Most recently in an interview with Vinyl Writer Music, leader of Megadeth Dave Mustaine stated that he has been secretly hoping there would be a day when he could write music with Metallica’s James Hetfield again.
He added:
“I think the world really does want us to do that, and I think there is a pretty good possibility of it happening down the line.
I do think that it’s possible that one day James is going to come around and that he and I are going to be able to do something together again. I guess that’s one of the things that has always kept me pushing forward. I think it’d be good for MEGADETH, and it could be great for METALLICA too.”
To understand this statement, is to know the history behind the two men in question. A firing from Metallica in 1983, led to a 2-decade long feud with members in what some would say was based on a form of jealousy.
Another time this happened was in 2012; Mustaine apologized publicly to Hetfield for openly discussing another wild idea of his, which was to assemble a “supergroup” combining Megadeth members with Metallica members. This was met by Hetfield just laughing it off and calling it “crazy talk” on the part of Mustaine.
Hetfield told So What!, METALLICA’s fan club magazine:
“I see Mustaine healthier now. I see him as less of a bitter guy. But I do see a lot of stuff in the press with him talking about jamming with us and making an album. All this other crazy stuff. I read it and say to myself, ‘Hold on. This is the Dave that we kind of wanted to forget about. You know, the big-mouth that wants to just go-go-go.
But there is an authenticity about him when he speaks. He doesn’t think too much before he does. He just goes off the cuff. Plus, when he says stuff like that, it’s well-intended.”
When asked afterwards by another interviewer, Mustaine had this to say about Hetfield’s comments:
“I already sent James a message and apologized to him for saying that and that I won’t ever mention it again
I like James and I thought what he said was flattering, and then it kind of went the opposite way, and then it kind of came back again. And you know, that’s okay. I guess my whole thing was I just wanted them to know that I loved them and that I missed them, and I enjoyed playing with them. If that’s not mutual, then I understand. I still respect him, and I still care about the guy. If he doesn’t want to play with me anymore, that’s cool. If he doesn’t like the idea of what I said, that’s okay, too. It wasn’t like I said it was going to happen, it was something that I kind of wished would happen. But it’s okay now, since it doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen. And you know what?! It’s off my bucket list.
The thing is that I probably shouldn’t have said stuff like that, cause, I guess, to some people, they may think that I’m trying to use that as a way to get publicity, so I can see where there would be some feelings about it, and that wasn’t my intention.”
It really does seem as though one party has moved on, and the other is continuously trying to find ways to come up with a collaboration. Both Metallica and Megadeth have a monstrous following in their own right, and realistically don’t need to collaborate to stay relevant.
