FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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Question: Do you know Dave's Old home address when he was living
in San Francisco?
Answer: Believe it or not...It was sent to me by a friend. It
was found in an old telephone interview. Here it is...oh, one last thing,
please do NOT write to this address. He doesn't live there anymore, someone
else does. I have no idea where this is actually located, if someone finds
out for me, I will post it.
6022 Romaine Rd.,
#8 San Francisco, CA
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Question: Why does Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good
sound so bad?
Answer: Well, it's sort of the band's fault and sort of not.
See, Combat Records gave Megadeth $8000 to make the album with. The band,
however, was at a stage in their life where they were focused on drugs
as much as they were on music. So, they spent half of the money on drugs,
before they even got into the studio. When they finally started making
the record, they had to fire the producer halfway, since they couldn't
afford to pay him if he stayed on any longer. With the producer gone, Dave
Mustaine and the band had to finish producing the album themselves. This
is one of Dave's early production efforts, and it shows. The sound quality
was bad and the mixing was terrible, finally leaving what we now know as
"Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!". So, it's the band's
fault the blew the money on drugs, but not their fault that they were such
bad producers. (Sorry guys!) But, in their defense it *was* one of their
first times.
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Question: If "Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good!"
was so badly produced, why doesn't Megadeth want to re-release it?
Answer: The band would like to re-release the album but their
label mates at the time managed to screw them over and Dave, nor the other
members of the band, want to give Combat Records anymore money than they
have to.
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Question: Is it true that "Killing Is My Business... And Business
Is Good!" was released with an earlier version containing an "extra" song?
Answer: Yes, this is true. The first version of "Killing Is
My Business...And Business Is Good!" was released with an "extra" song,
"These Boots" by Nancy Sinatra. However, Nancy and the song's other authors
were not Happy and wanted to take even more money/royalties. To avoid a
lawsuit and being charged even more than they already were, the band took
the song off and re-released the album.
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Question: Is it true that Mechanix and Metallica's the 4 Horsemen
are the same song but with different lyrics?
Answer: Yup. The only difference is that, Megadeth sped their
version up about a 1000mph and used the original lyrics.
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Question: What other songs did Dave write when he was with Metallica?
Answer: Metal Militia, Phantom Lord and Jump In the Fire off
the Kill'em All album and supposedly, he has written a few more songs that
were used on later Metallica albums but never recieved any credit for them.
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Question: Is the guitar solo in Mechanix the same as The Four Horsemen
which appeared on Metallica's Kill'em All?
Answer: No, it was not the same. In fact, Hammet was told to
play the first few bars of Dave's solo and then do something different.
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Question: Did Dave write anymore songs that he didn't get credit
for?
Answer: No, he actually recieved credit for "Ride the Lightning"
and "Call of Ktulu" from Metallica's '84 album Ride the Lightning. He later
used the same four chords from Call of Ktulu in the intro to Hangar 18.
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Question: What is Kerry King's (of Slayer) connection to Megadeth?
Answer: Kerry King (of Slayer) played with Megadeth when the
band was still in early stages, around 1984. Also, Megadeth toured with
Slayer a few years back.
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Question: What DO those special messages for Japan on the Hanger
18 singles say anyways?
Answer: The message on the Hanger 18 single talks about their
views on the supposed military base called Hanger 18 with is supposed to
contain aliens. The other has a brief apology over what they said (in Japanese)
on the last message.
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Question: Does Dave ever use that Jackson double neck King V guitar
that he played on the Rust In Peace Tour/Holy Wars video?
Answer: No, Dave used that guitar for the RIP tour but stopped
playing it live because it was really heavy.
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Question: Did MTV have a problem with some of the songs on "Countdown
To Extinction"?
Answer: They sure did. MTV didn't like the lyrics to "Skin O'
My Teeth" because they felt that the band was promoting suicide. And they
didn't like the video for "Symphony Of Destruction" because of an assassination
scene (the video deals with a corrupt President) that they felt was "too
harsh". Dave's response?: "We said, 'You know what, the video registers
good in our hearts, and we feel we've done the best job we can do. Whatever
you need to do to it in order to get the point across to kids out there
that we're being led down a one-way street off a cliff by the people that
are ruling this country right now, go ahead.' I think it's more important
that our point got across than the fact of whether or not we had to soften
up a certain scene or lose it altogether."
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Question: Who is the women's voice on the song Countdown to Extinction?
Answer: Maybe you can tell us.
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Question: Who is the speaking voice on Captive Honour?
Answer: It's Nick's voice "LIFE, what do you mean life, I ain't
got a life"
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Question: In the beginning of Symphony Of Destruction, just before
the band kicks in, what does the choir sing?
Answer: It's probably something in Latan or Italian but so far
others have been able to listen to it closely and make out the words "Silence".
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Question: Where is New World Order and Crown of Worms from?
Answer: Both songs are left overs from the Countdown recording
sessions.They never made it past the demo stage but when Megadeth, Arizona
was up, the band decided to put those songs on the web site and make them
available to the public for the first time. The responce was so good, they
decided to put them on the cd singles for A Toute Le Monde and Train of
Consequences. Crown of Worms, as reported by Dave M. at the time, was going
to be a hidden track on the next album, Cryptic Writings, which is due
out in 1997 but the band has decided against that and the song has been
pulled from the track list.
New World Order was written originally for another band, Zeofate. However,
Zeofate never made use of the song, so Megadeth recorded a demo of it.
It's extra demo from the Countdown to Extinction recordings and was first
made available on the A Tout Le Monde promo.
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Question: What's Megadeth's connection to Nine Inch Nails and Trent
Reznor?
Answer: Trent Reznor remixed "Symphony Of Destruction" off the
"Countdown To Extinction" album. The remix is called "Symphony Of Destruction
[Extended Gristle Mix]". There is a video for this song with this mix on
the "Exposure Of A Dream" home video.
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Question: What is the Gristle Mix and the Holy Wars Schwarzkopf
Mix?
Answer: The Gristle Mix, or Gristle Edit is when Trent Reznor
took a bunch of Megadeth songs and put a whole bunch of really weird sounds
in them. It's in the usual Trent Reznor style of "what in the world did
he think up now?" There is also a video for Symphony of Destruction with
this edit. The Holy Wars Schwarzkopf Mix was remixed by Sascha Koneitzko
of KMFDM.
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Question: What songs have this special mix?
Answer: Symphony Of Destruction. Trent uses one of the riffs
from Take No prisoners in this remix too.
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Question: How long are the 2 versions of the Gristle Mix.
Answer: The edited version is about 4 minutes and there is a
video for it. The extended version is 9:50 minutes.
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Question: I heard there were 2 different pressings of Countdown
To Extinction in the U.S. What are the changes?
Answer: There were 2 different versions released. The big difference
was in the way Vic looked on the CD. On one version, there is a photonegative
of Vic on the cd. So, he looks kinda grey-ish. On the other version, Vic
is plain black and looks like he has a robe on.
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Question: Wasn't there a Megadeth game released a while ago?
Answer: Yes there was. This was released after Countdown To
Extinction and Dave admits that it was a marketting ploy just to get their
singles higher spots in the charts. I believe this was only released fully
in the UK but you could probably pick it up in an import store somewhere.
The packaging was a 10" box, which I may be able to get a picture of eventually.
Here's an explanation of the game and how it works.
1.How to play; The game is designed with a board similar to a Monopoly
board. There are 50 spaces. On just about every space, it tells you either
to take one of a variety of cards ( Guest Pass, Photo Pass, Press Release,
Crew Pass, and Access All Areas ) or it tells you to go backwards or forewards
several spaces, and gives some reason for the move -- "23 Hour Drive To
Next Gig; Back 2", or "Meet Fans At Instore; Forward 5" for example. A
few spaces are the "Blag A Pass" spaces.
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Question: What is the "Baby Face CD"?
Answer: The Baby Face CD was a promotional album that was given
to Mike Graben, by Capitol records (I think 230 copies) and Mike had a
contest where people could win them.
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Question: What does the number on the "Baby Face CD" mean?
Answer: We don't know at this time but it's a damn good question.
It's probably a cd model number to keep track of how many were printed.
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Question: Why was the A Toute Le Monde video banned from MTV and
Much Music?
Answer: ATLEM was banned because it dealt with suicide and MTV
said that Megadeth was promoting it. Much Music never releases specifics
but they're reason for banning it was because "inappropriate" for the viewer
or some crap like that.
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Question: What is Dave saying in the song A Toute Le Monde?
Answer: First off, Dave is speaking French and here is the loose
translation: A Tout Le Monde -- To Everyone A Tout Mes Amis -- To All My
Friends Je Vous Aime -- I Love You ( all ) Je Dois Partir -- I Have To
Leave (Or I must leave)
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Question: Who are the woman and child that appear in the video?
Answer: That is Dave's wife Pam and his son, Justis.
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Question: Was there a video for Reckoning day?
Answer: Apparently there was but as usual, MTV banned that one
too and so did Much Music.
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Question: What is the "Youthanasia" cover about?
Answer: Straight from Dave himself: "Kids have been hung out
to dry in this society. It's a fact. As soon as kids show autonomy, some
parents are right there to clip it off."
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Question: Who did the cover art for the album?
Answer: Hugh Syme did the artwork. He's done a majority of Rush'
CD's and his most recent project was the new Iron Maiden album. (Check
out his work on it, it's so gory, I love it) No, babies weren't really
hung upside down, it's all computer generated graphics, although the babies
used were real. You can check out how they did it in the Evolver video.
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Question: Those "Youthanasia" pictures, like the one on the CD itself,
are totally different than Megadeth's other CD pictures. Who took the pictures
this time?
Answer: The pictures, like the one on the actual CD, were taken
by world- renowned photographer Richard Avedon. He is mostly known for
photographing the Beatles.
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Question: I heard there were 2 different pressings of Youthanasia
in the U.S. Like, the songs were the same but the cover work was different.
Answer: There is more than one version of artwork on the Youth
cd. If you bought the CD right when it came out, the title is listed only
on the side and the Megadeth logo is medium-sized on the top. The picture
for Killing Road takes up the entire page. The other version: On the bottom
of the cover it says "Youthanasia" in yellow lettering and the Megadeth
logo is quite large. The picture for Killing Road takes up only half of
its page.
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Question: Any difference in the lyrics?
Answer: There is actually. The only one that I know of, is during
Black Curtains. There is a section where Dave sort of whispers a phrase
(see the next question to find out what he says). In one Version, those
lyrics are not printed, in another, they are.
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Question: In Black Curtains, just before the solo, what is Dave
saying?
Answer: Dave says "Somethings under my skin. Somethings very
strange. Playing with my mind/Tempting me to do you in.
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Question: At the beginning of some songs (Train of Consequences),
and in concert, I hear Nick or Dave saying "Ein, Twei, Zeir, Feir". What
does that mean?
Answer: They're starting off the song by counting to 4 in German.
"1, 2, 3, 4"
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Question: Didn't Megadeth set up some sort of food drive on the
Youthanamerica tour?
Answer: They did and it was such a cool idea. Here are the main
details.
MEGADETH'S "FEED THE HUNGRY" FOOD DRIVE
Megadeth is instituting a Food Drive at each of their concerts. The
first 200 of you who. If you bring ten (10) pounds of canned food, along
with your ticket to the event, you will be presented with a special pass.
This pass will allow you to stay after the show, and approximately 15 minutes
later, Megadeth will meet and greet each one of you. Help Megadeth feed
the hungry!
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Question: Any cool promotional events during this album? (Asides
from the food drive)
Answer: There was. Megadeth was one of the first bands to ever
put their tour on the internet. The band, Capitol Records, John Dumas and
Rob (Sorry, can't remember his last name) created the web site, Megadeth,
Arizona. Your probably asking yourself, what in the world is Megadeth,
Arizona and where is it?
Megadeth, Arizona...The Story
You're probably wondering "what in the hell is Megadeth, Arizona?"
We figure you'll guess it's about the band Megadeth, and it's something
to do with the Halloween release of their new album, but what's up with
the Arizona part?
Here's the story:
To record Youthanasia, Megadeth packed up and moved to Arizona where
they built a unique recording studio in a warehouse on the outskirts of
Phoenix. When they were finished recording, the studio was split in two
pieces and trucked back to Los Angeles.
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Question: What status did Youthanasia reach in the US?
Answer: The album reached Platinum.
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Question: I heard Youthanasia was banned in Singapore?
Answer: It was but you know what the funny thing is, it reached
GOLD status in their black martet.
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Question: Why was the title of the new album changed?
Answer: Apparently he and his manager both got the finished
album cover for 'Needles and Pins' and they both agreed it sucked. He said
that the woman in the picture was supposed to look like a combination of
all races, like a Mongolian type person. She was naked but there was no
cheesy shots... And she was holding a voodoo doll sticking pins into it,
but he said the voodoo doll looked like a chicken breast they were preparing
for a Bbq!
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Question: What was the old cover going to be like?
Answer: Dave said that he has been talking to the guy that did
the cover art for "Youthanasia" and "Countdown To Extinction", so don't
expect Vic Rattlehead to be on the cover, as he wasn't on either "Youthanasia"
or "Countdown To Extinction". As Dave says, it's not like Vic's presence
on the cover increases sales or anything. Some people have phoned the Cyber
Army Hotline (You need a membership to call that number) and there is a
recording from Dave talking about the cover. Here's a description of it:
There will be this really fine (female) model naked with a bright light
behind her (so there won't be nudity). She'll be holding this voodoo doll
and sticking a syringe into it. There will also be all these pins in the
doll. Some will have skulls on the top, some with be like old and rusty.
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Question: OK, so then what will the new album cover look like? And
is there a story behind it?
Answer: Cryptic Writings are the writings that voodoo hobo people
would write on walls to either give a warning to a bad thing or a good
thing near by. The album cover is going to have Megadeth written in a half
circle with 'Cryptic Writings' making up the other half. Underneathe the
writing is supposed to be some crosshairs, like a north, south, east, west
thing. And at the end of each one is supposed to be some 'veve' writings.
The back ground is supposed to be some kind of chalky wall.
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Question: What does the new symbol mean?
Answer: It means that you can enter into a premises that it's
safe and there is no poison. It's a warning telling you where you can and
can not go. It's also a direction. Most of the hobos were people who practiced
voodoo. They would go from building to building whether it was a shanty
or it was a shack. They would go in there and they'd find chalk writings
on the wall that told them if it was a safe place. It was usually done
with a burnt stick. It's called a veve. (pronounced vay vay)
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Question: Where did the album title come from?
Answer: It came from the song 'Use the Man'.
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Question: Any cool promotional stuff done yet?
Answer: The Official Megadeth fan club, The Cyber Army, has
been putting on some special events for their fan club members. The first
one, was a handful of lucky people would be able to fly out to Nashville
while the band was still in the studio and would be able to listen to some
of the new tracks off of the new album plus get to hang out with the band
for the weekend. That was a big success and that spawned Bootcamp II. In
this case, some other people would be lucky enough to get to go to Arizona
to see the second concert of the tour PLUS get a 3 hour soundcheck AND
a meet n'greet with the band. I don't know how succesful this trip was.
The next Bootcamp is going to be held in The U.K. and consists of the same
thing. There are more details coming on this. You can check the Cyber Army
Homepage for more details and events. Megadeth, Arizona also re-opened.
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Question: Secret Gig? What Secret Gig?
Answer: That's right, it was a secret. It was actually supposed
to be just a warm up gig for the band. The band performed under a different
name "Vic and The Rattleheads".
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Question: Was the second concert of the new tour really broadcasted
live?
Answer: Yes it was broadcasted live but of course not the entire
concert. The netcast was missing about 5 songs. Here are the 2 set lists
for the concert. The songs in blue are the ones that were not broadcasted.
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Question: Why was the bands Ex-Tour manager fired during the Youthanasia
show?
Answer: He was fired from his position because after a concert,
Dave saw him being rude to some fans. Dave fired him on the spot.
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Question: When was Megadeth's first headline tour?
Answer: Peace Sells...But Who’s Buying Tour.
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Question: What's Megadeth's connection to Aerosmith?
Answer: In August of 1993, Megadeth went on tour with Aerosmith
on the "Get A Grip" Tour. Dave came up on stage and began to talk to the
audience. He then took an aerosmith T-Shirt and blew his nose in it.
I read somewhere that Steven Tyler was introducing Dave to his wife
or someone and he said "this is Dave Mustaine, he's Megadeth" and Dave
said "No I’m not, there are 4 of us" and Tyler says "Yeah, bullshit, you’re
Megadeth and I'm Aerosmith" Dave later said "That's when I knew Tyler was
an asshole"
"I would like to thank Aerosmith for all of this awesome stage space
they gave us. I'm about to crack my fuckin' head open on the drum riser."
-Dave Mustaine
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Question: What is this I keep hearing about Megadeth handing out
earplugs to their fans at one of their shows?
Answer: Straight from Dave's mouth, "We didn't get really too
involved in the whole affair, other than just saying, 'It's cool to be
able to have the choice to protect your hearing or not', because some kids
dig the band so much, they'll get right next to the speaker, 'cos that's
the only place they have to see us up close. But when you stand close,
it's like standing next to a jumbo jet taking off and the decibel level
can hurt your hearing. In as much as I can understand why they would want
to get close to see us, I wouldn't subject my hearing to that kind of treatment
for anybody!"
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Question: Have their been any funny incidents where it was all caught
on tape and pressed?
Answer: Yes, there just happen to be a few of them out there.
Paranoid
The most famous is during Paranoid. Nick thought they were going to
extend the song and as the rest of the band stopped, Nick kept on going.
Dave can be heard yelling "Nick, Nick, NICK!!" Nick says "Fuck me Running"
The Disintegrators
From what I have been told, at 0:23 seconds into the song, you can
hear a voice say “666”
99 Ways To Die
At the end of 99ways to Die, you can hear Dave saying "Son of a bitch".
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Question: Has any of the members ever forgotten any of the lyrics
to songs or just screwed up entirely?
Answer: I know of a few incidents where this has happened.
Hangar 18 - Live
The lyrics went like this: Welcome to our fortress tall" He's singing
"Foreign life-forms inventoried..." At this point, he seems to forget the
rest of words and repeats the phrase "Foreign life forms inventoried"
Europe 1993
In Sweating Bullets, Dave says "Hello me, it's me again. You can subdue,
but never tame me. Thinkin' down to your level." He skips over "It gives
me a migrane headache."
In the third verse, he misjudges his time and has to say "Well me it's
nice talkin' t' m'self" being hurried at the end.
In Ashes In Your Mouth, at the guitar part after the solos where there's
no bass and no drums, Dave and Marty are a little out of synch.
Angry Again
Milton Keynes Bowl show in 1993: During the last chorus, Dave and Jr.
are singing...
Engaged in crime I grasp my throat,
Enraged my mind starts to smoke,
Enforce a mental overload...
But Dave goes right from the first on to the third one, and then came
back to the second one after he got to 'mental' and realized that he was
wrong because with Jr. singing it wasn't too difficult to hear that something
was wrong.
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Question: Doesn't Marty have a guitar column with a guitar magazine?
Answer: Yes, Marty has a column with Guitar School. His first
Column appeared in the September 1992 edition and I believe he stopped
writing columns for them when Youthanasia began recording. I may be wrong
on that.
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Question: How come foreign countries (outside the US and Canada)
get bonus tracks on THEIR versions olf the Megadeth CD's?!
Answer: The reason is simple. Other countries like Japan for
example, have strict tax laws and other government crap to deal with and
that makes it hard for the fans in those countries to get the albums.
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Question: What bands have covered Megadeth?
Answer: Yes, there have been a few bands. UK band TAIGERTAILZ
(now WAZBONES) covered "Peace Sells...but Who's Buying" on their "BANZAI"
album. German power metal band "RAGE" covered "Symphony of Destruction"
in Kyoto, Japan.
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Question: Will Megadeth ever release a live album?
Answer: Nope. Dave said the only time they would do that, is
if they ever broke up or if they had to fulfill a contract obligation.
There are however singles that do have live tracks.
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Question: Have the band participated on any other records?
Answer: Yes. Dave and David performed some back-up vocals on
Malice’ Licence to Kill album. They sung on Chain Gang Woman. This was
around 1987/88.
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Question: What Anthrax song features a sample of Dave Mustaine taken
from a MTV interview?
Answer: "Who Put This Together" (from the Got The Time single)
features a sample of Dave saying "The youth of America wants to thrash
right now," taken from MTV's Fast & Loud heavy metal special from 1987.
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Question: So, what is the deal with the Dave being kicked out of/quitng
Metallica?
Answer: There's a lot of stories that you can hear about this
break up, in fact, it's probably one of the most talked about break ups
in music history. The best story and the one that everyone seems to be
sticking to now a days, is the fact that Dave's problem with drugs and
alchohol exceeded "tolerable" limits. Apparently the one 2 people that
actually know the entire truth outside of the band(s) is Johnny Z and his
Wife Marsha. No one knows if Dave really kicked James' Dogs and as for
the other rumurs that you have heard:
"I really don't want to start anything with them, I don't think there's
any way to win that one for me. If I say nice things about them, I'm Iying.
If I say bad things, it looks like l'm trying to generate some sort of
publicity. So what I've done is try to avoid the subject as much as possible--which
isn't easy. When I'm asked about their album, I tell everyone that I really
like it, that it's a great album. But if they ask me about them personally,
that's another matter. They're dicks who really don't know as much as they
think they do. You've got to remember, they gave it to me pretty bad when
I left the group. It's one thing to part ways and just bury the hatchet,
but they were trying to bury it in my head. I know how they felt about
me and tell anyone who'll listen that I was a drunk who was holding the
band back--that was a load of shit. Things weren't going fast enough for
them, so they blamed me. The good part is that now I have the chance to
make them eat their words. I feel sorry for them because of what they've
had to go through recently, but that really doesn't change my feelings."(Mustaine,
1987)
"A lot of that was just me getting frustrated and putting it all out
at the one time. It was blown way out of proportion. At interviews, the
guy would ask a question that he knew would get an answer that would make
it look like I was angry with Metallica and I hated that. A lot of it was
one magazine that wouldn't give up the issue until I went out of my way
to resolve the situation. Now Lars Ulrich and I are good friends and we
drink together. It's great that we can be friends now because when I was
in Metallica, we argued a lot and that led to me drinking excessively which
made the situation worse. That's in the past now and I want to look towards
good things in the future."(Mustaine)
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Question: What religion were Dave's parents?
Answer: They were Jehova Witnesses
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Question: When and where were the guys in Megadeth born?
Answer: Dave: L.A. Mesa, CA: 9/13/61 David: Jackson, MN: 11/12/64
Marty: Washington, D.C.: 12/8/62 Nick: Munich, Germany: 7/23/64
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Question: How many nick names does David (Ellefson) have?
Answer: I know of 2 so far. He's known as Junior and as "Little"
David.
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Question: Wasn’t Megadeth Pink Floyd’s first choice as a band name?
Answer: Yes. Pink Floyd USED to be called "The Megadeaths" and
then changed their name to Pink Floyd.
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Question: What members of the band are married and when?
Answer: Dave was married to Pam (no date at the current time),
David was married to Juley Foley, (no date at the current time) Marty was
married to Laurie Sato (no date at the current time) and Nick isn't married.
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Question: What drugs was Dave addicted to?
Answer: From a Guitar School magazine interview, Dave stated
that when recording "Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good!" I
was doing pot [marijuana], coke [cocaine] and heroin. When recording "Peace
Sells...But Who's Buying?" I was doing speed, coke [cocaine] and heroin.
When recording "So Far, So Good... So What!" I was doing heroin and freebase
and during "Rust In Peace" I was addicted to cigarettes.
In Spin magazine, Dave said, "I used to have a music stand in front
of my mic stand when I was recording vocals, and there was a line of dope
and a freebase pipe on it. It's a miracle I'm still alive, really."
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Question: Is Dave totally clean now?
Answer: "Countdown To Extinction" was the first album where
Dave recorded totally clean from drugs. Although, during the CTE tour,
he had a small problem with valuim pills and at one point, almost overdosed
on them. Luckily, his wife found them and made Dave flush them down the
toilet in the back of the tour bus.
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Question: Does Nick really believe in Aliens?
Answer: He sure does. To quote Dave M in the Rusted Peices video:
"something said"