Dave Mustaine. Jesus look at all the people that hate him.
Feuds
Mustaine has a reputation for having been in many feuds with other heavy metal musicians. Some of them include the following:
[edit]Metallica - Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield
The most well-known of these is his feud with Metallica, in particular with drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist/singer James Hetfield. While he received songwriting co-credit on Metallica's first two albums, Mustaine claims to have co-written other Metallica songs, including "Leper Messiah," for which he was not credited. The original version of "The Four Horsemen" was called "The Mechanix" and appears in its original form on the first Megadeth album, minus the bridge Metallica added to it for Kill 'Em All. The song "FFF" on Megadeth's Cryptic Writings very much resembles "Motorbreath" while another tune on that album apparently lifts from "Wherever I May Roam". It has been said that Megadeth's "Hangar 18" and the instrumental "The Call of Ktulu" (written along with Cliff Burton for his interest in H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos) on Metallica's second album, which Mustaine is credited as co-authoring, bear similarities. This feud has waxed and waned over the years. Mustaine has said in interviews that Megadeth's Risk album was so named after Lars suggested in an interview that Mustaine should take more creative "risks" with his music (incidentally, the album was a critical failure). Shortly after the events of September 11, 2001, Mustaine and Ulrich sat down together ג with a therapist and cameras present ג to talk things through. The subsequent inclusion of the footage in the movie Some Kind of Monster re-ignited the feud, as Mustaine has reportedly withdrawn his permission to use the footage in the film. Ulrich later noted in Metallica's fanclub magazine So What! in late 2005 that each time Mustaine slams him in the press it seems to coincide with the release of a new Megadeth album.
[edit]Metallica - Kirk Hammett
Mustaine's replacement within Metallica by Kirk Hammett resulted in bad blood between the two. Even though he has stated he "doesn't care Kirk took my job", he also noted "at least I got to bang his girlfriend before he took my job ג how do I taste, Kirk?".[3] He has also claimed that many if not all of the solos on "Kill 'Em All" were written by him and emulated note for note by Hammett, and in "The Art of Kirk Hammett" Kirk states that he was told to use Mustaine's existing solos as a guideline. In the Megadeth edition of Behind The Music, Mustaine stated that "now he sees how [Hammett] tries really hard" and "thinks he makes really good use of what talent he has" after stating earlier in that interview "I hear how much time James and Lars allowed him to solo, and said to myself 'God, he's horrible...' ". This feud has dropped off considerably in recent years, and Mustaine tends to direct his attention more on Hetfield and Ulrich.
[edit]Ex-Megadeth members - David Ellefson
Mustaine's decision to break up Megadeth in 2002 left all band members miffed and holding grudges, especially David Ellefson, who hinted about Mustaine faking the injury as an excuse to break up the band during an interview with Metal Sludge magazine[citation needed]. Ellefson had been, after Mustaine, the longest-serving member of Megadeth. Subsequently, the rift between the two founding members exploded, with the two camps exchanging lawsuits against each other. David Ellefson's action alleged that co-founding guitarist Mustaine breached their long-running partnership agreement. He claimed Mustaine wrongfully took the lion's share of the band's income (estimated at more than $200 million since 1984) for himself and cut Ellefson out of the band's music publishing and merchandise revenues. Ellefson also said that Mustaine libeled him in an online posting, seeking at least $18.5 million in damages. Mustaine's counterclaim alleges that Ellefson executed a settlement agreement in which he gave up his 20% interest in Megadeth. Mustaine maintains that the settlement ג which Ellefson alleges was signed under pressure and ultimately withdrawn ג released Mustaine from all claims. Ellefson eventually lost the case[citation needed].
[edit]Ex-Megadeth members - Chris Poland
Former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, featured on the albums Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! and Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, had been the target of sour comments from Mustaine concerning Poland's former habit of pawning band gear to purchase heroin. After Poland was dismissed from the band and replaced with Jeff Young in 1987, Mustaine's bitterness toward Poland was the subject of the track Liar, on Megadeth's 1988 album So Far, So Good... So What!.
In a 1992 interview, Mustaine claimed: "Chris Poland - you know what? - he could die tomorrow and it wouldn't affect me... Chris has never made amends to me for stealing all my gear. I had a collector's item Echoplex which just disappeared, all sorts of guitars, which were all stolen to cash in for heroin. I'm willing to forgive and forget, but until he comes and makes amends with me then I'm not willing to give in."
The amends seemed to have been made by 2004 when Mustaine hired Poland to perform guitar solos on a number of tracks for The System Has Failed, after Poland had appeared to tell this side of the Megadeth story for the Behind the Music episode. Unfortunately, soon after the albums release, Mustaine was contacted by Poland's lawyers, who claimed Poland was due royalties beyond that of his session fees.
In late 2006, Poland began posting on the official Megadeth message board, apparently having resolved his problems with Mustaine.
[edit]Rikki Rachtman
Mustaine had a verbal feud with MTV's Rikki Rachtman from Headbanger's Ball. Rachtman stated on-air that he would like to settle his differences with Mustaine and move on. Mustaine eventually cleared the matter up, stating that, in reality, he really liked Rachtman. Recently on the VH1 40 Least Metal Moments, interviews were shown with Rachtman wearing a shirt saying "Dave Mustaine for President."
[edit]Slayer - Kerry King
Mustaine has a long-standing feud with Slayer guitarist Kerry King. King had previously been a temporary member of Megadeth in 1984. Even though Mustaine tried to convince him to focus on Megadeth rather than the "lame spikes" and "eyeliner" with the "poseurs" in Slayer, Kerry refused to quit his main band.[4] After a falling out during the 1991 "Clash of the Titans" tour, Kerry and Mustaine made public jabs at one another throughout the 1990s. Mustaine cited Slayer's poor record sales compared to Megadeth, and Kerry mentioned Mustaine's inability to get along with band members and tour with major acts. Dave tried to reach out to Kerry after the murder of Dimebag Darrell, but made little effort to actually mend fences. King has said that he thinks Mustaine is a "cocksucker",[5] has said that "everybody hates him",[6] and that he is a "dictator".[7] He also called David Ellefson a "great dude" and voiced his support for Ellefson's attempt to sue Mustaine in 2002, stating that he and Ellefson had "been friends for years". Mustaine, for his part, has stated that, in his opinion "That dude's got problems; he hates everybody."
[edit]Slayer - Tom Araya
Mustaine's feuds with King have sparked animosities between fans of Slayer and Megadeth, but the only other member of Slayer who seems to be involved in the feud with Mustaine is bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. Like the feud with King (although much smaller-scale), this feud mostly began at the "Clash of the Titans" tour when Mustaine, taunting Araya, told him that he liked it when Araya "sucked his dick". Araya proceeded to call him a "homo" onstage [7]. In a more recent interview (with Kerry King), Araya slammed Mustaine's lawsuit with Dave Ellefson.
[edit]Pantera
Mustaine has a continuing feud with Philip Anselmo from Pantera, Down and Superjoint Ritual. Pantera opened for Megadeth's 1992 "Countdown to Extinction" tour. Phil was known for saying "Fuck Megadeth" and "Fuck Dave" through the PA during Pantera's set minutes before Megadeth took the stage.[citation needed] By 1994, in an interview on MTV, Mustaine told an interviewer that he felt his music had been ripped off. He continued, "I'm not gonna name anybody 'cause I'm not gonna promote them. OK, we'll say 'panther' in Spanish and Portuguese(Pantera). You're welcome guys. We might as well be cooking their dinner for them or pushing their little wheelbarrow to the bank for them."[8] After the murder of Dimebag (once a potential member of Megadeth), Mustaine downplayed this comment on a 2004 Headbanger's Ball memorial to Dimebag as an "off-camera, off-record" event, which he felt flattered by Pantera. However, the video of the interview is available at the MTV website.[8] These differences may have been amended, as Megadeth is touring with Down (along with Heaven and Hell) throughout 2007.
[edit]Mike Muir
Yet another brief feud that was sparked on the "Clash of the Titans" tour was between Mustaine and Suicidal Tendencies frontman Mike Muir. Muir was upset that Mustaine apparently tried to throw his band off the bill. Muir responded by attacking Mustaine's alcohol addictions and joking that he "lived at the Betty Ford center." [8] The feud nearly became violent on the Clash of the Titans tour when he challenged Mustaine to an on-stage fist-fight. Muir claimed that, "There are a lot of people who would like to see Dave get his butt kicked, and the lord knows Mike Muir ain't goin' down. I'll fuck him up... I'd dazzle him, left'n'right. I wanna see a little blood, y'know what I'm sayin'?" Mustaine responded to Muir verbally, claiming that Muir was stupid for trying to intimidate him (Mustaine holds a black belt in Karate and Tae Kwon Do[9]), and Mustaine claimed to be a Suicidal fan as well. This feud did not carry on past the end of the tour. Suicidal even opened for Megadeth on their 1992 Countdown to Extinction tour (and ex-Suicidal drummer Jimmy DeGrasso worked in Megadeth as well as MD.45 earlier.[9]. Muir and Mustaine are now on good terms, with Mustaine claiming that he and Muir are "good friends today".)
[edit]Rotting Christ - Sakis Tolis
A less publicized feud was formed between Mustaine and Sakis Tolis when Mustaine refused to perform if Tolis' band Rotting Christ was to be featured on a May/June 2005 set list of two large Greek (RC's home country) festivals.[10]
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