That Time Dave Mustaine Said That Chris Broderick is “unequivocally THE BEST GUITARIST Megadeth Ever Had”

When Dave Mustaine recently released a list of his personal favorite Megadeth guitarists, it seemed pretty damned weird of him to put Chris Broderick in the penultimate spot. After all, Broderick was in the band for six years, during which time he appeared on three Megadeth albums… and yet, to hear Mustaine tell it, he’s not as good guys who did far less work with the band, including one guitarist who was only ever a live touring member.

But then a reader on Twitter helpfully reminded me about this message Mustaine posted in Megadeth’s official forums back in 2009, when Broderick had been in the band for about a year (via Blabbermouth):

“I am going on record and I am saying unequivocally that Chris is THE BEST GUITARIST Megadeth has ever had. And the real talented musicians in Megadeth’s alumni will agree, he is an absolute monster. I mean, he plays the catalog better than anyone did. Jeff Young never wanted to do Chris Poland’s stuff, and so on, and so on, until the last guitarist we had before we disbanded over my arm injury.”

And not only that, but Mustaine reiterated the sentiment again in 2013!

Chris has finished Super Collider …all I can say is he is without a doubt the best guitarist I've ever played with. @Chris_Broderick

— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) March 7, 2013

So what are we take away from the contrast between Mustaine talking Broderick like he was the Second Coming and Mustaine asserting that Broderick is the second-worst guitarist in the band’s history? That he’s fickle? Petty? Self-serving? All of the above? Yeah, I’m going with “all of the above.”

Anyway. It will be fun to watch Mustaine change his tune again when Kiko Loureiro inevitably leaves the band in a few years.