Former Megadeth bassist Dave Ellefson has publicly commented on his former bandmate and Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine’s 1983 firing from Metallica, favourably comparing the manner of Mustaine’s firing to his own in a remark quickly gaining traction online. In a recently-emerging interview, it has also been revealed that, according to Ellefson, Mustaine doctored the bassist’s music after the fact.
Ellefson was fired from the thrash band in 2021, when it emerged that he had sexually interacted with a fan online, which Mustaine saw as immoral and promptly sacked him. In an interview with the Quemar Un Patrullero podcast, Ellefson said that he believed Metallica dealt with Mustaine’s firing better. The dispute comes down to Metallica’s James Hetfield, Cliff Burton and Lars Ulrich still using Mustaine’s music on their 1983 debut ‘Kill ‘Em All’. By contrast, when Mustaine fired Ellefson in 2021, it turned out that he cut his music and used replacement musicians to reproduce the former bassist’s playing on 2022’s ‘The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!’.
Ellefson said that “when Dave got fired from Metallica, at least they kept his words and his music and they paid him and gave him credit. Dave wasn’t so kind to me”. While he claimed he did not feel too much anger at not being able to tour one last time with the band following his sacking, he says it did not matter much to him because he had toured extensively behind 2016’s ‘Dystopia’. “I don’t have bitterness in my heart”, says Ellefson. The bassist also compared how he dealt with his firing to how Mustaine dealt with his 1983 sacking, “whereas Dave had bitterness toward Metallica, I don’t have bitterness toward Dave or Megadeth.”
The comments are part of an over four decade debate over Mustaine’s firing from Metallica due to his alcoholism and drug abuse prior to the debut album’s recording. Mustaine has, at length, condemned Metallica and publicly critiqued his replacement Kirk Hammett. In recent times, Mustaine has been more generous to Metallica and even appeared on stage with them in 2011, on the 40th anniversary of their formation. In January, Megadeth released their eponymous final album and plan to retire soon, ending the album with a cover of the 1984 Metallica classic ‘Ride the Lightning’ from the album of the same name.
When the album was released in January, Ellefson publicly reviewed the album. Despite praising the contributions of guitarist Teemu Mantysaari and lyrics on songs like ‘The Last Note’, he disliked the way in which Mustaine was winding the band up. “I think it’s a sin to just go off and claim it as his own”, he claimed, condemning his former singer’s decision to close the band without consulting him. Because of his absence, he said that he did not really believe it was a Megadeth album, adding that “it sounds like Dave doing what Dave does but with a different set of guys in a new day. And this is Dave’s retirement.”
