Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine once postponed neck surgery at the last possible minute because Metallica’s manager insulted him.
The singer/guitarist relays what happened in a new appearance on the Wild Ride! podcast, hosted by Jackass legend Steve-O.
He alleges that – during the 2010–2011 Big Four tour featuring Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax – Metallica’s manager called him a “pussy” for almost dropping out of a concert to go under the knife and fix a previous neck injury.
“I remember we were scheduled to play Yankee Stadium [in New York] with the Big Four concert the day that they found out I needed my neck to be fused together,” Mustaine says (via Guitar.com). “And so I’m laying on the emergency table and my manager says, ‘Oh, Metallica’s manager called you a pussy because you’re going to get your neck fused together and you’re not going to come out here and play instead.’”
The frontman deemed the comment “a gutless thing to say” and responded in the most dramatic terms. While on the surgeon’s table before the procedure could get underway, Mustaine sat up, had the doctor inject him with “steroids and shit”, went and played the show, then came back. “But it turned out great as far as healing is concerned,” he claims.
Mustaine suffered from stenosis, which he’s stated in previous interviews was caused by decades of headbanging onstage. During the Wild Ride! conversation, he says his two affected vertebrae will eventually need “some kind of special care and attention”.
“I don’t plan on headbanging for another 30 years,” he adds. “I’m already 63 so I figure, you know, if I play another five to 10 years, 15 years, whatever, then that’s a good run.”
The complex relationship Mustaine has with Metallica has been long and well-documented. The Megadeth man was Metallica’s lead guitarist from 1982 to ’83, before getting fired due to his behaviour while intoxicated. He formed his current band to rival his ex-bandmates, with the goal of playing faster and harder than them.
Mustaine spoke about his Metallica feud in an interview with Guitar World last year. “In my mind, there is no competition between Megadeth and Metallica,” he said. “We’re different bands, and I believe Megadeth has been more consistent. But the sad thing is that the drama between us has been more popular than the music ever was.”
