Megadeth rocker David Ellefson has given props to thrash legends Metallica, saying that his band – along with many other metal groups -“owe everything to Metallica.“
As most fans know, Dave Mustaine kicked off his career as the lead guitarist in Metallica before being booted by drummer Lars Ulrich and replaced with Kirk Hammett back 1983 as the band were about to record their debut record.
While Mustaine went on to find success after starting Megadeth, there was bad blood between the two groups for decades, though Mustaine has since reconciled with his former band.
In a new interview with Detroit’s WRIF radio station, Ellefson was asked whether or not he and Mustaine kept an eye on what Metallica was doing in the early years of Megadeth, with Ellefson replying:
“Oh, of course. I mean, look, we are all just a branch off the Metallica family tree.”
“I mean, let’s face it. Especially Megadeth, with Dave being there, and then me being a branch off of Dave with Megadeth. So, I mean, look, we owe everything to Metallica. Those guys broke down the doors for every one of us — Anthrax, Slayer. Bands today — Lamb of God, Pantera — none of this would have happened without Metallica being up there as the 800-pound gorilla just carving the path through the jungle that would have never let heavy metal in,” Ellefson explained.
“The stuff that they able to do and the size and the scope of which they were able to break those doors down, it changed all of our lives — as musicians, as fans, as everything. That’s why I think when they did the ‘Big Four’ [shows] with us in 2010 and ’11, that was just such a great olive branch,” he said in reference to Metallica’s invitation to Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax to tour together under the ‘Big Four’ banner.
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The Megadeth bassist continued, “As Scott Ian [Anthrax] said, it’s like we’re all brothers of the same family, it’s just that one of our brothers went off and became Microsoft, and that was Metallica. It’s, like, how the hell did you do that? That’s amazing. You changed the world.”
“But the fact that they came back and, again, offered that olive branch to us and just said, ‘Hey, we were all in this together. Let’s celebrate what we did together so many years ago.'”
He added, “And I think that speaks volumes to just how cool Metallica is.”
We love a big, happy, metal family.
Check out ‘Nothing Else Matters’ by Metallica:
