MEGADETH Mainman Talks 'Guitar Hero', Autobiography

October 24, 2010

Stephen Blackwell of Death and Texas recently conducted an interview with MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Death and Texas: Is it weird for people to be exposed to bands through video games, especially considering rock and roll's visceral, counter-cultural roots?

Mustaine: I think that if somebody gets exposed to something that brings them happiness, it doesn't really matter how they were exposed to it, as long as they find it. How often do people stumble across something that is really unique and fantastic in their life? Well, every day they do. But not often do they think back, Well, God, you know in the summer of '73 when I was at a Dairy Queen and I heard MEGADETH on the radio for the first time while getting a blow job — I probably shouldn't have been vulgar with that explanation. But I don't really care how people get exposed to us.

Death and Texas: Your book has some jarring moments, even moreso against the backdrop of success. I mean this very simply: Did you have any fun in the Eighties and Nineties?

Mustaine: The drugs really made it complicated. There was so much internal stuff going on: No one was happy with our home lives. We all wanted to have people we could love and trust. During the Eighties David [Ellefson, MEGADETH bassist] and I had trouble finding a place to live. If the boys are homeless they probably weren't having fun. We called the record label when we were on the road, and the guy said, "You should get day jobs.” We were like, What are you talking about? This is our profession.

Death and Texas: The book — why now?

Mustaine: In case I get hit in the head by a meteor and I forget everything, I guess.

Death and Texas: That's a good answer.

Mustaine: Truthfully, I wanted to wait until it had a happy ending. I love the fans but I didn't know how they would react to the book. I thought they could think, Well you're being too honest, and we want you to be the mean guy that everybody hates. I don't want to be that guy anymore. That wasn't something that I chose, that was a survival skill I picked up as a 15-year-old kid living on my own. It took a while to shake it and as a 50-year-old man now, it just doesn't work anymore.

Read the entire interview from Death and Texas.

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