Whether you call it hard rock, heavy metal, cock rock, hair metal, melodic rock, pop-metal, AOR, glam or sleaze, this is the place to find out what became of your favorite 80's rock bands.
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Whether you call it hard rock, heavy metal, cock rock, hair metal, melodic rock, pop-metal, AOR, glam or sleaze, this is the place to find out what became of your favorite 80's rock bands. |
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MEGADETH: GENERAL MUSTAINE TAKES A DIVE: RIP Magazine, May 1991 By Del James The stage, which has to be seen to be appreciated, is lit up, and the crowd is roaring as Dave Mustaine, Dave Ellefson, Nick Menza and Marty Friedman take their final bows; toss sticks 'n' picks to a sea of anxious, hungry hands; acknowledge their fans' applause; and walk off stage victorious. Another blistering Megadeth show has concluded. Megadeth are to speed metal what the Oakland Raiders were to football; a lean, mean team full of attitude and pride. A team that revels in giving every performance their all and, just when they're counted out, finding a way to reverse the situation and come out victors. A team with balls, that will knock you to the ground and kick you while you lay there. After catching Megadeth on the Clash Of The Titans Tour, and then several weeks later opening for Judas Priest, I can say one thing for certain: The current, cleaned-up version of Megadeth is the best to date. At RIP Magazine we'll go the extra mile (or in this case, 12,000 feet) to develop certain relationships and friendships. How the public perceives "General" Dave Mustaine and how he actually is, in actuality, are worlds apart. Dave is brash, opinionated, intense and intelligent almost to the point of arrogance, but he's also fair. And brutally honest. He'll give you a chance, as well as the opportunity to slit your own throat. What you do with your time with Dave is really up to you. If nothing else, Mustaine is consistent. After having interviewed him several times, you get to know more about his off-stage personality. Since he (and. for that matter, all of Megadeth) has quit drugs, Mustaine has taken up other means of pushing himself to the limit. As is evident in their "Holy Wars...the Punishment Due" video, one of Mustaine's passions is skydiving. While the band was in Los Angeles, Mustaine and several Mega-friends had plans to make a jump. During the course of casual conversation, I asked when they were going to do it. Three days later I was in an airplane two miles high, taking my first jump. After landing safely, I felt I'd earned newfound respect from a musician who I respect. I also found new respect for myself. RIP: It's been three years since the last Megadeth album, So Far, So Good...So What? What was recording Rust in Peace like, and tell us a little about the Megadeth creative process? DAVE MUSTAINE: This record was recorded completely sober. We were very critical without chasing our tails. We knew we could better what we'd done in the past. All the little nuances of each instrument, the embellishments, the harmonies, all the little additives that would've been overlooked or settled for really stand out. In the past it used to be, "My way or the highway." My attitude being, My way got me here. My way also got me in the hospital, wearing pajamas; so this time I let the producer [Mike Clink] work with me, instead of me working with the producer. I took some direction. I took some advice. I'm not trying to run everything, In the past it was, "I run. I run everything." If you mix the letters up a little bit, I run is ruin. And I ruined everything. Some of the material was written even before I was in Metallica. The title track, "Rust in Peace," was written prior to Metallica. "Hangar 18" was written right before we went into the studio. The lyrics to "Dawn Patrol" were created during the last hours of the last recording day. I went there with lyrics the last day and said, "Throw a reel up. I want to try something." We did it twice and kept the second take. RIP: A lot of people, myself included, didn't think that Rust in Peace would ever happen, because of the extremes you were pushing yourself to with substance abuse. When did you realize it was time to quit and turn your life around? MUSTAINE: I guess I realized I was a drug addict when I couldn't get out of bed. I didn't really think of myself as an alcoholic so much, but alcohol is also a drug. To me, anyone who has any doubts whether they're an alcoholic, they probably are. If you try to stop for a few days and can't, then you're an alcoholic. I knew there was a time in my life where I had to change my way of living, or I was gonna go down. It says in "Poison Was the Cure," "From a rock star to a desk fool was my destiny" I don't want to push a pen behind a desk, taking orders for hamburgers. That's not what I want to do. How creative can you get, taking an order for a Big Mac? It came to the point where I finally hit bottom. You have to hit bottom in order to really want to stop. It just gets to a point where it's so bad that there's got to be a better way. You have a gram in your pocket; I want to do it now, all of it. You know what, I'm Dave Mustaine, so you've got to let me snort it all. That's how I used to think. I don't regret my past nor wish to shut the door on it. In fact, I'm thankful for the drug addiction and alcoholism that I have, because it's got me to this point right now where I realize that I'm not the only person that's f?!ked up. I'm not saying that being sober is the answer for everybody, because not everyone's an alcoholic or an addict or has an addictive personality. If you're gonna drink or use, that's okay by me. I just want you to respect that I have a problem. Don't rub it in my face. Sometimes I feel like I've been cheated out of being able to get loaded, so I start thinking, like, "Well, the party's over." The party's just begun! I'm learning how to live life on life's terms. It's not a stopping point; it's a starting point. To me, there's two different levels of not using or drinking. There's dry, and there's being sober. Dry is not using, but not trying to make yourself better, and sober, to me, is trying to figure out why I drink and why I use. A lot of it stems from fears and insecurities. I'm very insecure that people won't think good thoughts about me, and I have fears that this band won't be successful. And I keep trying to compare Megadeth with Metallica, because of my prior relationship with them. Something I realized is, people that hate something actually hate the thing that they love. I loved being in Metallica, and the reason I had this hatred for a long time is because I couldn't have the thing that I loved; so I hated it to save face. Now, I hit my knees every morning and thank God for letting me wake up. RIP: You made references to having to hit rock bottom in order to turn your life around. What exactly is "rock bottom"? MUSTAINE: For me, when I hit bottom, I was in a jail cell with needle holes in my arms. I've only shot up twice in my life, and I always said, "I won't shoot up." I should've said, "I won't shoot up yet." I ended up doing it. I wound up in jail because I was driving my car over to a parked car, and this guy leaned out the window. He leaned out of the passenger side and was steering. I'm like, "Nice trick, dude." Then I realized he had a badge in his hand. He pulls me over and says, "I'm gonna call you a taxi." I'm waiting in my car with a spoon in one pocket, baking soda in the other, a jar of valiums, a needle, a bag of pot. I'd just finished doing heroin, coke and crank. I'd had some drinks. I was like on nine chemicals, looking out the window, going, "F?!k, what am I doing here? Oh, yeah, I'm waiting for a cab." Two squad cars pull up, and I'm like, "Man, the taxis look like cop cars in Van Nuys." I was behind bars when I realized I'd hit the bottom. Nick and his girlfriend bailed me out, and I checked myself into the hospital. I stayed there for 30 days and started working on the 12-step program. Some people can do it on their own, while some are sicker than others. I'm sicker than most. I've learned that when I stop trying to run everything and turn myself over to my higher power, everything runs itself perfectly. Today, I'm sober over four months. Not a drink, not a puff. I don't smoke cigarettes anymore; I don't drink coffee anymore; I don't eat red meat anymore; I don't use sugar or white flour anymore; and I give thanks. I have bronchitis right now, and I'm able to carry on and perform and sing. Before I would've never been able to pull that off. RIP: Megadeth tends to write about subjects other bands shy away from. Why do you stick your neck out, so to speak? MUSTAINE: I think a lot of people listen to Megadeth, and they kinda go, "Man, those guys are out there. Where do they come up with that shit?" I listen to a lot of bands and feel that they're narrow-minded. They've got blinders on, and they're just plodding along. People that don't remember the past are destined to repeat it. RIP: Are you referring to history or music? MUSTAINE: Both. There's a million bands that sound just like Metallica. You can say, "Great, a proven formula can be reapplied." Yeah, but how can you make it using someone else's theory? With Megadeth, I've tried to have a band that's not a spin-off of Metallica, 'cause God knows I could've. Easily I've tried to be a little more ambitious, a little more brash, and, when it comes to the lyrical content, a little more offensive when it comes to awareness and how I feel about certain issues. I've always tried to be very experimental with Megadeth. It's like the Wright Brothers. If they wouldn't have tried it, we'd still be taking the train! RIP: What's it like playing, more specifically live, with this version of Megadeth; Megadeth Mach III, with stalwart bassist Dave "Junior" Ellefson, and new members drummer Nick Menza and guitarist Marty Friedman? MUSTAINE: It's a lot easier. I know I can count on these guys to carry on the song if my guitar goes out, and we have a good enough crew to surpass any malfunction and correct it. We have backup units for everything, whereas in the past we spent all of our money on chemical substances. As long as we were loaded, we weren't really concerned with what our live show was like. This lineup plays So Far, So Good...So What? songs hella times better than the last lineup, because everybody cares. Now the nuances of the performances are very important. We play every show like it's our last one on Earth. I get on better with these guys on a more consistent basis than with anyone in a long time. Prior to us playing live, Junior and I were hardly even talking. I hated his girlfriend, and it hurt me that he was hanging out with someone I couldn't stand. My mom died recently, and she showed up to the memorial dressed in, like, cut-off blue jeans and a blue-jean jacket. My mom's dead. Everybody there is mourning, and she shows up like she just fell out of a surf bar. I had to tell her how I felt about her and, consequently, things got better for all of us. I mean, yesterday Junior called me up to go to breakfast. Nick and I have always had a very explosive relationship. He's got the ability to stand up for himself without being defiant to me. Marty's been the sleeper of the band. I really haven't seen him play live, even though I share a stage with him. You guys have seen him, I really haven't. I really don't look around me when I play. I look out into the audience, I look at the microphone, I sneer a little bit, and I look at the drums when I walk back so I don't crash into them. Marty is the weirdest guy I know that I like. Buy Megadeth CDs: |
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