Dave Mustaine says Marty Friedman is “the only ex-Megadeth member who’s ever amounted to anything”

Ask Dave Mustaine who his favourite ex-Megadeth member is, and the answer will probably be Marty Friedman, whom he recently described as “the only one that’s ever amounted to anything”.

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In a new interview with Oran O’Beirne of Bloodstock TV, Mustaine speaks about his recent performance with Marty at the famed Budokan Arena in Tokyo and the memories of the “good old days” the reunion brought back.

“It did have a lot of those emotions. It did feel like it was the good old days,” the Megadeth leader says. “Also, Marty has made quite a name for himself on his own since then.”

“Of all of the ex-band members of Megadeth, Marty seems to be the only one that’s ever amounted to anything. No offence to the other guys – that’s how the facts are,” Mustaine continues. “If you look at their sales and stuff, Marty’s the only one that’s ever done anything significant.”

He adds, “And to be able to go over and visit him in his world… It was neat to see him out of his environment. Plus, when he came in, he was very suggestive on some things to make the show really smooth. And he wanted to go over all the songs that we were playing several times to make sure everything was just really shit-hot.

“And, of course, Marty being in Marty fashion, he got out there and he mesmerised us all, me included. I found it kind of hard to watch him and do my job at the same time, but I very much wanted to just sit there and watch Kiko and Marty play together, because they two are some of the greatest guitar players in hard rock and heavy metal right now, and to watch the two of them play together was remarkable.”

Despite Mustaine heaping praise upon Marty Friedman, though, he recently asserted that Kiko Loureiro is a better guitarist for Megadeth than Friedman was.

“This is the best group of people I’ve ever worked with. When I first heard Kiko play, I was enthralled. Megadeth has had guys like Jeff [Young] and Marty [Friedman], but Kiko is the best we’ve ever had,” he said. “I don’t say that because Kiko is in the band now; I say it because it’s the truth. Kiko is the best guitar player out of all of them.”

Earlier this month, Dave Mustaine said that his Gibson and Epiphone models “feel the same” – despite a $5,000 price difference between the two.