In a recent interview with Classic Rock magazine, MEGADETH frontman Dave Mustaine shed new light on why the long-discussed expanded edition of METALLICA’s 1982 demo, No Life ‘Til Leather, still hasn’t been released.
Originally issued as a limited-edition cassette for Record Store Day in April 2015, No Life ‘Til Leather was only available in select independent record stores. The release included artwork from drummer Lars Ulrich’s personal copy of the demo, complete with his handwriting. At the time, METALLICA also promised fans that expanded editions, including CD, vinyl, and a collector’s set, would eventually arrive.
The seven-song tape features METALLICA’s first lineup, including Ulrich, guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, lead guitarist Dave Mustaine, and bassist Ron McGovney. The recordings were funded by High Velocity Records owner Kenny Kane, originally intended as an EP release back in 1982.
Mustaine explained that ongoing publishing disagreements have made the expanded edition unlikely.
“I wrote all the music on ‘Phantom Lord’, all the music on ‘Metal Militia’, all the music on ‘Jump In The Fire’ and ‘The Mechanix’,” he told Classic Rock. “And I wrote the lyrics for ‘Jump In The Fire’ and ‘The Mechanix’. So do the math: if I wrote the music and James wrote the lyrics, then the credit is 50 percent me, and 50 percent James. Well, that’s not what went down when I left. James and Lars figured out that they were going to give Lars some percentage of the songs he didn’t write anything on, and that happened on all four songs.
“This was a bone of contention for me going forward with METALLICA on anything because, you know, it just wasn’t fair,” Mustaine continued. “You guys got more money than God, why do you have to take my money?”
The conversation that eventually ended Mustaine and Hetfield’s dialogue occurred when James called to discuss releasing No Life ‘Til Leather properly.
“So James called me up,” Mustaine recalled, “and he says, ‘Hey, man, we want to release this No Life ‘Til Leather thing, and we want to get all this publishing stuff straight, and, you know, we really don’t remember what went down. And I said, Well, that’s good, because I do. I remember what went down, and I can help with that. And then the conversation took a turn. James goes, ‘Well, that’s not the way that we remember it’. And I went, Well, James, honestly, there’s three ways to look at this: there’s your way, my way, and the truth, which is some combination of the two. And that was the end of the conversation. He took offense to that, and we hung up, and I don’t remember speaking to him since then.”
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