Dave Mustaine is everywhere lately promoting his new album, Dystopia, which is out later this month. Last week, we clipped an interview where he pondered why everybody gives hin shit for his Christian beliefs and yet leaves David Ellefson, a pastor, alone. Today, Dave is tackling Metallica.
Metallica is an oft-touchy subject for Dave, as he's been known to block people on Twitter who mention the band to him. But I guess there's an exception when Mustaine is promoting the album in an interview with LA Weekly, where Mustaine was asked what his favorite Metallica song that he wrote was:
Of the four songs you’re credited with co-writes for on Metallica’s 1983 debut album Kill 'Em All, which one is your favorite?
My favorite? Hmmm. Interesting. Good question. You know, I like “Phantom Lord” and “Metal Militia” because they are very interesting songs. But I think if you were going to go for my favorite Metallica song that I wrote it would probably have to be [Ride the Lightning instrumental] “Call of Ktulu.” It stands on itself. And when you have a song that can stand on itself without words that’s a big statement.
Mustaine is in fact credited as a co-writer on “Call of Ktulu” along with Hetfield, Ulrich and bassist Cliff Burton, so it's interesting that he sort of one-upped the interviewer by making it clear that he has an additional credit. I wish the interviewer would've followed up with a question about Mustaine's favorite Metallica song that he didn't write, but that might've resulted in a block or a ban.
Update: A fan pointed out that Mustaine revealed in a 2011 interview that his all-time favorite Metallica tune is "The Unforgiven"
"I remember hearing this song when I was talking to Lars [Ulrich] once and telling him this is my favorite song off the 'Black Record'. And he goes, 'Really? [Expletive], man'. It was 'The Unforgiven'", he said. "I liked it because I thought this was really the first time I've ever really heard James [Hetfield] sing. He had sung before, and he was a great singer. But that was the first time I ever heard him really, really sing."
The writer did ask Dave about the aftermath of getting kicked out of the band and Dave came across pretty sympathetic:
I’ve always wondered, on the bus ride back from New York to California after parting ways with Metallica in 1983: How did you spend your time on the bus?
I was looking out the window. A lot. And it was excruciatingly painful. … Because remember, I was living with them, had no job, no income, no money. They’d put me on the bus with no money. So I had no food money. No nothing. And I got on the bus and off I went for a four-day journey with nothing to eat, nothing to drink. So that whole journey was a four-day fucking hell. Learning how to panhandle. How to get people to buy you booze so you could sleep through the night on the bus. [Laughs.]When you go into the bus station and the bus would stop and wait for another driver and you just pray to God you don’t sleep through the connection and shit like that. Because I’d never done anything like that before in my life. It’s different if you know what to do and where to go. And if you have money. Money’s the key to all your problems. But if you can’t even make a phone call? It’s pretty fucked up.
If you've never heard our reading of Dave Mustaine's autobiography, we implore you to take a listen:
This is not a Metallica feed. https://t.co/U2bHFHVg9a
— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) November 17, 2015
