Is DAVE MUSTAINE One Of The More 'Misunderstood' Figures In Rock And Roll? He Weighs In

In a new interview with Tom Reardon of the Phoenix New Times, MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine, who was a member of METALLICA for less than two years, from 1981 to 1983, before being dismissed and replaced by Kirk Hammett, was asked about his reputation as one of the more "misunderstood" figures in rock and roll. He said: "People get their ya-yas when they see people struggling for some crazy reason. There's the people out there who love you and want you to do good and the people out there, for whatever reason, who don't want you to do good. You ask yourself, 'What did I do to you? Are you that fucking jealous?' There's a lot of people like that. You just have to learn to avoid them."

Referencing his exit from METALLICA, Mustaine added: "Once we broke up with [METALLICA's] James [Hetfield] and Lars [Ulrich] and we went our separate ways, it was really weird with all the animosity from people I didn't even know."

But, he clarified, "I do believe that people are entitled to their opinions. There have been numerous times where people had a right to take exception with something I've done because there have been some things that I did or said that I look back now and I think, 'Wow, that was a little over the top, Dave,' but sometimes things just need to be said. There were no people that had the balls to say anything, but that ain't me. If someone was trying to pull a scam with us, that's not going to happen."

Back in 2012, Mustaine floated the idea that he was misunderstood by the media, telling Noisecreep: "One of the problems about MEGADETH is that we've been severely misinterpreted by the press. I'll say something in an interview, and they'll either take what I said completely out of context or they evaluate it based on one sole statement and not the whole idea."

He repeated those sentiments a year later in an interview with Metal Hammer.

"Probably the biggest thing that has harmed my career is being misunderstood, but is it better to be understood or to understand?" he explained at the time. "I understand much more now, so I'm less inclined to be preaching or complaining about being misquoted now. There are people who love me and people who don't, but everyone's entitled. I have love in my heart for both. I don't get mad about the people who dislike me. You can get obsessed with that. Someone doesn't like me? Tough shit for me."

He added: "I have a terrible reputation. There was a guy who used to manage me, and when we had a falling out, I think he started rumors about me being difficult. But we became friends again and reconciled. And that was all part of a process of reconciliation, including with METALLICA and [former MEGADETH bassist David] Ellefson, too. And do you know what? When that happened, my injured arm and injured thumb started working again. Crazy, huh?"

In 2016, Mustaine was asked by Westword.com why he thinks he is "openly despised" on "a handful of web sites." He responded: "I think a lot of it goes back to the breakup from METALLICA. There are people that have picked up that feud, and they don't even know why they're choosing sides."

He continued: "I have nothing against METALLICA fans. I was in both bands. I like Lars and I like James and, contrary to what people say, I do think Kirk is a good guitar player."

Mustaine added: "In the beginning, when I was bitter, yeah, there was shit going back and forth. They were justifying firing me, and I was telling them that they were wrong. That's just been perpetuated over and over again. It's been put to bed. I've got no beef with those dudes. We're two totally different bands."

In 2019, Dave was asked by the "Elliot In The Morning" radio show whether he is bothered by his reputation as someone who is difficult to deal with. He responded: "No, I don't care about it. I think it's kind of a bummer, though, sometimes when people, for the first time, come up to you. It's such a pregnant pause when people will go… they'll meet you and go, 'God, you know, I heard you were such an a-hole,' and you just kind of look at them, like, 'Uh-huh.' Again, it's like… This reminds me of when I was a kid and my first dance. I went up to a girl and I asked her to dance, and she said 'no,' and I walked away and I thought, 'Screw you! You don't know what you're missing.' And I figured I would commence to destroy her reputation in school. I'm kidding, of course, but that's kind of what we do when we get any kind of rejection; we make the other person out to be really horrible. Evidence of that was when I parted ways with METALLICA. Neither one of us really wanted to tell the absolute truth about what happened; we wanted to make the other party the bad guys. And I think that's what took so long for us to come to the truth that, 'Hey, we still really love each other a lot. And it was never meant to be, but that doesn't mean we can't be friends.'"

Mustaine was not inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with METALLICA during the April 2009 ceremony at Cleveland, Ohio's Public Auditorium.

Ulrich later explained to The Plain Dealer that Mustaine was not included because "you've got to kind of cap it somewhere. Dave Mustaine never played on any METALLICA records. No disrespect to him. But there [were] half a dozen other people that were in the lineup in the early days. We thought . . . the fair thing to do would be to include anybody that played on a METALLICA record."

He added: "Dave Mustaine was in the band for 11 months, predominantly in 1982. . . . I'm not trying to play it down. I have nothing but respect and admiration for his accomplishments since."

MEGADETH kicked off the "Destroy All Enemies" summer 2024 U.S. tour on August 2 at Walmart AMP, Rogers, Arkansas. Produced by Live Nation, the trek, which features MUDVAYNE and ALL THAT REMAINS as support, is hitting 32 more cities, including Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Boston and St. Louis, before wrapping up on September 28 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Image credit: MEGADETH YouTube channel