MEGADETH fans might find it hard to imagine anyone but Marty Friedman wielding the lead guitar during the band’s most iconic era—but according to frontman Dave Mustaine, that historic lineup almost never happened. The reason? Something as unexpected as a hairstyle.
In a recent feature with Guitar World, Mustaine opened up about the search to replace Jeff Young in the late 1980s, a process that had already included auditions with a number of high-profile guitarists such as Slash, Dimebag Darrell, and a young Jeff Loomis. When Marty Friedman’s name came up, Mustaine’s first reaction was less than enthusiastic.
“Marty‘s CD, Dragon’s Kiss [1988], had been sitting on the counter in the management’s office, and I remember walking past it. The cover was this black picture with bright orange lettering on it, and it was pretty eye-catching. But I just couldn’t do it because of his hair,” he recalled.
Asked for specifics about what put him off, Mustaine didn’t hold back. “He had two different colors in his hair. His hair was black from the roots down to about his ear line, and then it was red all the way down to his armpits. I thought, ‘I can’t do this.’”
Despite the initial hesitation, management pushed for Friedman to come in for a tryout. Even then, Mustaine’s doubts weren’t completely erased. “So, he came in, and he walked in with a Carvin, which wasn’t a company renowned for its guitars,” he explained. “He had this ADA rackmount unit, but I don’t know what it was for or how he thought it was going to help him. [Laughs]”
However, the moment Friedman started playing, all reservations disappeared. Mustaine had struggled to find a guitarist capable of handling the demanding lead work, but Friedman’s skills made an immediate impression.
“And when it came time to do the solo, Marty just popped in. We’ve been through guitar player after guitar player, and we get to the solo part in ‘Wake Up Dead‘, and he nails it. I just thought, ‘Oh, my God…’ and I reached behind me, turned off my wireless, went out and called my manager and said, ‘I think we’ve got him.’”
Friedman would go on to play with Megadeth from 1990 to 2000, contributing to some of the band’s most celebrated albums and helping define the Rust in Peace era—a period that many fans still regard as a high-water mark for technical thrash metal. And while it’s hard to imagine the band without him now, it’s wild to think that something as superficial as hair color nearly changed music history.
Friedman would go on to play with MEGADETH from 1990 to 2000, contributing to some of the band’s most celebrated albums and helping define the Rust in Peace era—a period that many fans still regard as a high-water mark for technical thrash metal. And while it’s hard to imagine the band without him now, it’s wild to think that something as superficial as hair color nearly changed music history.
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.