Dave Mustaine Hopes to Reconcile With Metallica Before Megadeth Retirement

Megadeth lead singer Dave Mustaine wants to make peace with his old Metallica bandmates before he puts down his guitar for good. The 64-year-old rocker covered "Ride The Lightning" on his band's self-titled farewell album as an olive branch to James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. No one from the group has reached out.

"There may not be a chance to ever say hello to [Metallica members] James [Hetfield] or Lars [Ulrich] again," Mustaine told the Los Angeles Times. "I knew some people would have a hard time with me doing the song, but that's OK because I wanted to pay tribute and show my respect. If they like it, fine. If they don't like it, fine. If they listen to it, fine. If they don't, fine."

Metallica fired the guitarist in 1983 during a tour. Substance abuse and a combative attitude were the reasons.

That dismissal led him to start his own act. It became one of thrash metal's Big Four. The anger from getting kicked out fueled much of his early work.

"You know, I had a great time when I was in Metallica, and we did something tremendous," he said. "It's a shame what the booze did, but we were all kids and, aside from Lars, we came from pretty broken families. Lots of stuff has happened over the years, but I felt like it would be great to make everything good with them before we stop. We should be friends. There's no reason why we shouldn't be friends."

The two acts have tried to make peace several times. None of those truces lasted. A 2016 royalty dispute over the demo "No Life 'Til Leather" put them on the outs again.

Mustaine said the tension with his old group pushed him during his early career. "Think of it. Where would I be right now if I didn't have one of the biggest bands in the world spending their time trying to hold me back?" he said. "They don't do it anymore, but most of the time when they did, it just made me shake my head. And it wasn't just Metallica, it was everybody. For a long time, it very much was me against the world."