Dave Mustaine Pushes for More Big 4 Shows, Details Failed Collaboration with James Hetfield

The post Dave Mustaine Pushes for More Big 4 Shows, Details Failed Collaboration with James Hetfield appeared first on Consequence.

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine opened up on a number of topics in a new interview, including his desire to stage more “Big 4” concerts and a failed collaboration with one-time Metallica bandmate James Hetfield.

From June 2010 to September 2011, Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, and Anthrax played 14 concerts as the “Big 4” of thrash metal. While speaking with Songfacts, Mustaine expressed a great interest getting the bands back together for at least one more show.

Mustaine was asked about the guitarists he admires, replying, “I think a lot of the household names in metal can go without saying: Michael [Amott] from Arch Enemy, and some of the guys like Jeff Loomis. And the guys from Lamb of God and the guys from Trivium. They’re all really good guitar players in their right.”

He then shifted the focus to the “Big 4,” adding, “And I really think it’s time for the guys in Metallica to step up, and us do one last round, see if we can get Slayer to come out of retirement and do a ‘Big 4 passing of the torch’ to the new Big 4. It would remain to be seen who they are, but I have a feeling it would include some of the players we already mentioned.”

He continued, “I think it would be really cool symbolically if we did something at like, the L.A. Coliseum, even if it’s one show and that’s it. Slayer is from Los Angeles, so it would probably make it more convenient for them to go home at night. I personally have been hoping for this for a while, and I keep asking and asking and asking. They’re just not into it. But that’s up to them.”

Mustaine, who was kicked out of Metallica in 1983, also went into detail about a potential collaboration with Hetfield that never materialized due to a disagreement over crediting on a planned deluxe reissue of the No Life ‘Til Leather demo cassette.

“The last time we talked it didn’t end very well because we have some memory of a couple of things that took place when I was in the band,” recalled Hetfield. “I remember it one way and he is saying that it happened another. But it’s about somebody else – it’s not even him. He’s talking to me on behalf of ‘you know who’ [Lars Ulrich].”

Mustaine went on, “They wanted to release No Life ‘Til Leather – 27 songs, posters, flyers, pictures, everything. I said I would love to do this thing, and James said, ‘Look, we fucked up. The last three things we’ve done failed abysmally.'”

Specifically, Mustaine said Hetfield was upset about Lulu (Metallica’s critically-panned collaborative album with Lou Reed), as well as the band’s Orion Music + More festival and the movie Through the Never, both of which lost a ton of money by Metallica’s own admission.

Mustaine then insinuated Hetfield was looking to do something new with Mustaine (perhaps as part of the planned No Life ‘Til Leather release). “I had said, ‘Yeah, I’d be interested.’ And he said, ‘We’d like to get everything right with all the history, the publishing and stuff.’ And I said, ‘Good.’ Because part of the reason why we haven’t been able to really reconcile is because I had songs that when I left I didn’t want them to record, and they went ahead and recorded them but they didn’t pay me what my share of the songs were.”

The Megadeth frontman insisted that “Metal Militia” and “Phantom Lord” be credited to just himself and Hetfield, but  apparently Metallica wanted to include Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett in the credits on the reissue.

The dispute led to the reissue never happening. “I thought to myself, you know what? When you guys did that to me before, it was not cool,” explained Mustaine. “I said, ‘Don’t use my stuff’ and you did it, and then didn’t give me my fair share. So why would I want to willingly enter into something like that? I wouldn’t. So that’s where we stand right now.”

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Despite all of that, Mustaine concluded by saying, “I would love to work with James. I’d like to work with Lars again, too, but I think the real talent in Metallica has always been around the guitar — everybody makes fun of the drums.”

Perhaps realizing he just insulted Ulrich, Mustaine added, “Lars is a really great song arranger. And believe it or not, I watched him on a piece-of-shit acoustic guitar write the opening riff to [either “Ride the Lightning” or “Master of Puppets.”] … It was a guy with a guitar that doesn’t know how to play … It wasn’t anything really mind-blowing by any means. The way James played it made it mind-blowing.”

There’s a lot more to unpack in the Songfacts interview, including Mustaine’s reaction to Megadeth’s recent Grammy nomination, his current health after his battle with throat cancer, and more. Read the full interview here.

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Dave Mustaine Pushes for More Big 4 Shows, Details Failed Collaboration with James Hetfield
Spencer Kaufman

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