David Ellefson felt he needed to ‘hate’ Metallica due to Dave Mustaine

On behalf of former Megadeth bandmate Dave Mustaine, David Ellefson opened up about the feeling of having to "hate" Metallica.

While appearing on the Jeremy White Podcast (via Ultimate Guitar), David Ellefson discussed meeting members of Metallica after Mustaine was fired from the band.

“They were totally cool. Lars (Ulrich) was talkative, he talked most of the time and James (Hetfield) didn't say much. But they were very cool. "

"I didn't know what to make of them because I'd heard about them from conversations with Dave, talking about them and being in a band with them."

He continued: “(Mustaine) had his side, of course. It's one of those things – if you are my friend you will hate all of my enemies and you will love all of my friends too. "

"Which side do you choose? But these guys were just great and I made friends with them like all the Big Four. "

"So I was long gone from being like, 'Hey, that loyalty, when I'm in Megadeth, I kind of have to hate Metallica, what bullshit." "

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When asked what it's like to make music with his new band compared to working with Mustaine, Ellefson replied, “Well, look, every situation is different and you go in … I think the most important thing as a professional is that you go in and you have to find out quickly who's in charge, who writes the songs, what we're doing here. "

“And I think you just look at it for what it is. And I knew from the start that Dave would write most of the songs and he would have a lot of ideas.

He continued, “He had some great ideas for bass parts. He's Tchaikovsky, if you will, he's the composer who composes the songs. "

“And if he has a role you can make suggestions, but usually just do it his way. And that's the attitude over there. This attitude here is completely different … "

"I've always said with Megadeth I can do Dave Mustaine on-demand, whatever he needs, I could play."

"And that didn't just happen, we were in the room and formed the band together."

“I was there and watched it, picked it up and learned the role. And then you develop these things. "

"Look – good songs, aggressive management is important, being the right one at the right time … When I arrived in L.A. in 1983, all the sunset strip bands were …"

"I basically went to the troubadour when Wasp was signed to Capitol, it was their last show."

“I think that was one night I met James and Lars, I think they were on their show, ironically. And that was probably June or July 1983, and that was the end, so to speak. "

“Armored Saint, Ratt, Motley, this whole scene was pulled through. Obviously Metallica was the big hero of the next thing, followed by Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth. "

You can find more information on this topic in the Metal Observer.

Check out David Ellefson talking about Dave Mustaine: