Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine has leveled fresh accusations at Metallica, saying his former outfit used a number of his songs and riffs and didn't credit him for the work.
The guitarist’s ill-fated days in Metallica are a dark chapter in heavy metal's history. Mustaine was part of the thrash band's first lineup, alongside mainstays James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, and bass player Ron McGovney. The bass position was the first to change, with Cliff Burton coming into the fold in '82. After Mustaine was kicked out of the band in an acrimonious split in ‘83, Kirk Hammett arrived to replace him just in time for their debut LP, Kill 'Em All.
Mustaine's riffs can be heard on that album, as well as its follow-up, Ride the Lightning. The guitarist is credited on six songs across those records: "Jump in the Fire," “The Four Horsemen,” "Phantom Lord," "Metal Militia," "Ride the Lightning" and "The Call of Ktulu."
But he says his contributions were used against his will. The story goes that Mustaine’s troubles with drugs and alcohol — and multiple punch-ups with Hetfield — were to blame for his departure.
Mustaine, however, paints a slightly different picture.
“We all drank. That’s why they called [the band] Alcoholica,” he tells The Shawn Ryan Show. “I mean, they didn’t call it Dave-Alcoholica. And they continued to drink like that even after I was gone.”
Mustaine landed his spot in Metallica after answering a newspaper ad and says he and Ulrich initially bonded over their shared love for Welsh power trio Budgie.
“Me listening to Budgie showed them I had credibility in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal world,” he says. “They were a three-piece that kicked arse.”
During a meeting, Mustaine suggested that an early version of the Metallica song "Hit the Lights" needed “way more guitar solos,” and he didn't need to do much more than that to earn his place in the group.
“I went to Ron McGovney's parent’s fourplex. They had this place where James was living with Ron,” he explains. “And I went up there with Lars and I set up my amps. I plugged my guitar in and I just started warming up
"They wouldn't come in. I thought, This is really strange. I walked out and said 'Guys, are we going to do the audition?' They said 'You got the gig.'”
Whether they were intimidated by Mustaine's talents or had simply seen enough isn't known, but his time in the band proved fruitful. Until it wasn’t.
“We got out to New York [where the Kill 'Em All was tracked] and I had this quarter-inch reel of tape," he says. "It had probably two days of guitar riffs on it; just me playing and playing and playing. We took that with us.
“Then one morning I woke up and they said 'You're out of the band.' I said, 'No warning? No second chance? You're just gonna kick me out?'
"It showed a grotesque lack of character. It pissed me off."
Mustaine says that anger was a huge part of the fuel" that led him to form Megadeth.
“And I told them when I left: 'Do not use my music.'
"And of course they used it.”
Mustaine's says his work can be heard on the band's third album, Master of Puppets.
“I wrote a whole bunch of 'Leper Messiah' too," he claims. "They didn’t give me credit. Do you think I was gonna hear my riff and think ‘That’s not me’
“I wrote a lot of their music that made them. And all the solos on that first record were mine, the best Kirk could [do was] try and copy them.”
Mustaine's comments contrast with accounts from two of his former guitarists, Marty Friedman and Chris Poland, who each attempted to downplay the Metallica-Megadeth rivalry.
“I don't think we cared as much about Metallica as people put in the press,” Friedman told Vanyaland. “We were definitely our own band. We admired Metallica for the great work that they did, and they're playing a similar genre of music to what we were doing.”
“There was absolutely no feud type of thinking,” early guitarist Chris Poland echoed. “I just remember the journalists: It's a juicy headline, and so they go with it. That part was probably fabricated a lot in the media from our side.”
Mustaine’s comments show he clearly had one eye on what Metallica were doing as he forged his career with Megadeth — and notably, Mustaine still has no credit on “Leper Messiah.”
His statements seem remarkable considering that he and Metallica have buried the hatchet over the years. The groups performed together on Metallica's 30th anniversary shows in 2011, and as recently as 2023 Mustaine praised Hammett for doing him the "honor" of copying his solos on his early Metallica cuts.
But Mustaine clearly hasn't forgotten that dark day long ago in New York.
