Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine says he’s moved on from Metallica feud
He now prefers to talk about his ex-bandmates “from a positive place, a place of forgiveness and of healing”.
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Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine has reflected upon mending his tumultuous relationship with the members of Metallica, saying that “we’re friends now” and he prefers to talk about his ex-bandmates “from a positive place, a place of forgiveness and of healing”.
Mustaine had been at loggerheads with Metallica for years after both they and Megadeth made their commercial breakthroughs. Recently, he told Guitar World that at one point he “couldn’t listen to their music when it came on the radio”.
Now, in an interview for the podcast My Planet Rocks, Mustaine said he was confident he and Metallica had buried the hatchet.
When he was asked how he felt about Megadeth celebrating their 40th year as a band this year, Mustaine said: “I think [we lasted this long by] just trying to be the best that [we] can be. And we’ve had adversity against us since the beginning because of Metallica. The funny thing about it is that we’re friends now. But what happened happened, and it’s in public belief that there’s some kind of beef between us, and there really isn’t. [via Blabbermouth]
“As much as back in the day we talked about it from a negative point of view, I prefer to talk about it from a positive place now, a place of forgiveness and of healing,” he continued. “Those guys went through a lot of stuff themselves, and I did too. It’s very well documented about all of this, and getting professional help. So that’s something that I think is really wonderful.
“You’ve got two of the biggest bands in metal that started from the same place, had their growing pains, came to the realisation that it was just a bunch of hard feelings and a bunch of hurt people. And hurt people hurt people. And now I wish them the very, very best. And now it’s all about just coming from a place of happiness. And I think if you have that kind of attitude, you can’t help but succeed.”
Mustaine previously admitted that he gave Kirk Hammett, who replaced him as Metallica’s guitarist in 1983, more flak than he deserved. “I’ve always kind of poked fun at Kirk. And unfairly so, as he never did anything to me. Whenever I felt singled out, picked on or antagonised by James [Hetfield] or Lars [Ulrich], it was really easy to pick on Kirk. But the truth is Kirk did me an honour by trying to play my solos on those early songs the way he did.”