Wow, where to begin with this post?  Okay, first I’ll start where the drama happens and then I’ll give you the back history.

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth recently did an interview with Greg Prato of RollingStone.com.  You can read the interview here .  Anyway, the juicy part of the interview is this bit:

RollingStone.com: As far as you know, is it true that on the last METALLICA tour Cliff Burton was on before he died, the band was planning on firing Lars Ulrich at the tour’s end?

Mustaine: That’s what Scott [Ian, ANTHRAX guitarist] told me. He said that when METALLICA got home, that James [Hetfield], Cliff [Burton] and Kirk [Hammett] were going to fire Lars.

Wow, some pretty inflammatory words there.  Now we all know that Dave Mustaine has some BIG beef with Metallica ever since they booted him from the band.  In 1981, Dave answered an ad for a lead guitarist for the band (that was placed by Lars, keep that in mind) and was in the band for about 2 years.  The major reason Dave was fired from the band (other than being an all around douchebag) was because he was a big time drinker.  Metallica are not strangers to the booze, they were nicknamed Alcoholica, but Dave would keep on drinking and be just a dick to everyone.  It never pays to mix happy drunks with angry drunks, remember that kids when you go drinking.  Anyway, Metallica went from L.A. to San Francisco because bass player Cliff Burton wouldn’t join the band unless they moved there.  Metallica was ready to record their first record with Megaforce Records which is in New York.  So the guys packed up and headed East.  By this time, Dave was driving the band nuts with his douchebaggery: drinking, drug use, letting his dog scratch up the old bass player’s car (Ron McGovney), electrocuting McGovney (poured beer on him that got into the bass pickups and when he played got shot across the room.  No wonder the poor bastard left the band.), and other crap that was annoying.  When the guys got to New York, they fired Dave, dropped him off at a Greyhound bus station so he could sit and stew the entire ride across the country.  If you ask me, the bastard deserved it.  Dave forms Megadeth, but still couldn’t let the Metallica thing go.

Which brings us to today.  So Dave says this stuff in an interview, and Anthrax was quick to respond via Twitter:

Story’s not true. Little does anyone know but Lars actually owns the name, good luck ever kicking him out: http://snipr.com/o9aky

That’s not all kiddies.  Dave was contacted by Classicrockmagazine.com about Anthrax’s quick reply to the situation, and this is what Dave had to say:

Ling: Given that Scott Ian wasted little time in issuing a denial, do you now regret breaking the story about Metallica’s alleged proposed sacking of Lars Ulrich?

Mustaine: No. It was something Scott told me. I was trying to help him promote his autobiography. I love Scott and would never do anything to hurt him – never.  But it’s what he told me and I know other people who’ve heard it, too. With all the things that are out there on the net, I know that Scott’s having a bad time. People are starting to say, ‘We believe Dave and Scott’s a liar. He lied about the thing with Dan [Nelson, the singer who controversially parted company with Anthrax]’. That’s the last thing I wanted. I love Scott. I wish I could just make this thing go away. But I didn’t say it, he did.

Ling: So how do you explain your role in all of this?

Mustaine: Like I said, I was trying to help Scott. I wanted to say something that would make people think, ‘Oh shit, I’ve got to have Scott Ian’s bio’. I was not trying to make them think, ‘Oh, Scott’s a gossip’ or, ‘Hey, don’t believe Scott’. I’m really fucking mad that people are saying bad stuff about him.

Ling: It’s even been implied that you ‘planted’ the question with the interviewer from Rolling Stone to ensure it achieved maximum publicity.

Mustaine: Yeah, how ridiculous is that? This is Megadeth, not Kiss.

Now he’s dissing Kiss?  Does this man have any morals left?  So in response to that interview (which was given by Dave Ling) Scott Ian contacted Metal Hammer to straighten a few things out:

. . . contrary to the report, he did not deny the story via Twitter.
“I’m on vacation post triumphant John Bush Sonisphere show. Never issued a denial on the Anthrax Twitter. That was our webmaster. I have my own Twats? Twits? Oh, and I don’t have an autobiography coming out, nor does the band.”

So of course Dave had to reply to that statement with this:

Dave Mustaine has issued the following statement in response to Scott Ian‘s [Anthrax] short e-mail to Metal Hammer in which Scott claimed he never denied telling Dave Mustaine that Metallica wanted to fire [Lars] Ulrich. DM: “I’d like to thank Scott for clearing that up, and like I said, he is my friend, I love him and I’ll stick by him. This all just makes me sick to my stomach, er, wait, no that was from the mountainous platters of sushi at Nobu’s in London last night!!!”

That is a lot of back and forth, isn’t it?  Now if you ever watched that craptastic documentary Some Kind of Monster, you may recall a scene in which Dave and the boys from Metallica had a sit down to sort of work through all the emotions still brewing from Mustaine being fired.

I don’t think Dave can ever look passed himself and will be a perpetual victim until he realizes that it was HIS fuckups that got him tossed out of Metallica.  So until that day happens, expect this story to get rehashed over and over.  Dave, it’s been almost 30 years, you’ve sold millions of albums, Metallica pretty much sucks since The Black Album, get the fuck over it.

Honestly, would you want to be in Metallica during the shitastic St. Anger album?  I didn’t think so.  At least Mustaine can sleep well about dodging that bullet.