So on the morning of April 11, 1983, Mustaine woke up in New York to find Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton, and their road manager standing over him. His bags were already packed.
"You're out of the band," Lars told him. "Get your stuff. You're leaving right now."
There was no warning. No second chance. Just a bus ticket and an hour to get out.
Days earlier, Dave had noticed something during their meeting with record label owner Jon Zazula in New Jersey. His name wasn't on any of the contracts. When he'd expressed concern, Lars told him he was overreacting.
They weren't overreacting. During the cross-country drive to New York - while Dave was passed out in the back of their U-Haul - the band had been listening to audition tapes from Kirk Hammett, already planning the replacement.
As Mustaine packed his gear, he made one request: "Don't use any of my stuff."
They nodded in agreement.
Hetfield drove him to the Port Authority bus terminal in silence. When they hugged goodbye, Dave noticed tears in Hetfield's eyes. Then he was alone on a four-day bus ride back to California with no money for food or water, panhandling during stops.
The betrayal shattered him. But somewhere during those four days, the shock converted to something else. He found a pamphlet from Senator Alan Cranston that mentioned "the arsenal of megadeath." Using a borrowed pencil and a cupcake wrapper, he wrote his first post-Metallica lyrics.
By June, he was recruiting bassist David Ellefson in Los Angeles. When Mustaine spoke about Metallica during their first meeting, Ellefson would later recall, "his tone was angry and resentful."
They weren't overreacting. During the cross-country drive to New York - while Dave was passed out in the back of their U-Haul - the band had been listening to audition tapes from Kirk Hammett, already planning the replacement.
As Mustaine packed his gear, he made one request: "Don't use any of my stuff."
They nodded in agreement.
Hetfield drove him to the Port Authority bus terminal in silence. When they hugged goodbye, Dave noticed tears in Hetfield's eyes. Then he was alone on a four-day bus ride back to California with no money for food or water, panhandling during stops.
The betrayal shattered him. But somewhere during those four days, the shock converted to something else. He found a pamphlet from Senator Alan Cranston that mentioned "the arsenal of megadeath." Using a borrowed pencil and a cupcake wrapper, he wrote his first post-Metallica lyrics.
By June, he was recruiting bassist David Ellefson in Los Angeles. When Mustaine spoke about Metallica during their first meeting, Ellefson would later recall, "his tone was angry and resentful."
Then, in the summer of 1983, Metallica released Kill 'Em All.
Mustaine listened with what he describes as "a blend of wonder and indignation." There were four of his songs on the album - "The Four Horsemen" (originally his song "Mechanix"), "Jump in the Fire," "Phantom Lord," and "Metal Militia." They'd reworked them. Changed some lyrics. Kirk Hammett had mimicked the guitar solos Dave had created.
The credits were altered. On "Jump in the Fire," which Dave had primarily written, the liner notes read: "Hetfield/Ulrich/Mustaine." His name placed last.
They never contacted him. Never asked permission. They just did it.
That moment crystallized everything. "I was out for blood," Dave would later explain. "I wanted to kick Metallica's ass."
The mission became singular and absolute. When a fan wrote hoping Megadeth's songs would be faster than Metallica's, Mustaine ordered the band to speed up every song by forty beats per minute - the next day. They adopted a mission statement to be "the fastest, utmost-heaviest, most ultra-furious heavy metal band in history."
Twenty years later, after Megadeth had sold twenty million albums, Dave admitted the truth: "It wasn't enough for Megadeth to do well. I wanted Metallica to fail."
Mustaine listened with what he describes as "a blend of wonder and indignation." There were four of his songs on the album - "The Four Horsemen" (originally his song "Mechanix"), "Jump in the Fire," "Phantom Lord," and "Metal Militia." They'd reworked them. Changed some lyrics. Kirk Hammett had mimicked the guitar solos Dave had created.
The credits were altered. On "Jump in the Fire," which Dave had primarily written, the liner notes read: "Hetfield/Ulrich/Mustaine." His name placed last.
They never contacted him. Never asked permission. They just did it.
That moment crystallized everything. "I was out for blood," Dave would later explain. "I wanted to kick Metallica's ass."
The mission became singular and absolute. When a fan wrote hoping Megadeth's songs would be faster than Metallica's, Mustaine ordered the band to speed up every song by forty beats per minute - the next day. They adopted a mission statement to be "the fastest, utmost-heaviest, most ultra-furious heavy metal band in history."
Twenty years later, after Megadeth had sold twenty million albums, Dave admitted the truth: "It wasn't enough for Megadeth to do well. I wanted Metallica to fail."
Four songs. Four nodded agreements they violated. And four decades of trying to prove they'd fired the wrong guy.
(Sourced from Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir by Dave Mustaine and Joe Layden, 2010, and My Life with Deth: Discovering Meaning in a Life of Rock & Roll, by David Ellefson, 2014)