DAVID ELLEFSON: ‘The Good Lord Had Me And DAVE MUSTAINE Meet’ In 1983

David Ellefson Dave Mustaine

During a recent appearance on “TODDCast Podcast”, MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson was asked if Dave Mustaine has changed much in the way he approaches music in the four decades since they first met. 

“Not at all,” Ellefson responded. “Not one bit. He’s pretty much the same. And I admire his tenacity and stability in that area. When Dave and I met, we would sit around and talk about… The idea [for MEGADETH] was conceptualized before we even played a note together.

Dave was writing a song called ‘Megadeath,’ which was then retitled ‘Set The World Afire’, and it didn’t even come out until our third album, So Far, So Good… So What! (1988),” he continued. “That was the very first song that Dave had written post-METALLICA. And I met Dave literally six weeks after he was out of METALLICA, so it was a pretty fresh wound.

Dave was really very introspective on his life and looking at things, what had happened, and I think he was considering his options. He kept saying, ‘If this thing doesn’t work out, I’m just gonna into computers.’ I was the only guy that had a car, so I’d drive everybody around. And then Dave would always turn the radio on. In L.A., it was KLOS and KMET. And back in that day, radio was so cool, FM radio, because they played everything from YES and DEEP PURPLE to Ronnie Dio and IRON MAIDEN Powerslave.

And then they had these metal shows that would have the newest stuff that was going on. I remember when ‘Queen Of The Reich’ from QUEENSRŸCHE was on the midnight metal show, ’cause they were one of the new bands, and then, eventually, MEGADETH, they put one of our demos on there and stuff.”

“[I was] such a creative, just an awesome time to land in L.A. in 1983,” Ellefson added. “The Good Lord had me and Dave meet for whatever His purpose is.”