SO FAR, SO GOOD.... SO
WHAT!?!
In 1982 Dave Mustaine left a band called
Panic to join Metallica. He played lead guitar for them live and wrote
and recorded
some demo songs with them. I have seen a
Metallica Rockumentary which says that after Metallica got signed they
had to drive
from LA to New York. On the trip Dave got
preity drunk and got 'very aggressive and destructive'. The crunch apparently
came when James Hetfield brought his two
Pitbull Terriers to the studio and Dave kicked one, James started shouting
at him
and so Dave punched him. This was the final
straw for James and Lars and they gave Dave his marching orders, later
going on
to say he had only been a temporary member
anyway.
After Dave left Metallica he was bent on
revenge and intent on starting a band who would be better than Metallica.
So he
moved to a small apartment in Hollywood and
formed the band Fallen Angels. Apparently Fallen Angels didn't get to far
so
they split up.
On New Years day 1983 Dave was woken by the
sound of someone playing bass. Dave was in a very hungover state and so
rock folk lore says he threw a plant pot
threw the apartment below's window. Some time after that Dave was able
to listen to
the bass player while he was in a more relaxed
mood. He liked what he heard and went to talk with the bassist. The bassist
was called David Ellefson and the two Daves
decided to start up a band.
The band was of course Megadeth, Dave getting
the name from a leaflet that came through his door and also because he
wanted Megadeth's live shows to be as powerful
as a nuclear explosion.
Soon after the band was formed drummer Lee
Rash and guitarist Kerry King joined. I don't know anything about Lee Rash
who apparently disappeared after leaving
Megadeth but Kerry King was at the time and still is a member of Slayer.
They were
still looking for another guy to sing for
them but the only guy they could find was some freak with make up on. The
story goes
that he turned up for rehearsal once with
all his make up on and a six pack of beer. Dave took hi beer but told the
singer to
leave. So after drinking the beer (and probably
some more of his own as well) Dave decided to give singing a go. At first
Dave
had trouble playing both guitar and singing
so he got the nickname the angry whiner or something from his friends.
Once Dave had got the vocals sorted this
lineup did some gigs (between 5 and 10) before Kerry had to make the decision
between Slayer and Megadeth, he chose Slayer
and remains in the band to this day. Some time between Kerry leaving and
1984 beginning Lee Rash left the band to
where no one knows. Kerry and Lee were replaced by Chris Poland on guitar
and
Gar Samuelson on drums. They had played together
before in a jazz fusion band. This helped the new band lock together
quickly and they were away again.
The band recorded a three track demo tape
and circulated it among underground metal fans in LA, the response was
good
which was encouraging for the band showing
they were on the right track.
In 1984 Megadeth were signed to Combat records,
a small unknown label presumably based in LA. Combat gave Megadeth a
recording advance of $8000 but unfortunately
the band spent about half of that on 'recreation' (basically drugs and
alcohol).
Combat refused to give Megadeth any more
money and so the album was recorded for $4000. So consequently that is
why
the album sounds sort of rough. Anyway the
album was well received by critics and the few fans who bought the album.
The tour that followed was something of a
low key affair. It was called the Killing For A Living tour, was in support
of Exciter
and lasted about six weeks. According to
Jr during that time the band wrecked three cars and four vans. Jr
also called the tour
something different from Killing For A Living,
he called it 'The Tour From Hell'! And so Megadeth drag themselves back
to the
studio to start recording their next album.
ONTO
THE NEXT ALBUM
[History written by Josh]
[http://www.btinternet.com/~steve.e.morgan/page6.htm]