Metalli-Deth Drama

These days we all know that Dave Mustaine can be an ass. That’s just his nature and that’s the Dave Mustaine we’ve come to love and respect. However we also know that James Hetfield is catching up, with his recent Dave Mustaine mocking where he made fun of the way Dave sings on Symphony Of Destruction. As if James Hetfield has any ground to stand on when it comes to making fun of someone else’s vocals.

Through out the years you can’t really see too much of a change in the singing style of Dave Mustaine, but we’ve seen Hetfield go from a really cool singing style on the first 4 albums to “Ok, that’s a bit different” on The Black Album and just escalate to down right silly at points up to Death Magnetic. “The day that never comessssss-AH!”.

I still laugh my ass off when I see him doing that vocal routine on Some Kind Of Monster. There are just some things you should keep to yourself and do behind closed doors, no matter how much you enjoy it. Like watching Lifetime movies, drinking wine coolers, masturbating and…going through some corny-ass vocal routine. Furthermore, under no circumstances do you videotape any of these activities and publicize them.

Most recently Metallica has been nominated for induction in to the Rock N’ Roll Hall Of Fame. James spoke to Rolling Stone magazine and had the following to say:

Rolling Stone: Most likely, METALLICA will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame next April. Who will be onstage with you?

Hetfield: “Everyone that played on a record should be there. You’re considered for the Hall 25 years after your first recording, not after you formed.”

Rolling Stone: That would omit Dave Mustaine [former METALLICA guitarist and current MEGADETH mainman].

Hetfield: “He wasn’t on a record. Jason Newsted [former METALLICA bassist] should be up there — he was in the band for 14 years and played on quite a few records. And so should Robert [Trujillo; current METALLICA bassist].”

Although Dave co-wrote a handful of songs, I can understand where he’s coming from although I am more apt to take the side of Mustaine and Megadeth much faster than I ever would Metallica. I would much rather see Megadeth and Dave Mustaine be inducted on their own terms than have to stand up on stage with Lars and James. Not that he probably would, but still.

Megadeth may have not sold as many records as Metallica and may not have sold out as many arenas but I don’t think that discredits them as a band. Megadeth may not be as “big” as Metallica, but they have a fan following that I think is more underground and more metal oriented than most of the more mainstream fans of Metallica. What I’m saying is that there are not as Megadeth fans that are not metal-heads as there are Metallica fans that are not Meta-heads. When I say “Not metal-heads” I mean that they say “Oh, I love Metallica”, but that is pretty much the limit of their metal fanhood.

You can see a lot of kids that could listen to a radio and hear some top 40 song and they’ll be singing along and then Enter Sandman comes on and they get all hyped and suddenly turn in to some superfan, “Yeah, this is my jam, Dog!!!“. Now, take the same kid and a top 40 song and then replace Enter Sandman with, let’s say some more obscure Megadeth song like Devil’s Island and that kid would be clueless and probably change the station. But would that same fan change the station if Motorbreath came on? Probably, because some of the newer Metallica fans don’t reach back to the roots. To the songs that really made the band what they are today.

Dave may have contributed to the songwriting of a few songs but I don’t think he totally contributed to the success of Metallica in the long run. Dave’s got his own thing going and sooner or later he will probably be nominated for induction…if he hasn’t burned that bridge yet.