Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine doesn’t think politics is for him: “No, no, that wouldn’t work”

In 2012, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine was interviewed by Metal Hammer, discussing everything from the making of their 1992 album Countdown To Extinction to that year’s US election battle.

Countdown To Extinction was a colossal success, reaching No. 2 in the US and No. 5 in the UK charts, and was known for its political overtones. One of their most famous songs, ‘Symphony of Destruction’, offered social commentary. Mustaine imagined an citizen as the head of a puppet regime but the country is run by a phantom government.

Mustaine would later claim during a 2012 Singapore concert that the US government was behind several shootings but he refutes this. “Well, people don’t see things in context,” he says, sighing again. “I was really impressed with Singapore – it’s a beautiful place. I brought that up [his outlandish claim about the US government] in an effort to say how much I liked Singapore.

It didn’t come out the way that I wanted it to. The sad thing is that I was vilified, and the guy who had said that in the beginning [US pro-gun activist Larry Pratt], he didn’t get attacked like that.”

Kanye West announced his incredible intention to run for President recently. It’s funny to compare this with Mustaine’s reaction when he’s asked in the interview about doing that. “No, no, that wouldn’t work,” he says. “They’ll probably bring up the fact that I did heroin and things like that.”

It’s been quite the exciting year for followers of the thrash legends. Mustaine told a London crowd at Wembley Arena that he was thankfully cancer-free after winning his battle with throat cancer.

Megadeth then announced that their sixteenth album was on the way back in February but COVID-19 temporarily stopped that. Now though, bassist David Ellefson announced last month that the band are back in the studio and finally working on recording.