MEGADETH mainman Dave Mustaine talked about people saying he’s an asshole, telling Ultimate-Guitar.com interviewer Justin Beckner:
“I look at it like this – the ultimate form of revenge is to speak the truth and I try to be really honest in what I do, how I play, and who I work with.
“I don’t lead people on. If I don’t like you, you’re going to know it.
“I think that’s one of the things that the music business really needs – someone who will shoot straight.
“We don’t all need a participation trophy. There’s a first place and everyone else is last place. You know what I mean?
“When I was a kid, if I would have signed up for little league just to get a trophy like everyone else does, I wouldn’t have done it.”
Dave continued:
“I think a lot of it comes from what is the award for achievement for things that we do.
“Some people want fame, some people want fortune. All bands have ever broken up over power, property, prestige or pussy – the dreaded four P’s. You can’t get away from it. It’s just how it is.
“A band is together for a while and it’s just like that movie ‘Spinal Tap.’ People say that’s a comedy and I love the comedic value of it but the bummer is how true to life it is.
“There are so many things that happen in that movie that happen every day and it’s not funny if it’s happening to you but when it’s happening to somebody else, it’s hilarious.
“Like where they say, ‘We’re going to do ‘Spinal Tap Mach 2” or, ‘We’re going to have a make-over’ or, ‘There’s somebody already in the organization’ – all these things, we’ve experienced all those things [in Megadeth].
“The label tried to change our logo, they tried to change our music, and then we had a band member’s wife try to get into managing us. ‘Spinal Tap’ lives. Every day.”
MEGADETH‘s latest album, “Dystopia” opened with 48,000 copies, marking MEGADETH‘s highest-charting album since 1992’s “Countdown To Extinction” debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the chart dated August 1 of that year. “Dystopia” also logs the group’s best sales week since 2007, when “United Abominations” landed at No. 8 with first-week sales of 54,000.
