreed that as soon as they started the new phase of their career, they had to get rid of Mustaine.

In April of 1983, Mustaine was fired, officially for his drug use and personality clashes with founding members Ulrich and James Hetfield. The band packed up Mustaine's gear, drove him to a Greyhound bus station, and put him on a bus back to Los Angeles, leaving their former bandmember returning home with a trauma that stuck him into a severe depression for years.

During his short time in Metallica, Dave Mustaine toured with the band, co-wrote several songs which were later featured on the albums Kill 'Em All and Ride The Lightning (and, according to Mustaine, Master of Puppets) and recorded several songs with the band, including the No Life 'Till Leather demo tape.

Megadeth

In 1983, Mustaine was extremely angry after being kicked out of Metallica and his only goal in life was to create a band more successful than Metallica. After a four day bus journey, he returned to Los Angeles and formed Megadeth with bass player Dave Ellefson, Kerry King on guitar and Gar Samuelson on drums. Kerry decided to stay with Slayer and was replaced in 1984 by Chris Poland. The band then released their first album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, which suffered from poor production due to the band spending half of their production money on drugs. The album still received good reviews.

The Jackson Dave Mustaine series King V

By 1985, after recording Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!, Mustaine approached Jackson Guitars for a custom built guitar. Jackson built him a modified Randy Rhoads series King V with 24 frets. After creating the guitar for Mustaine, the company began mass-producing a Dave Mustaine series Flying V. This line continued into the early 2000s, when Mustaine switched to ESP guitars.

The success of the first record led to a major label deal with Capitol Records, which saw the 1986 release Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?. Amid drug problems and suspicions of stealing the band's equipment for drug money, both Poland and Samuelson were fired. In 1988, Mustaine co-produced the album Refuge Denied for the band Sanctuary.

The lineup for Megadeth's 1988 album So Far, So Good... So What! featured Chuck Behler on drums and Jeff Young on guitars. Mustaine soon underwent drug rehabilitation and the band was disbanded for a short while.

After returning from rehab, Mustaine had intended to hire Dimebag Darrell, who was soon getting great recognition for his playing, however Dimebag agreed only if his brother Vinnie Paul could play the drums for the band. The band already had a drummer at the time so instead Marty Friedman (of Cacophony fame) was hired for the lead guitarist spot while Nick Menza stayed on drums. They worked on a new project and the result was Rust In Peace (1990) which is acclaimed as one of the greatest thrash metal albums alongside Metallica's Master Of Puppets and Slayer's Reign In Blood. Two years later, Megadeth released Countdown To Extinction, their biggest commercial success, which went double platinum.

1994 saw the release of Youthanasia, which became the quickest album to go Gold (50,000 units) in Canadian history and sold well throughout the world. Some hardcore fans critized the album for being too commercial, as it was a bit of a departure for their fast-paced thrash sound.

By 1995, Mustaine was growing bored with Megadeth and his bandmates, so he formed MD.45, with Lee Ving of Fear on vocals and Jimmy Degrasso of Alice Cooper on drums. The album, The Craving was released July 23, 1996 and failed to find any audience, in part because the band did not tour to support the album. As a result, the project never proceeded after the debut release.

With a renewed interest in Megadeth after the disappointment of MD.45, Megadeth went on to release Cryptic Writings (1997). During the 1998 tour, Nick Menza had surgery to remove a benign tumor in his left knee and was replaced by Jimmy Degrasso. Menza was not asked back and Degrasso went on to record Risk (1999) with the band. Following the Risk tour Marty Friedman grew tired of Megadeth and left to pursue other musical interests. The 2000 Maximum Rock tour saw the inclusion of guitarist Al Pitrelli (Savatage) to fill Friedman's shoes. In that subsequent year Dave recorded The World Needs A Hero (2001) and completed a world tour ending with the recording of a concert released as Rude Awakening.

Dave's least favorite Megadeth song is Symphony Of Destruction. His personal favorite song is 99 Ways To Die.

Injury and Megadeth's breakup

In January 2002, Mustaine suffered a compressed radial nerve in his left hand and arm, making it impossible for him to play guitar. In April of that year, Megadeth was disbanded.

On the whole matter, Mustaine himself gave what he called "the Reader's Digest version", during an interview for SuicideGirls: " I went into retirement because my arm got hurt really bad. I broke up the band which at the time was Al Pitrelli, Dave Ellefson, Jimmy DeGrasso and myself. I was having problems with Al because he liked to drink and we didn’t want to show up at places drunk. Al also got married to a nice woman but he wanted to spend time with her. After a few years most married men are willing to die so I figured if we got a couple years into the marriage that might have changed. But the fact was, Al wasn’t fitting. DeGrasso was really hard to be around because he was so negative all the time with his complaining about money and wanting things. Ellefson was all about play my songs, play my songs. I hated being around these guys so when the arm injury happened it was a welcome relief and an indication that I had to stop." [1]

However, the decision left members miffed and holding grudges, especially Ellefson. Bassist David Ellefson, indeed, hinted about Mustaine faking the injury up as an excuse to break up the band, during an interview with Metal Sludge. Subsequently, the rift between the two founding members exploded, with the two camps ferociously exchanging lawsuits against each other.

David Ellefson's action, filed July 12 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleged that co-founding guitarist David Mustaine breached their long-running partnership agreement. He claimed Mustaine wrongfully took the lion's share of the band's income (estimated at more than $200 million since 1984) for himself and cut Ellefson out of the band's music publishing and merchandise revenues. Ellefson also said that Mustaine libeled him in an online posting, seeking at least $18.5 million in damages.

Mustaine's counterclaim, filed July 29 in California Superior Court in L.A., alleges that Ellefson on May 14 executed a settlement agreement in which he gave up his 20% interest in Megadeth. Mustaine maintains that the settlement -- which Ellefson alleges was signed under pressure and ultimately withdrawn -- released Mustaine from all claims. Ellefson eventually lost the case.

Recovery

Mustaine went through physical therapy for his injury, and began to explore other areas of the music industry, including production. However, he fully recovered from his arm injury following successful therapy, and following his recovery, all of Megadeth's albums were remixed and remastered on Capitol Records. These remixed and remastered CDs offer previously unreleased tracks, and further information on the recording of them, included on the CD sleeves.

During this time also, Dave Mustaine became a born-again Christian. Mustaine has remarked that the future of American democracy lies within our hands and shows that he has a problem with all politicians because of numerous ones on the cover of The System Has Failed.

Unfortunately, at the same time Dave's personal life was once again undergoing problems. He had always prided himself for his family. As a result, Megadeth brought with them a "spiritual counselor" to help Dave avoid the demons that almost cost him life and get him through his problems. This was noted recently by The Dillinger Escape Plan frontman Greg Puciato who explained his experience with Dave on Gigantour such that "He had a pastor walking around with him on tour and riding on his bus, I think to help keep him on the straight and narrow path."^[2]

Megadeth's return

In a move that surprised many, Mustaine enlisted one of Megadeth's 1980s-era guitarists, Chris Poland, to join Vinnie Colaiuta (drums) and Jimmy Lee Sloas (bass) and release a new Megadeth album called The System Has Failed in September 2004. The album was very well received by music critics, but a sales disappointment, although it was hailed as a return to Megadeth's successful late-80s/early-90s style in albums such as Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? and Rust in Peace.

Mustaine was determined to tour again. He contacted many former members of Megadeth, however all the former members (with the exception of former drummer Nick Menza) were unable or unwilling to participate. Auditions began, Mustaine hired (now former) Iced Earth bassist James MacDonough and Eidolon guitarist Glen Drover. Menza was eventually fired for undisclosed reasons (Mustaine hinted he could not adequately play any material, even his old stuff) and was replaced by Eidolon drummer and brother to Glen, Shawn Drover. Shawn Drover said that he was literally hired 5 days before his first show with Megadeth without having to audition.

The tour was named Blackmail The Universe. It was a world-wide tour and sold-out most of its venues. An album and DVD were released entitled Rude Awakenings containing a kind of best of live tracks spanning the career of the band up until The World Needs A Hero. In 2005 Capitol Records released Megadeth - Greatest Hits / Back to the start, which included a DVD of extracts from a concert the band performed at The Fillmore of Denver, Colorado, circa 1999. The lineup was Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, David Ellefson and Jimmy Degrasso.

Family life

Dave has repeatedly stated that his family is the most important aspect of his life. He married Pamela Casslebarry in 1990 and together they have one son, Justis, born in 1990, and a daughter, Electra, born in 1998. The family has lived in Arizona, but currently resides in Southern California with their many horses.

Feuds

Dave has an infamous reputation for having been in many feuds with other heavy metal musicians. Some of them include:

• Metallica:
  • The most well-known of these is his feud with Metallica, most notably with drummer Lars Ulrich. Mustaine claims to have written several Metallica songs, most notably "Leper Messiah". Metallica refuses to recognize this. Many Megadeth fans believe that "Master of Puppets" was Mustaine's work and that Metallica ripped it off without paying proper credit or royalties. Mustaine is given minor credit for his work on "The Call of Ktulu", but there are arguments between the Mustaine and Metallica fans on how much of the song he actually wrote (in any event, Megadeth clearly adapted some of the music from "The Call of Ktulu" to their own song "Hangar 18"). In 2004, the Mustaine-Metallica feud re-ignited when footage of Mustaine was used in the documentary Some Kind of Monster. Mustaine claims that the video segment was edited in an effort to show him in an unflattering manner. In an interview with Metal Maniacs magazine, Mustaine called Ulrich a "treacherous little man". He also wrote the song "Something That I'm Not" on The System Has Failed about Ulrich.
• Kirk Hammett:
  • Mustaine's replacement with Kirk Hammett has resulted in bad blood between the two. Even though Dave has stated he "doesn't care Kirk took my job", the Megadeth creator noted "at least I got to bang his girlfriend before he took my job — how do I taste, Kirk?", thus proving what a counterfeit Christian he really is. ^[3]. In Megadeth's edition of Behind The Music, Mustaine stated that "now he sees how [Hammett] tries really hard" and "thinks he makes really good use of what talent he has".
• Rikki Rachtman:
  • Mustaine had a verbal feud with MTV's Rikki Rachtman from Headbanger's Ball. Rachtman stated on air that he would like to settle his differences with Mustaine and move on. Mustaine eventually cleared the matter up, stating that, in reality, he really liked Rachtman. Recently on the VH1 40 Least Metal Moments, interviews were shown with Rachtman wearing a shirt saying "Dave Mustaine for President".
• Kerry King :
  • Mustaine has a long-standing feud with Slayer guitarist Kerry King. King had previously been a temporary member of Megadeth in 1984. Even though Dave tried to convince him to focus on Megadeth rather than the "lame spikes" and "eyeliner" with the "posers" in Slayer, Kerry refused to quit his main band.^[4] After a falling out during the 1991 "Clash of the Titans" tour, throughout the 1990s Kerry and Dave made public jabs at one another. Dave cited Slayer's poor record sales compared to Megadeth, and Kerry mentioned Dave's inability to get along with band members and tour with major acts. Dave tried to reach out to Kerry after the murder of Dimebag Darrell, but made little effort to actually mend fences. King currently believes Dave to be a "cocksucker" ^[5] and says "everyone hates Dave" ^[6] and Dave is a "dictator". ^[7]
• Pantera:
  • Mustaine has a continuing feud with Philip Anselmo from Pantera, Down and Superjoint Ritual. Pantera opened for Megadeth's 1992 "Countdown to Extinction Tour". Phil was known for saying "Fuck Megadeth" and "Fuck Dave" through the PA during Pantera's set minutes before Megadeth took the stage. By 1994, in an interview on MTV, Dave told an interviewer that he felt his music had been ripped off. He continued, "I'm not gonna name anybody 'cause I'm not gonna promote them. OK, we'll say 'panther' in Spanish [Pantera]. You're welcome guys. We might as well be cooking their dinner for them or pushing their little wheelbarrow to the bank for them."^[8] After the murder of Dimebag (once a potential member of Megadeth), Dave downplayed this comment on a 2004 Headbanger's Ball memorial to Dimebag as an "off-camera, off-record" event, which he felt flattered Pantera. Yet, the video of the interview demonstrating that this was not the case is still available at the MTV website.[9]

In addition

In 1992 Mustaine covered the Democratic national convention for MTV. Furthermore, he hosted MTV2 Television Network's series Headbanger's Ball on two occasions: once on a tribute to Dimebag Darrell in December of 2004, and the second time as a special guest (on an episode which aired Saturday, August 27th 2005).

In the summer of 2005 Mustaine launched a traveling North American metal festival. He named it Gigantour after a favorite childhood cartoon of his, Gigantor. It would span 6 weeks and be co-headlined by Megadeth and Dream Theater, with a great variety of other supporting metal acts. Mustaine has been quoted saying that his main intention when conceiving the tour was to bring the American metal audiences an eclectic and affordable alternative to Ozzfest.

Discography

MD.45

Album Cover	Date of Release	Title	Label	Chart positions	US sales
	July 23, 1996	The Craving (Lee Ving on vocals)	Slab Records
	July 27, 2004	The Craving (Dave Mustaine on vocals)	Sanctuary Records

Megadeth

(see Megadeth discography)

References

1. ^ ""Dave Mustaine takes a Pastor on tour"". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved October 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
2. ^ ""Dave Mustaine: James Hetfield Is Jealous Of Me" - Sep. 21, 2004". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved October 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
3. ^ ""Dave Mustaine Slamming Slayer, Metallica, Kirk Hammett In 1984 Interview Surfaces!"". Pitriff. Retrieved October 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
4. ^ ""Slayer's Kerry King Says Dave Mustaine Is 'A Cocksucker'" - Feb. 12, 2005". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved October 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
5. ^ ""Slayer's Kerry King: 'Everybody Hates Dave Mustaine'" Nov. 12, 2004". Blabbermouth.net. Retrieved October 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
6. ^ ""Megadeth Trash Pantera, Dave Matthews Band Busts Out, Mariah Skates: This Week In 1994"". MTV.com. Retrieved October 21. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)

External links

• Megadeth's website
• Megadeth's forums
• Dave Mustaine's guitars and personal equipment
• Press release about the band's end
• ESP's "DV8" Dave Mustaine signature series guitar
• Official Gigantour Site
• The Infamous 1994 MTV Dave Mustaine Interview The article "Megadeth Trashes Pantera" includes video.
• Dave Mustaine quotes