In 1983, then-future Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine was famously ousted from Metallica. The band traveled from California to New York to begin work on their debut album, and Mustaine was fired from the band for his drug use and behavior just before the recording session began. Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett replaced him and has been with the group ever since. In a new interview with The Joe Rogan Podcast, Mustaine talked about his dismissal form the band. “I think in my mind I went right into Megadeth, but at the time I was still kind of trying to digest everything that took place,” he said.
The Megadeth singer/guitarist also talked about Metallica using his contributions for recordings after he had left. “The thing that bothered me the most was I had all my music, and I left it behind and I said, ‘Don’t use my music.’ And of course they did. They used it on the first record [1983’s ‘Kill ‘Em All’], on the second record [1984’s ‘Ride The Lightning’]. There’s parts of my music on a song on the third record [1986’s ‘Master Of Puppets’]. All the solos on the first record are mine, except that they’re just performed by Kirk. And [they’re] close but not the same. And he’s not a bad guitar player.”
Rogan asked Mustaine if he received royalties for his contributions. “Well, most of ’em, yeah, but Kirk got my royalties for [the song] ‘Metal Militia’ [from ‘Kill ‘Em All’] for many, many years. And he has to see the check, so I know somebody saw that I wasn’t getting paid.”
Rogan remarked that Mustaine felt “sadness and bitterness” over his departure, before Mustaine replied: “Not bitterness — I’m over it. It’s just money. At the end of the day, my happiness and my family and my wife and my children are more important to me than anything in this world. I love our fans. I have so many things in this life that I’m happy about. But, man, it’s my family. And obviously my relationship with God. I take that very, very personal. And I don’t talk to people about it; I don’t push it on ’em at all. It’s my thing. And I just look at it like where I’m at right now… Yeah, [I was] 20 [years old] in Metallica, and now, look at me, I’m 60 [years old] in Megadeth. And I’m a Grammy winner. I’m a New York Times best-selling author — all these things.”
Mustaine reunited with Metallica as a guest for the band’s 30th anniversary shows in San Francisco. Hammett spoke of his involvement with the “Word Of Wheeler” podcast: “I’ve always seen Dave as someone who was just really, really sad, really angry, really frustrated about his situation with Metallica, and he never could let that go,” he said.
“And, you know, I’ve always shown a lot of empathy for him, understanding that he was just p*ssed off. It’s the equivalent of the woman of your life leaving you. I mean, really. When your band kicks you out… I’ve never been kicked out, but I can imagine it’s a horrible experience, especially if it’s a band that you feel really passionately about. So I can understand Dave’s plight over all these years. But I will also say that when we did these 30th-anniversary shows at the Fillmore [in San Francisco], and we invited Dave to play on all those ‘Kill ‘Em All’ songs, man, it felt so good to have him playing on stage. It felt perfectly fine for me to, while Dave was playing the guitar solos, for me to go over to James and play the rhythm parts with James, and it wasn’t a big deal at all. And I could see from the look on Dave’s face and just from his whole attitude that it was super-cathartic for him. And I could see how it was helping him. And so I just took it all in stride. And it’s interesting, because since then, I think, Dave’s relationship with us is a little bit better now. I’d like to think that that whole thing just kind of healed some scars that needed to be healed.”
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