Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Dave Mustaine, the guitarist and vocalist for Megadeth, has thought back on the exchange that once again ruined his intermittent relationship with drummer Lars Ulrich and frontman James Hetfield of Metallica, as per theprp. Before being kicked out of that storied thrash metal group in 1983 due to his violent tendencies and substance misuse issues, Mustaine was an early member.
The two sides have had a tense relationship in the decades that have followed, with intermittent intervals of reconciliation. As Mustaine has already disclosed, a royalty dispute pertaining to Metallica‘s intentions to reissue their “No Life ‘Til Leather” demo in 2015–2016 was the most recent setback to once again sabotage their tumultuous relationship.
Mustaine contends that in order to offer Ulrich a portion, Hetfield & Ulrich sought to reduce his authorship credits on the songs he contributed to. But according to Mustaine, Ulrich didn’t deserve that division.
Mustaine claimed in an interview with Classic Rock that he hasn’t spoken to Hetfield since the conversation regarding the contested authorship credits.
I wrote all the music on ‘Phantom Lord‘, all the music on ‘Metal Militia‘, all the music on ‘Jump In The Fire‘ and ‘The Mechanix‘. And I wrote the lyrics for ‘Jump In The Fire‘ and ‘The Mechanix‘. So do the math: if I wrote the music and James [Hetfield] wrote the lyrics, then the credit is 50 per cent me, and 50 per cent James. Well, that’s not what went down when I left. James and Lars figured out that they were going to give Larssome percentage of the songs he didn’t write anything on, and that happened on all four songs.
This was a bone of contention for me going forward with Metallica on anything because, you know, it just wasn’t fair. You guys got more money than God, why do you have to take my money?
So James called me up, ‘Hey, man, we want to release this ‘No Life ‘Til Leather‘ thing, and we want to get all this publishing stuff straight, and, you know, we really don’t remember what went down. And I said, Well, that’s good, because I do. I remember what went down, and I can help with that.
And then the conversation took a turn. James goes, ‘Well, that’s not the way that we remember it’. And I went, Well, James, honestly, there’s three ways to look at this: there’s your way, my way, and the truth, which is some combination of the two. And that was the end of the conversation. He took offence to that, and we hung up, and I don’t remember speaking to him since then.
Metallica was forced to abandon their plans for the demo’s deluxe version due to the trio’s dispute. Although their relationship seems to have been on hold ever then, Mustaine has stated that he hopes to make amends once more, and he recently suggested that Megadeth and Metallica tour together.
Mustaine recently participated in what he described as a gesture of respect to the aforementioned combo, including a rendition of Metallica‘s “Ride The Lightning” on Megadeth‘s recently released final studio album, as the band began its three to five-year farewell tour. Even though Mustaine had left Metallica by the time that song was released in 1984, he is credited with writing it.
Dave Mustaine also discussed the prospect of recording a solo album when the band’s farewell tour is over in a recent interview.
