On September 24, Megadeth will celebrate the 30th anniversary of Rust in Peace, the founding, platinum and Grammy Award-nominated album that consolidated the band as a thrash steel titan.
Today, the band’s co-founder, guitarist and vocalist, Dave Mustaine, releases the band’s official recording report, Rust in Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece, an attacker to Guns N’ Roses Slash.
The e-book, set as a memory, reads more like an oral story or a two-hundred-page transcription with various first-person accounts of the album’s progression and the chaos around it.
Inside, Mustaine, former band members, managers and managers of the two-year era from 1988 to 1990: a reckless series of drug addicts and remnants of rehabilitation, machismo and insecurity, and festival in the heavy steel genre.
While enthusiasts may be waiting to read a romantic account of the band’s cousin, the genuine story is glamorous. Instead, the e-book points to a fair and complete milestone in drug addiction and resentment among members of the group who feared the founders would waste their lives. golden opportunity.
Only the thread, Mustaine and Megadeth co-fo/bassist David “Junior” Ellefson achieved sobriety for the recording of Rust in Peace.
Ellefson recalls that he was only sober for a few weeks, while Mustaine returned to rehab after the recording procedure had already begun.
“Voices in my head attacking me,” Mustaine says in the book. “Entering the studio has brought down all the doubts that assault me.
He continued: “Voices have returned, becoming more and more powerful. You stink, you’re an idiot. You’ve been kicked out of Metallica. You’ve also been kicked out of Megadeth. ” No wonder he’s fallen. “
When Mustaine returned to the studio, he completed an unsurpassed feat: he maintained sobriety for a long time to record one of the greatest steel albums of all time.
Aside from cocaine breakfasts and heroin withdrawal, the new story tells a handful of anecdotes: Mustaine’s sudden marriage to his wife Pam in Hawaii, his friendship with Judas Priest singer Rob Halford and his shared love for the Simpsons and the moment he fired the manufacturer. Dave Jerden because he “kicked” the studio with chili dogs.
At age 58, Mustaine, who recently overcate a war on throat cancer, is executing Megadeth’s 16th studio album. A little late due to the pandemic and his physical fitness disorders, he is satisfied to be back in the studio. of substance abuse disorders and an occasional drink, Mustaine says she is drug-free.
During a pause in the recording, Mustaine took the time to talk about Rust in Peace’s chaos, his survival of cancer and his life in Megadeth.
How did you cope with the pandemic?
I feel good. Pretty general in terms of my interactions with the audience, I’ve been quite casual, I wouldn’t say so alone, but a little more personal than most people, I was able to stay focused on my work.
How did you get back to music after surviving a war on throat cancer?You worked on the new album and Megadeth toured Europe in January/February before COVID-19 arrived in the United States.
He had already had a life-and-death war once before in 1992 [addiction], and with his arm closed [Mustaine suffered an injury called “Saturday night paralysis”] in 2001. I had many of those challenges, but this one of the thorniest ended up. Don’t worry about being frivolous about what was going on, because it was definitely serious, but I stayed focused. I listened to the doctors, prayed a lot, took care of myself and had a right group.
As soon as it came time to rehearse, let alone record, I was very scared because I didn’t know what it would look like, I was going to rehearsals, not singing, we were hiking a few days away, I hadn’t. done a rehearsal, nothing at all.
But I had this incredible confidence. A lot of other people think it’s arrogance, I’m not sure, anyway, if that’s what you need to call it, but I had that confidence in myself and I knew: keep your essence to the end. The time comes, level up and sing and before you know it, go back to your dressing room. The first exhibition will be over. That’s how it happened.
Once the tour is over, we return home, pick up where we left off and started making album 16.
You and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden battled throat cancer, and soon after they did a song again. Is there anything special about a heavy steel singer’s resistance?Did you call him for advice?
After being diagnosed, I thought, “I need to call Bruce,” it’s not like I have a total Rolodex of rock friends doing a heavy steel song that have throat cancer, [laughs] so my possible options were limited.
I was pretty proud of Bruce after talking to him, although we’re not very close, I’m someone I admire, he basically told me the same thing I just told you: surround yourself with people, put on and good, positive and positive things and make sure it doesn’t cause you unnecessary stress.
When you’re a leader in one of the biggest bands in the galaxy, you don’t really have to tolerate the leader of the other gangs much, yet he’s been super good to me and very, I don’t need to say “gentleman,” because I don’t need anyone to think he’s not a bad mother!
The e-book begins before the recording of Megadeth’s Rust in Peace (1989-1990), when Megadeth directed at Castle Donington for the 1988 Monsters of Rock festival.
During this concert, you painted a messy picture: the band members are in poor health and go through retreats; the band can slightly pass the functionality of the festivalArray. .
Believe it or Array, he was still at his worst at the time . . .
Half of this e-book is necessarily a detailed investigation of Megadeth’s members and their constant fight against drugs such as heroin, cocaine, crack and alcohol.
You recognize several times that you didn’t need to be sober even before you went into rehab at the start of rust in Peace’s official recording sessions, what happened that nevertheless made you need to stay blank?
There were still long moments in the procedure when none of us sought to be sober, we were forced to do so. [David] Ellefson said he had used – and had become sober – and then replaced his date – and then replaced his date – and then replaced his date again.
It’s funny, we said, “Being sober is like having sex with a gorilla. You finish until the gorilla finishes. “
Some of us were looking to leave ourselves blank and some of us weren’t. Then a guy showed up and he was blank, but the other guys were loaded. Then he saw the other guy loaded and said, “Hey, damn it!I’m in!” And then he’d load up, too. It’s like a mole with all of us with our bad behavior.
Fortunately, I had the record written on my head. I had written many in my life, for example, “Hangar 18” and “Rust in PeaceArray. . Polaris” were written when he was in Panic [Mustaine’s band before Metallica].
There are many things that happen far beyond one of the queues Megadeth never had, even before Panic.
When I wrote “Jump in the Fire”, I wrote before the panic broke in. It’s just a stroke of luck that Megadeth didn’t record “Jump in the Fire. “
Throughout the book, everyone around you learns that you have a serious drug problem; However, many of them admitted that even when you were absolutely lost, you may play guitar like a magician.
Do you think it worked against your preference to be sober?If you can keep playing without doing anything, it wasn’t an incentive to stop, was it?
I’d love to say something funny or smart, but it was a little sad to be able to pass out and play absolutely intoxicated and the drugs didn’t put me in a shampoo like most people should.
But I think because steel music is a lot of who I am, that when I start playing, I just play. I don’t like the fact that there’s so much history around Megadeth that has to do with drugs, but when you live in a car and all you have are the 4 windows that protect you from the world, you’re starting to realize that things can be ruined, no matter how bad they are, they can be even worse. He began to be grateful for things.
I was talking to my son [Justis Mustaine, 28, who works in artist management] about some of the clients he has. They gave him some smart guys. He’s been given some friends who take care of some horrible acts. I reminded him how lucky he was not to have an act like his friend, because you can say anything to an artist and he doesn’t care.
And it was for a while, wasn’t it? His e-book explains that his registration company and his control constantly sought to take him to repair centers, however, he refused or did not take it seriously and in the end, he did everything he wanted. Dear. . .
I’d say that’s evident in the book, because I confessed, it wasn’t that I was looking to be difficult, because I didn’t want to try, I was smart about it.
On more than one occasion you said you were fighting the voices in your head: they said you were blowing up your career, it was just that they fired you from Metallica, they also fired you from Megadeth.
Have you ever reconciled one’s feelings?
I don’t know if there are voices in my head, so to speak, no long as you have those suggestive minds and if you allow them to hire an area in your head, you’re going to start following this regime in which . . . very soon you realize that your life is starting to replace, that it is beginning to replace its scope and what you need to do with your life and what you need to do with the life of this user, which you sought to congratulate it. . . . or take advantage of it.
You also said that during the year, there had been this festival concept among the top 4 thrash bands: Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax.
After the release of Rust in Peace, you said you felt like you were pushing yourself in front of the group. Do you have the possibility to take a combined tour like in 2010?
At the time, we didn’t really get a chance for all four of us to come together and do anything. We were more of us 3 [Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax], Clash of the Titans Tour and everything, and maybe one or two of us with Metallica, but we didn’t do “Big Four” stuff until the end.
Even again, once it turned out to be a success, I think it might have gone a little further, I think it would have been a laugh for a lot of people.
In the book, you drilled down all the rust in peace songs, explaining their lyrical content. Will you enthusiasts have court cases about official descriptions?
It’s hard to play the songs in a way that satisfies the listener, because as soon as you give them your explanation and your performance of the song, they’ll say, “Well, I’m not satisfied. That’s not an intelligent explanation, for me, for God’s sake!I think that meant it!
It’s funny, you have this throbbing little voice in your head, the voice Billy Crystal’s mom had in Throw Momma From The Train.
David Ellefson explained that when you were broke, you were more productive friends, but once you were sober, your dates were just different. You added that you are no longer hanging around. Are you unhappy with the status of your appointments?
I still love it, but we don’t spend time together. He has his own plan and, you know, you have an organization to lead. I try to be as fair and positive as possible.
A lot has happened over the years, you know, one of the two wonderful things I’ve dealt with, and then you go up the merger [Mustaine needed neck surgery because of a lifetime of headshots] to that or you look at Saturday night’s paralysis and it’s like, damn friend, the last 20 years have been pretty hard. I’ve been dealing with disorders in my arms and neck for almost 20 years.
You have published many conflicting reviews and memories in this book. You’ve had a lot of members coming in and out of Megadeth over the years. Do constant exchanges value all problems?
I couldn’t stand other people’s lies towards me. He had a guy who worked with us, wouldn’t say his name, the position he held or when he did it, yet he was someone he admired, and I asked him for lies over and over again. me or me, I thought, “It’s not a laugh and I think I’m going to quit smoking. “And they gave me this point where I sought to prevent several times, but I just couldn’t do it.
Me in Buenos Aires, we had a festival there. I said stop by to go downstairs and wait to level up and see how I felt. There’s a lot of stuff before that night and I’m not sure if I’ll stop by to keep playing or not. When we were given there the reaction was so overwhelming that I would have been an idiot if I said what was going on to stop me. It’s one of the nights he’ll never forget.
Follow me on Twitter at @DerekUTG.
My musical writing gave the impression on Noisey through Vice, Vulture and more. I worked as a manufacturer at E! News /NBC, Consumer Reports, People and SiriusXM. I have a master’s degree
My musical writing gave the impression on Noisey through Vice, Vulture and more. I worked as a manufacturer at E! News/NBC, Consumer Reports, People and SiriusXM. I have a master’s degree from CUNY Graduate School of Journalism.