KERRY KING: DAVE MUSTAINE 'Can't Help But Stick His Foot In His Mouth'

During an appearance on the "Lipps Service With Scott Lipps" podcast, SLAYER's Kerry King reflected on his first time seeing METALLICA back in 1982. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I saw 'em with [then-METALLICA guitarist Dave] Mustaine. And we opened for them. I think Mustaine was still in the band, at the place we used to frequent called the Woodstock [in Anaheim, California].

"When I first saw 'em with Mustaine, I was sitting kind of between [METALLICA frontman] James [Hetfield] and [then-METALLICA bassist Ron] McGovney in where the audience is, and I was just blown away watching Mustaine just ripping on guitar and not even looking at his fingers. I'm, like, 'I can't do that.' And to this day, he's a badass guitar player. But that's what I walked away from METALLICA [thinking]. And he wrote tons of the riffs in the early days. So, when he branched off into MEGADETH, a lot of the riffs went with him."

Asked if he was thinking at that point that he wanted to do what METALLICA was doing, but "turn it to 11, just turn it up a notch", Kerry replied: "No, it didn't have anything to do with seeing them doing it, 'cause we'd already known [about pioneering U.K. extreme metal band] VENOM and we were in the process of morphing what we had to that point to punky, VENOM, MOTÖRHEAD — kind of what they did before us. But seeing them, it's, like… And even when they were — I mean, they're a Southern California band, as much as they like to be called a [San Francisco] Bay Area band, they're from Southern Cal. Sorry. But they had streamlined everything, and we were still working it out. But we went a far darker route than they did. And then they became the biggest metal band on the planet."

Kerry also talked about his current relationship with the members of METALLICA, including Mustaine. He said: "Mustaine's cool, but Mustaine's one of those guys that he can't help but stick his foot in his mouth. So, I'll take my 20 minutes and I'll bolt just before anything gets uncomfortable.

"It's funny, James is one of those guys, even though we've got basically the same career, different circles, we did the [shows featuring the] 'Big Four' [of 1980s thrash metal], he made a point to come say 'hey' to us, but it's funny that it hasn't occurred in the 40 years we've both been doing this that I've rarely seen James," Kerry continued. "Kirk's [Hammett, METALLICA guitarist] cool, Rob's [METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo] cool, Lars [Ulrich, METALLICA drummer] is cool. We hang out when they feel like hanging out. Yeah, that's all of 'em."

Last fall, King was asked during a question-and-answer session with readers of U.K.'s Metal Hammer magazine whom he would pick if he could have been in any other band. Kerry responded: "I was almost in MEGADETH. I think if myself and Dave Mustaine could have co-existed for four years, it would have been a very different band. I'm not saying I'd have made them better — I'd have made them different."

Kerry previously talked about his brief involvement with MEGADETH during the band's early days — King played MEGADETH's first five shows as the band's second guitarist) — in a 2015 interview with Loudwire's "Wikipedia: Fact Or Fiction?" signature series. Kerry said at the time: "I was one of the lucky people — and there's certainly no offense against [current METALLICA guitarist] Kirk Hammett; Kirk's a wonderful friend of mine — but I was lucky enough to see METALLICA with Mustaine. And I say that because it's just a rare thing to be able to say that. I saw them play with Woodstock [in Los Angeles], and I was so intringued by Mustaine, because he was just ripping on guitar and looking out that way somewhere. And I can't do that to this fuckin day. So I was just blown away at his guitar playing. And to find out — I think it was through B.C. Rich, 'cause we all played B.C. Rich back then… I think it was through B.C. Rich I found out that Dave was inquiring if I would play [with MEGADETH]."

He continued: "At the end of the day, I thought, 'This is a gigantic learning situation.' And I also thought people would see me and know me from SLAYER. 'Cause, I mean, we only went to the Bay Area; we only got up there. So I think if people saw me, it would at least make 'em think, 'SLAYER.' So I had SLAYER's best intentions in mind. I didn't go and say, 'Hey, I wanna be in MEGADETH.' I don't know how anybody can be in MEGADETH for more than a couple of hours, 'cause that guy's crazy."

Asked if he had any particularly bad experiences dealing with Mustaine in the early days of MEGADETH, Kerry said: "He was cooler back then. I think there's been a lot of drugs and funny extracurriculars between now and then that helped shape who he is today. But it was good times back then. Playing all the venues SLAYER played and just… I don't know… playing different music. His stuff is definitely more… I wouldn't say 'intricate,' 'cause we've got intricate parts too, but it's just… He writes riffs in a very different perspective than I… Even after playing with him for a number of months, I'd still… I wouldn't do it; it's just not my style."

More recently, King joined MEGADETH on stage in October 2010 at the Gibson Amphitheater in Universal City, California to perform MEGADETH's classic "Rattlehead". You can see video of that performance below.