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“Thank God U2 aren’t litigious, because everybody ripped them off”: David Ellefson admits to “copping” a lot of Adam Clayton’s basslines for Megadeth
The former bassist of one of thrash metal’s biggest bands reveals the source of his musical inspirations.
Image: C Flanigan / picture alliance / Getty Images
David Ellefson has opened up about his love for U2 and how he “copped” a lot of Adam Clayton’s basslines for Megadeth’s music.
Appearing on the latest episode of the X5 Podcast, Ellefson reveals the surprising source of inspiration behind his bassline on Megadeth’s 1997 single Trust (from Cryptic Writings), saying [via Ultimate Guitar]: “On Trust, for instance, the opening track, it had this nice warm when the band came in.”
“I did this kind of U2 chord thing in the beginning, and then, once the band kicked in… In fact, the mixing — [it] was so good, it sounded like pyro was going off. It’s like Kiss; every Kiss song is written for pyro.”
Elaborating on his love for the Irish band and their music, Ellefson says: “I love U2, I’m a fan. In fact, I cop a lot of Adam Clayton basslines. I love just playing on one string, punk rock. Instead of playing it up on the second fret, you just take it to the 12th fret, because it just sounds more Sid Vicious.”
“Bono is a fucking rock star,” he continues. “Because, half the people love him, and half the people hate him, which is probably almost required. You know, great music is very polarising.”
“I think U2, they’re just freaking international rock stars. Man, the first time I saw ‘em was on Joshua Tree, which is my [favourite] U2 record. I love it.”
Elsewhere, the bassist shares how U2’s influence extends to not just rock music, but contemporary church music as well, saying: “I started playing in church a little bit, which was right after the Risk album. My kids were real young, so my family started going to this modern church. And I realised almost every song in there, if it weren’t for U2, there would be no modern church music.”
“Chris Tomlin, all this stuff. It’s all U2, you know, Where the Streets Have No Name… The whole genre. And thank God U2 aren’t litigious, because everybody ripped them off.”