I feel like by now, everybody knows the history between Metallica and Megadeth's Dave Mustaine. Mustaine was famously sent packing while the band were recording their debut album due to his alcohol problems. He was woken up, given a Greyhound bus ticket, and sent on a long journey across the country back to California.
During a recent interview on Word of Wheeler, Kirk Hammett was interviewed and talked about joining the band. They brought up the scene in Metallica's Some Kind of Monster. In case you missed the scene, here it is:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/CKoXcJaylAo[/youtube]
Hammett offered this truthful, if not somewhat controversial quote about how he thinks Mustaine feels:
“Well, you know, the whole thing with Dave is I’ve never, ever, ever had a problem with Dave. I’ve always seen Dave as someone who was just really, really sad, really angry, really frustrated about his situation with Metallica, and he never could let that go. And, you know, I’ve always shown a lot of empathy for him, understanding that he was just pissed off.
“It’s the equivalent of the woman of your life leaving you. I mean, really. When your band kicks you out… I’ve never been kicked out, but I can imagine it’s a horrible experience, especially if it’s a band that you feel really passionately about. So I can understand Dave’s plight over all these years.
“But I will also say that when we did these 30th-anniversary shows at the Fillmore [in San Francisco], and we invited Dave to play on all those Kill ‘Em All songs, man, it felt so good to have him playing on stage.
“It felt perfectly fine for me to, while Dave was playing the guitar solos, for me to go over to James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman] and play the rhythm parts with James, and it wasn’t a big deal at all. And I could see from the look on Dave‘s face and just from his whole attitude that it was super-cathartic for him.
“And I could see how it was helping him. And so I just took it all in stride. And it’s interesting, because since then, I think, Dave‘s relationship with us is a little bit better now. I’d like to think that that whole thing just kind of healed some scars that needed to be healed.”
It's a fair quote, and it makes sense given the things Mustaine said in the videos. There is no drama here. It seems like a Latino fan tweeted the video to Dave and asked his opinion. Mustaine initially tweeted something a bit more controversial, before pulling it:
Once he was actually able to read or hear the quote, he took down this tweet, and wrote something more respectful:
I have tremendous respect for @KirkHammett and I appreciate his take on this. he is almost 100% accurate…almost. I wish him the best. https://t.co/qXld8u1bSQ
— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) December 4, 2016
When another fan called him out on deleting the initial tweet, Mustaine eloquently explained:
I didn't dis him. It was about the translation. And you are a complete asshole. https://t.co/X8qcKWBp6l
— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) December 5, 2016
Mustaine is clearly a busy guy and if he was just going off the translation of that initial tweet sent to him, it says “@DaveMustaine Can not let go of his sadness, anger and frustration for being expelled from @Metallica” which is way worse than what Kirk actually said, and it seemed like Mustaine's "sadly mistaken" comment comes from the translation of "cannot let go of his sadness" part.
Ultimately, it's great to see emotional growth here, and all sides showing respect. It wasn't always like that.
Here's the full interview. You can hear the exact quote at the 25 minute mark.
