MusicWhen Dave Mustaine abandoned surgery just to face Metallica’s manager, Megadeth’s leader was called a “coward” and reacted in an unexpected way: taking anti-inflammatories so as not to miss a show today at 7:22 pm

Dave Mustaine was notable not only for his pioneering musical work in thrash metal, but also for the years-long feud he maintained with Metallica. He was part of the band, before founding Megadethin the early 1980s. He ended up expelled and, even though he reinvented himself, he harbored resentment from his former colleagues.

However, he was not always in conflict with James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and company. At the turn of the century, the relationship began to improve, to the point where the two bands performed, with the Slayer and the Anthraxa tour with the so-called Big 4 of thrash metal between 2010 and 2011.

At that time, Mustaine was on good terms with Metallica. The relationship with his colleagues’ manager was not the best. He himself recalls a curious episode, towards the end of the tour, in an interview with the podcast Steve-O’s Wild Ride (via Igor Miranda website). It involves surgery and provocation from the professional in question, whose name is not mentioned by Dave.

“I remember we had a show scheduled for the Big 4 at Yankee Stadium [em 14 de setembro de 2011] the day they found out I would need to have a neck fusion. I was lying on the emergency table and my manager said, ‘Oh, Metallica’s manager called you a coward because you’re going to have neck surgery and you’re not going to come play with us instead.'”

The conclusion drawn by Mustaine was that, in fact, Metallica’s manager was the coward in the story. To prove his point, he simply abandoned his surgery temporarily to perform the show.

“I thought, ‘Man, what a cowardly thing to say. I’m lying here, about to have back surgery, and they call me a coward.’ So I asked the doctor to sew me up and inject me with all kinds of medicine and stuff. I went there, did the show, and then came back to have the surgery.”

How was the show

In another interview, with Ultimate Classic RockDave Mustaine recalled what the aforementioned presentation was like. The musician said he had to save on his voice, as he tried to preserve his ability to walk. He also explained what had happened to his neck to require surgery.

“My voice was limited because I was trying to preserve my ability to walk. They fused my neck because when I went to a chiropractor he ended up breaking a bone. I lived with this for a few years feeling agonizing pain. I finally had an X-ray and was told, ‘you need to fix your neck now.’ This was well before the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium.”

He reinforced that he was in the hospital the day before the show. However, in this interview, the artist does not mention the beef with Metallica’s manager — he only states that he took medication to be able to go on stage.

“The day before the show, I was in the hospital. On the day of the show, I had just left and was taking a lot of anti-inflammatory medication to be able to walk. My neck was about to stop working. [Mas] I went there and played. We put all kinds of tape around the stage that said, ‘No headbanging.’”

Dave Mustaine and the provisional end of Megadeth

Interestingly, another medical problem involving Dave Mustaine ended Megadeth more than two decades ago. He announced the band’s disbandment in 2002 after falling asleep with his left arm over the back of a chair, causing compression of the radial nerve. Doctors diagnosed him with radial neuropathy, compromising movement in his left hand.

In the four months following the announcement of the group’s end, he underwent intense physiotherapy treatment to regain control of his movements. The total recovery process lasted almost a year. Fortunately, he managed to return to music in 2003, reactivating Megadeth the following year.