Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir

Pop and metal aren't friends. Each knows exactly where the other lives and tries to keep its distance. They choose different streets, neighborhoods, zip codes.

All bands eventually break up because of one or more of the four P's: power, property, prestiege, pussy.

It wasn't enough for Megadeth to do well; I wanted Metallica to fail.

I went there anyway-knowingly, willingly-because I wanted a number one hit. I wanted what Metallica had, even if it meant selling a piece of my soul to the devil.

I let that swim around in my aching head for a few minutes - "the arsenal of megadeath...the arsenal of megadeath" - and then, for some reason I can't quite explain, I began to write. Using a borrowed pencil and a cupcake wrapper, I wrote the first lyrics of my post-Metallica life. This song was called "Megadeth" (I dropped the second "a"), and though it would never find its way onto an album, it did serve as the basis for the song "Set the World Afire." It hadn't occured to me then that Megadeth-as used by Senator Cranston, megadeath referred to the loss of one million lives as a result of nuclear holocaust-might be a perfectly awesome name for a thrash metal band.

Finally, I found what seemed at the time to be a lid of some sort. Presuming it was a toilet seat (but not really caring one way or the other) I lifted it up, then dropped my shorts and began to piss. Ahhh...success. Then I stumbled back to bed and passed out. It wasn't until the next morning that I realized what had actually happened. I woke to the sight of Junior standing over my bed with a look of disgust on his face. "Hey, man. Did you pee in my suitcase?

You don't shit where you eat, and you don't try to fuck your bandmate's fiancée. Especially when your bandmate is your boss.

Oh my God. I'm not Keith Richards. I'm Otis from Mayberry! A fucking drunk!

Some years later, long after he and Megadeth parted company, Jay Jones was stabbed to death with a butter knife during-rumor has it-a fight over a bolonga sandwich. That's not funny, of course. But, if you knew Jay, neither is it particularly suprising.

Let’s put it this way: I did not get in trouble every time I drank, but every time I got in trouble, I’d been drinking.

I need a hundred dollars and some suction

Some people, though, will surprise you. When you try to push them away, they don’t move. And when you need help, they’ll be there for you, even if you don’t want them to be there.

My mom and my aunts and all the other Witnesses would warn me that I was destined to burn in hell if I didn’t clean up my act, but frankly I didn’t care. I just wanted to get away from them.

It's pretty simple for me, really. I want to be able to carry a gun; listen to whatever music I like; eat, drink and be merry; and not hurt anyone else (the exception, obviously, being self-defense). It's the abbreviated Sermon on the Mount: treat other people the way you want to be treated.

Drinking and doing drugs, for me, makes about as much sense as pissing my pants on a winter’s day: it’ll feel good for a little while . . . until that cold wind begins to blow. And then it won’t feel so great.

I loved having that secret weapon, that bond—where you sit down with another musician, and you start talking, and everyone else at the table immediately takes notice, because you’re speaking a language they don’t even understand, can’t hope to comprehend. It’s like they think the conversation is going to be empty-headed, but it’s not. It’s just . . . different. And if you don’t play music (as opposed to just listening to music), you really can’t possibly know what I’m talking about.

I am not a registered member of either of the two main political parties, and I suspect that will never change. I think of myself as nonpartisan: I am generally distrustful of professional politicians, so when I enter the voting booth I tend to go with whomever I perceive as the lesser of two evils.

These guys were my friends, and despite our periodic disagreements, I trusted them. My mistake. Just one of many, as it turned out.