“I always thought Dave won – because he’s built this giant thing all by himself”: James LoMenzo on the ever-present “subliminal undercurrent tension” between Megadeth and Metallica
Tensions have very much died down now, but Metallica and Megadeth don’t exactly have a totally amicable history. As the story goes, Megadeth founder and frontman Dave Mustaine was Metallica’s lead guitarist from 1982 to 1983, before being ousted from the band for alcoholism, drug abuse and aggressive behaviour.
But during his time with the group, Mustaine helped write many of the band’s early tracks, including Ride the Lightning, the title track from Metallica’s sophomore album, released a year after his departure.
Mustaine recently revealed how the division of songwriting credits on some of the band’s early tracks became a “bone of contention” between him and Metallica frontman James Hetfield, contributing to their fractured relationship.
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Last month, Megadeth released their last-ever album, and with it came a landmark cover of Ride the Lightning, the track Mustaine helped write decades ago. And in a new interview with Portugal’s Metal Global, bassist James LoMenzo recalls hearing from Mustaine of his plans to record the cover.
“I was delighted. I was surprised,” he says [via Blabbermouth]. “My eyebrows went up, but I was kind of delighted that he was gonna even go there, because there’s always that subliminal undercurrent tension – you know, ‘Oh, Metallica [vs.] Megadeth.’
“And I always thought, like, Megadeth, for God’s sake, I always thought Dave won in a way, because he’s built this giant thing all by himself. And it made a lot of sense to me logically. It seemed like if this is the last thing we’re gonna do, then we should go out, end with a band, but also kind of address the full history of the band. And that’s step one.
“So I thought it was great in the end. But yes, my eyebrow went up when I heard him say that, yeah.”
Elsewhere in the interview, LoMenzo is asked whether he believes Megadeth is better than Metallica “when it comes to riffs and solos”.
“I can’t go on board with you there,” he replies. “I’m a company guy – sure, I think we’re better, but semantically, I don’t really believe that. It’s all about taste and approach, right? And I think if Dave had stayed [in Metallica], it would’ve certainly been a lot more complex, but they would’ve not lost any energy that they had.
“It comes down to, like, who do you like better – Motörhead or The Ramones? One seems silly, one seems really serious, but I love them both.”
Watch the full interview below:
The post “I always thought Dave won – because he’s built this giant thing all by himself”: James LoMenzo on the ever-present “subliminal undercurrent tension” between Megadeth and Metallica appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.
Source: www.guitar-bass.net
