DAVE MUSTAINE Says His Initial Vision For MEGADETH Was To 'Destroy METALLICA'

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Dave Mustaine says that his initial vision for MEGADETH was to "destroy METALLICA." Mustaine was a member of METALLICA for less than two years, from 1981 to 1983, before being dismissed and replaced by Kirk Hammett. He went on to form MEGADETH and achieve worldwide success on his own. Mustaine feuded with the members of METALLICA for more than two decades before finally patching things up over the last few years. He has jammed with his ex-bandmates on several occasions during "Big Four" shows and at METALLICA's 30th-anniversary concerts in 2011. Asked by a fan earlier today on Twitter what his measure of success was when starting MEGADETH and what his vision for the band was, Dave responded: "My measure of success was if I ate that day or not, and my vision was destroy METALLICA and stop living in a van. Good thing I got over my animosity for leaving the band. I'm glad we reconciled... Where's the Big 4 shows???" Back in May 2012, Mustaine apologized to METALLICA frontman James Hetfield for publicly discussing the fact that Dave wanted to assemble a "supergroup" combining Mustaine and MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson with Hetfield and METALLICA drummer Ulrich. Hetfield laughed off talk of a possible collaboration between members of his band and members of MEGADETH in an interview, calling it "crazy" talk on the part of Mustaine. Hetfield told So What!, METALLICA's fan club magazine: "I see [Mustaine] healthier now. I see him as less of a bitter guy. But I do see a lot of stuff in the press with him talking about jamming with us and making an album. All this other crazy stuff. I read it and say to myself, 'Hold on. This is the Dave that we kind of wanted to forget about. You know, the big-mouth that wants to just go-go-go." Hetfield added: "But there is an authenticity about him when he speaks. He doesn't think too much before he does. He just goes off the cuff. Plus, when he says stuff like that, it's well-intended." Mustaine recently revealed that a dispute over songwriting credits may have contributed to the shelving of the previously announced expanded version of METALLICA's 1982 demo tape, "No Life 'Til Leather". The MEGADETH mainman tweeted that he was contacted by Hetfield two years ago about "officially" releasing "No Life Till Leather" with "27 tracks, pics, the whole enchilada," but, he said, "the talks broke down because Lars wanted credit on two songs I wrote every note and word to. I have the texts. I passed." Mustaine was not inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame with METALLICA during the April 2009 ceremony at Cleveland, Ohio's Public Auditorium. Ulrich later explained to The Plain Dealer that Mustaine "never played on any METALLICA records. No disrespect to him. But there [were] half a dozen other people that were in the lineup in the early days. We thought... the fair thing to do would be to include anybody that played on a METALLICA record." He added: "Dave Mustaine was in the band for eleven months, predominantly in 1982... I'm not trying to play it down. I have nothing but respect and admiration for his accomplishments since."

My measure of success was if I ate that day or not, and my vision was destroy @Metallica and stop living in a van. Good thing I got over my animosity for leaving the band. I’m glad we reconciled... where’s the Big 4 shows??? https://t.co/nmq6eBIeeH

— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) January 13, 2018​

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