When it comes to Metallica‘s beginnings, Megadeth‘s Dave Mustaine thinks very highly of himself. Back in February, the frontman talked about his early contributions to Metallica and made the bold claim that he “wrote many of the songs that made [them] famous.”
That is already one hell of a claim on its own, but more recently, Mustaine has decided to double down on his self-flattery, claiming that he was a “huge component of Metallica’s success.”
During a Twitter Spaces talk with RattleheadsNFT, Mustaine was asked how Megadeth was first discovered and got signed. It’s while talking about Megadeth getting signed that Mustaine can’t help himself but talk about Metallica and speak to how significant his presence was in the band. Per Mustaine, here’s what he had to say about Megadeth being discovered and his impact on Metallica (as transcribed by Blabbermouth):
“Well, Megadeth had a little bit of a following before we got discovered by the record company. So it’s kind of unfair. But the way that it started was I had a band that I was in called Panic. And I lived in Huntington Beach. And there were a lot of bands playing backyard beer keg parties, and I thought that that was pretty fun, to go to the parties and pick up on girls. And I started seeing how easy it was for guitar players to have people freak out over them, pay attention to them, treat ’em with respect and stuff, and I know I wanted that. So Panic was formed. That band was short-lived, and I ended up joining Metallica and was in that band for about two years and then Megadeth happened. So the discovery part was…
“After I left Metallica, the world wanted to know what I was gonna do, because I was this huge component of Metallica’s success. I’m here, and then I’m gone. And people that went to go see them after I was no longer in the band and didn’t know that there was a lineup change said that there was something very, very, very wrong with the band that they heard on tape versus the band that they were watching. And that’s when people started to look for me. And the rest is history.”
Earlier this month, while commenting on Kirk Hammett‘s work on Metallica’s earlier albums, Mustaine said Hammett did him “an honor by trying to play my solos on those early songs the way he did.”
During this more recent chat, the Megadeth frontman once again brought up Hammett playing his guitar parts:
“Now, I think that the band did great. I think they were fine. In fact, I believe that Kirk [Hammett, Mustaine’s replacement in Metallica] did a good job playing my parts. Coming into a band and having to play somebody else’s stuff isn’t always fun, but I think he was a gentleman and did a good job.”
When it comes to these more recent comments, do you agree that Dave Mustaine was a “huge component” of Metallica’s success?