DAVE MUSTAINE: 'If You Want To Be Treated Intelligently, Then Act Intelligent'

Ben Smith of VH1.com's Tuner recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

VH1.com: Why do you think metal continually doesn't get the respect it deserves?

Mustaine: You've got to look at a lot the participants in it. To their own demise, a lot of heavy metal performers act stupid. You know, "Hey bro, duh." It doesn't further our cause any. If you want to be treated intelligently, then act intelligent. I remember a lot of the opportunities that I've had to do coverage for different shows or stuff, with the whole political process. People forget that. You don't have to be like, "Hey, F you, dude," this kind of stuff to be cool. I think that rock 'n'roll and heavy metal is about rebellion and if everyone thinks you're stupid then rebel, be smart. A lot of the bands that were thrash and speed metal bands were anti-authoritarian, anti-establishment bands but there were also a lot that played heavy metal that were singing about mythology and taking it to the extreme with death and black metal bands. I have nothing against it. I just kind of think that's where it started to spider web into all these different fragments of metal. Think about it, there are dozens and dozens of types of metal. To me, it's all metal. It's basically how you sing. The majority of these black and death metal bands have great players but people won't take them seriously because of their lyrical content. I think if you want to appeal to the masses you have to talk about what's happening in the real world or you have to address things that are happening emotionally with people that's going on inside their own personal world. If not it's like in "Purple Rain" when the guy looks at Prince and said, "The only person who understands your music is yourself." That's one of my favorite lines in any musical movie because you can very easily lose the plot.

VH1.com: Growing up in the '80s and listening to the thrash metal and hardcore bands, when one of those bands got any sort of acknowledgment from the greater, more commercial, music world, it was such a big deal because those bands mattered so much to the fans. I don't see that as much today. Do new bands still matter like the way they did back then?

Mustaine: I think the whole thing is there isn't that culture of community. It's not just the metal community. It's people in general. People in general have a sense of entitlement right now like people owe them something. We've been on tour and had several incidents where there's been bands that were nobodies and acted like they should be headlining over us, and it's like, bless your heart, that's a great attitude to take but you know, don't shit the bed. It's kind of weird sometimes how people, because of the digital audio work stations and how easy you can make a song on a computer, lose sight of that fact that that doesn't make you a musician. It means you know how to cut and paste. And if you can write a song and you're a great musician, that doesn't necessarily mean you've got a great band. You can have 3 or 4 guys that play music and a musician and you can go and do stuff like these celebrities that have acting careers but are playing in a band with some schmoes. When you get into a band where there's a bunch of musicians and a star, that's when things start to happen. And if the surrounding members become stars themselves, it forces the leader to become more than that which is where you get into the elevation to superstar or legendary status. And the problems is everybody is so living in the moment with Instagram and tweeting and Facebook and everybody knows everything about everybody else. We're profiling so much and it's about our outsides. Because we compare our outsides to other people's insides. And our insides to other people's outsides. We'll see somebody and think they've got it all going on but we don't know what's going on with them. You see some of these bands that think they're entitled to this stuff, they want to be just like us. Well, you got to work for it. It's called paying your dues. If you pay your dues and you deserve it people treat you with respect.

Read the entire interview at VH1.com.