Dave Mustaine Changed His Mind, Thinks Kirk Hammett Using His Solos Was “Honorable”
Ever since his ousting from Metallica back in 1982, Megadeth founder and redheaded shredder Dave Mustaine has had a lot to say about the fact that his old bandmates used his solos when recording Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning (and some parts of Master of Puppets, he claims). Last year, he went on the Joe Rogan podcast and said he was “bothered” that they used his music against his wishes, but apparently that sentiment has shifted slightly.
During a new interview with Guitar World, Mustaine was asked if he’d heard Metallica’s latest studio effort, 72 Seasons. Though he said he hadn’t yet heard it, he said that wasn’t really out of any animosity these days.
“There was a time around 20 years ago when we were not being friendly toward each other when I couldn’t listen to their music when it came on the radio. But none of that bothers me anymore, and it’s not why I haven’t heard the record, especially after the Big Four thing that we did. I really think we should do that again.”
Man, he really wants that Big Four thing to happen another time, eh? Did someone let him know what happened to Slayer? Someone should probably tell him…
Either way, he was also asked about whether recent criticisms of Kirk’s solos were fair. Given that we’re talking about Dave Mustaine here, he had to make a slight nod to the fact that Metallica’s early music has a lot of his writing in it and he had to make the question about himself before ultimately complimenting Hammett.
“It depends on which solos you’re talking about. [Laughs] Jokes aside, I’ve always kind of poked fun at Kirk. And unfairly so, as he never did anything to me. Whenever I felt singled out, picked on, or antagonized by James [Hetfield] or Lars [Ulrich], it was really easy to pick on Kirk. But the truth is Kirk did me an honor by trying to play my solos on those early songs the way he did… Well, I think that some people would have just started over again. So, I thought it was honorable that Kirk took my solos and did his best to play them as I did. That couldn’t have been easy. But as far as his new solos on the new Metallica album, I haven’t heard them, so I can’t comment. But I will say that I think it’s sad how quickly some people can turn on people.
“There was a time when Kirk won every guitar contest in the world, and I don’t think he’s gotten any better or worse as a player. He’s always been really good. Kirk was a good player when he was in Exodus. And he’s been steady the entire time he’s been in Metallica. But does that mean Kirk Hammett is Dave Mustaine? No. And is Dave Mustaine Kirk Hammett? Also, no.”
You know, this is a rather diplomatic answer from Mustaine, who’s M.O. has always been to set fire to things and walk away. We’ll see how long that stance lasts before he says something out of pocket about Lars or Kirk, but never about James because he wants to write music with that dude.
