Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine once walked out of emergency neck surgery after Metallica’s manager insulted him.
During an appearance on Steve-O’s Wild Ride! podcast, the vocalist and guitarist said that the incident occurred during the 2010-2011 ‘Big Four’ tour, which included the two bands, Anthrax, and Slayer.
“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 told the reporter.
“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.'”
Mustaine described the comment as “a gutless thing to say,” so he sat up off the surgeon’s table at the last possible moment, demanded to be injected with “steroids and shit,” and went on to play the gig. “But it turned out great as far as healing is concerned,” he joked.
Mustaine underwent surgery on two vertebrae after developing stenosis after decades of headbanging. “I don’t plan on headbanging for another 30 years,” he told me. “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.”
Mustaine was Metallica’s original lead guitarist, but he quit before the band produced their debut album, ‘Kill ‘Em All,’ in 1983, after being sacked for intoxication.
In other news, Mustaine must apparently pay his own former manager Corey Brennan almost $1.4 million (£1.1 million) in a new legal settlement after he allegedly “unexpectedly and unceremoniously terminated” a contract, “stating no reason for the termination”.
The leader also recently claimed Peter Frampton was “talking out of his ass” when he blamed Megadeth for one of his recent tour cancellations. They cancelled a play in Richmond, Virginia in September “due to unexpected and unpredictable circumstances,” and Frampton did the same two days later.
Megadeth performed ‘Liar’ live for the first time since 2006 in August, at a gig in California.
Over the summer, Megadeth’s new bassist, James LoMenzo, revealed that the band was “actively” working on new music. It happened after Megadeth parted ways with long-time bassist David Ellefson following charges against him.
Metallica, meanwhile, will continue their M72 tour into 2025 with a run of US performances alongside Pantera and Limp Bizkit. They will also perform at the Sick New World Festival in Las Vegas next April.