As Megadeth prepares to embark on its final chapter, architect and frontman Dave Mustaine is taking stock of a career that defined the parameters of American thrash metal. In a revealing new conversation with “Full Metal Jackie,” the 64-year-old musician opened up about the specific health challenges necessitating the band’s retirement, his favorite lineup in the group’s history, and his plans for a life after the stage lights dim.
While the current farewell campaign marks the end of the road, Mustaine insists that the band is going out on a creative high note. When asked to identify the absolute peak of his tenure in Megadeth, Mustaine placed the current iteration of the group above all others, though he acknowledged the weight of historical favorites.
“I have to skip this record, because this record and this lineup is my favorite,” Mustaine said (via Loudwire). “So let let me talk about the other lineups and albums and stuff, because it truly is my favorite and I don’t wanna say that and have people think, ‘Oh, he’s just saying that.'”
Looking past the present day, Mustaine pointed to the commercially massive Countdown to Extinction era in the early 1990s as the band’s historical zenith.
“Countdown felt that way. Countdown felt like everything was clicking and it was an exciting record to make. It was an exciting record to play,” he explained. “I think it’s kinda difficult to pick that stuff. But I would say Countdown was the best. There were other records that were kind of fun because this was all new to us. The Peace Sells campaign was really great. We’d just gotten signed to Capitol and we didn’t know anything that was going on, so it was all new and fresh and exciting, until it wasn’t.”
The decision to brand the current album and tour as a “farewell” was not a pre-meditated marketing strategy, but a reaction to Mustaine‘s evolving medical reality. During the recording sessions, the physical demands of his complex guitar work began to clash with diagnoses of arthritis and Dupuytren’s contracture—a hand condition that causes fingers to curl inward.
“Well, it happened in the middle of the recording. I didn’t plan on this happening,” Mustaine revealed. “We just had a stretch of about four weeks of really intense recording and I had mentioned to one of our managers and I said, ‘I don’t, I don’t know how much longer I’m gonna be able to do this,’ ’cause my hands were really hurting and I’ve got some issues going on with them that I have had since as long as I can remember. The arthritis issue is new and the Dupuytren’s contractures is new. So it made it really hard to be able to put in long hours and I had to put in long hours and I just said, ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this.'”
For Mustaine, the choice is fundamentally about integrity. He refuses to become a legacy act that cannot deliver the material with the requisite precision.
“I’m gonna be getting up there in age. I know that a lot of people say that 40 is the new 25 or whatever, all … crazy number ratios, but I’ve always said when I can’t do this 100 percent, I’m gonna stop because I don’t wanna be one of these guys and I’ve seen enough of them and so have you, dear Jackie,” he said. “There’s been people that go out and they play and they’re not playing at their peak and I I don’t think that’s, that’s a good decision to make because you ruin your legacy. Like Johnny Rotten said, ‘You ever get the feeling you’re getting cheated?'”
A focal point of the final album is the inclusion of a re-recorded version of “Ride the Lightning“, the title track from Metallica‘s 1984 sophomore album, which Mustaine co-wrote prior to his dismissal from that band. He described the recording as a deliberate move to close the loop on his professional narrative.
“Well, I’m glad that you said full circle, because that was the goal the whole time, was to bring it full circle back to where my professional career started to pay my respects to the band,” Mustaine stated. “I’ve always thought James [Hetfield] was an exceptional guitar player.”
He continued, emphasizing his ownership over the composition: “But I think when you do a cover song and this is not a cover, It’s a new version from one of the songwriters. but when you do a cover song, you’ve gotta make it, at least as good or better and going into doing this song I didn’t feel like, like it was a foreign piece of music. It just felt like it was just a piece of my spirit, my soul.”
Clarifying recent comments about the duration of the farewell tour, Mustaine urged fans not to overinterpret his estimates.
“I haven’t given it much thought at all. I’m still kind of getting my head around this and by the way, I think people are putting too much into this, this three to five year thing,” he noted. “I was talking simply about how long our tours have been in the past. Good thing I didn’t say six years like between Dystopia and The Sick, The Dying… and The Dead because everybody would think we’re gonna be around for six more years.”
Once the tour concludes, Mustaine plans to retreat to a newly purchased property in Italy, located in a “Blue Zone” known for the longevity of its residents. However, retirement from the stage does not mean a retirement from creativity.
“Sure. Just because I’m not gonna be playing guitar doesn’t mean that I’m not gonna be involved in writing music, you know?” he said. “Megadeth music is very, very, very difficult to play. Writing music, you can sit down, you can do things and you can relax in between little parts, but when I’m onstage doing Megadeth music, there’s no quarter.”
