MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE Says Hearing AC/DC For First Time Changed His Life

MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine recently spoke to Neil Jeffries of Classic Rock (web site) about AC/DC's classic "Let There Be Rock" LP for the magazine's "Every Home Should Have One - Albums You Should Own" feature.

"When I was in my teens, I lived in Huntington Beach, California, and there was a girl called Cindy who worked at a record store," Mustaine began. "I used to sell pot, but I would trade her pot for records. She liked to come over to my house to smoke it and [makes a rude gesture], so that's how I discovered AC/DC.

"The first time I put the record on, I was looking at the back cover and wondering, 'What the hell's up with that dude's lip?' But hearing the music, my life… totally changed.

"To me it sounded like something was wrong, like it was too close to my face. Most records are all around you, but this one was right there [spreads his hand in front of his nose]. It was… unsettling.

"I remember everything, from that first millisecond, that little crackle before 'ga-dun-GAR!' in 'Go Down…', to the last guitar noise in 'Whole Lotta Rosie'.

"This album is in my Mercedes right now. Always is, always has been. It's my 'Let's rock!' album. Whenever I have to drive from my [now former] home in Arizona the 120 miles up to Los Angeles, this is the first thing I listen to. I've got radar and laser jammers on my car — hopefully no cop will read this and pull me over — but when I can I like to drive at 100mph, and it's always listening to this!

"I remember the first time I heard the song 'Let There Be Rock', I couldn't understand what 'schmaltz' was, and I thought this guy Bon Scott sounds like he's got peanut butter stuck to the roof of his mouth. But I just started to really love this band. I started collecting everything I could get my hands on.

"Bon was one of my heroes. His pants didn't fit, but for me he remains one of the bad-assed-est — if 'bad-assed-est' is a word — frontmen that there ever has been. I was really sad when he died.

"I remember exactly where I was when I heard — walking across a handball court in my school. I still love and respect AC/DC. Brian [Johnson], and I know he's an absolute star, but it's never really been the same for me since then.

"When I was a kid, I had this huge poster of Angus [Young] and he had his shirt off — schoolboy uniform on, of course — and his guitar strap looked like someone had been hawking loogies all over it. It was disgusting. And he had a big grolly in his nose, too. Years later I spoke to some guy that had worked with them who told me: 'All he does is smoke and drink, so when he plays, he turns into a headbanging snot machine; it goes all over the place!'

"When we played with them a few years ago, I gave Angus a hug, and he's so tiny it was like hugging a little doll.

"Thank God for AC/DC. Great band!"

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