Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir

Originally posted here: [...].I've never considered myself a huge fan of Megadeth. Their earlier albums always seemed to be very inconsistent in terms of quality, and their mid-era commercial attempts were mostly terrible. There are exceptions of course, Rust in Peace is easily one of the best thrash albums of all time and Endgame is just about equal (and sometimes better, depending on my mood) - but this isn't about me and isn't really about Megadeth either. This is about Dave Mustaine; the man that has had the great fortune of being part of two of the biggest metal bands of the last thirty years. He's also the man that everyone has loved to hate due to his tendency to speak his mind and treat fellow band mates as if they were totally expendable (in hindsight one could argue that they really have been). If anyone in the metal community has lived a life that is worthy of having a book written about him, it is Dave Mustaine. The man has dealt with drug use, the stigma of being dropped from Metallica, the total rise to prominence in Megadeth, accidents, multiple member changes and a slew of other things that the average person would never even know about - that is until now.Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir is a very entertaining trip through Dave Mustaine's turbulent life beginning with his childhood and ending shortly before the release of their latest album Endgame. The book is very well-written in the sarcastic, crass - yet generally intelligent - style that Dave Mustaine is known for. He rarely holds anything back and tells things exactly the way he sees them; which will often elicit a chuckle due to the dry humor that he injects into every facet of his life. He also seems to be keenly aware of his target audience because he never strays too far from the musical aspects of his life. To that end, one need not worry about being subjected to an overly-long therapy session about how Dave Mustaine wasn't hugged enough as a child. In fact, the brief portions about his childhood are basically just used to present the few experiences that stuck with Dave throughout his life before quickly moving into his teen years and the beginning of his musical and spiritual journey.I make sure to include "spiritual" because every fan should know by now that it took Dave Mustaine finding god in order to finally kick the multitude of addictions that he has carried with him throughout his life. Due to this, God and religion come up fairly often over the course of the book - from his complete opposition to religion in the beginning to his eventual "awakening" later in life. What he never does, though, is use his book as a pulpit to preach of God or religion; an element that could have turned a lot of his fans off if it had been overdone. In fact, he doesn't try to push any morals on his readers at all. When he speaks of his drug use or his other indiscretions, he includes the bad with the good and leaves it to the reader to make a final judgment. He will occasionally use hindsight to reflect on his past, but the judgments he makes are his own and he never tries to apply them in any kind of broad manner.For those that are interested in the man behind the music, this book will not disappoint. It presents, along with all of the gory details, Dave's time with Metallica, the various member changes within Megadeth, his drug use, family problems, religious struggles, label struggles as well as random amusing stories that simply demonstrate the crazy life that he has lead. There are great stories involving his days dealing drugs after being kicked from his mom's house, and his few attempts to get "real" jobs that never really panned out. Of course, his time with Metallica is meticulously detailed, and there is actually quite a good build-up to his eventual dismissal. It's also quite cool to learn about where the band name came from and how certain songs/events came to pass. Most interesting, though, is the fact that Dave Mustaine never misses an opportunity to specifically mention those people that have helped him throughout his life including Danny Lilker (ex-Anthrax).There are actually only a few minor complaints that I have with this book. In the beginning, the circumstances surrounding every album are presented in quite a bit of detail but by the time of Youthanasia things start to be condensed considerably. By the time we get to The System has Failed it almost feels like more of a footnote than any kind of actual album history. Granted, by that point the debauchery had pretty much faded and this is a book about Dave Mustaine the man not Dave Mustaine's band, but it still felt a bit lacking. To that same end, I also wish that he would have maybe given a bit of additional information about what happened to his various band mates after being removed - but, again, it is a book about Dave Mustaine not the various footnotes in his life. The only other issue I had was with a few omissions involving Chris Poland. Chris Poland was a big part of Dave's early life and had more influence over him than most might be aware of, but he isn't even mentioned during the Rust in Peace sessions, and barely mentioned during The World Needs a Hero era. I would have been interested to read about how it was Chris came back for those two albums and why it was he eventually left again.Overall, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir is everything that I hoped it could be. It details all of the major events of Dave Mustaine's life without holding back the gory details. When something is Dave's fault he owns up to it and when it's someone else's fault he doesn't hesitate to point it out. Even for those that don't really care to read about Dave Mustaine's life, quite a bit of the book is actually devoted to the events surrounding the creation of Megadeth's first six albums. I'm willing to bet that more than a few fans would be interested to read about the thought process behind Risk[ or the whirlwind of events surrounding the band's original line-up. Basically, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir has something for even the most apathetic of Megadeth fans and is written in a very entertaining manner thanks to the dry humor and no-holds-barred attitude of Dave Mustaine.

If you read this book, you will see who Dave Mustaine really is. You will see how much he's been through, and you will understand that Mustaine was more driven to succeed than most people will ever be. He was driven by his dark side. He was driven by revenge, and he could never attain the number 1 record he desperately craved. I'm shocked he was able to achieve what he did with all his drug use; I guess that's what genius is capable of. I haven't read a lot of fiction books, but I doubt you could make this stuff up no matter how hard you tried. If you decide to buy this book, you're in for a treat whether or not you've heard about the guy.If you've read about them on Wikipedia, have watched their interviews, and have watched their VH1 documentary, you may have a convoluted idea about the band's history. This book will fill many of the gaps left by unreliable sources. It will also give you fascinating information about Mustaine's early days and pictures of his path that you are unlikely to find anywhere else. There is, however, something I was hoping to find in the book that Mustaine has ignored. He only had good things to say about Cliff Burton. There was no way he was going to put anything bad on the guy, but from the lyrics of the song "In My Darkest Hour" and from a Metallica interview, I got the impression that Burton was the one that got Dave fired from the band. Mustaine doesn't mention, or even allude to this. He instead says that the song lyrics were based mostly on his relationship with Diana at the time, whereas the music was based on his feelings about Burton's death. I don't buy it, but then again, I don't have any proof that what I'm claiming is true either. He also barely mentions anything about his dabbling in black magic, leaving the reader wondering how big a part that had on his life and career.The whole book is Mustaine's story as seen from his current mindset. I think in a different world, he would eventually look back at the current period of his life and see it from an even clearer vantage point. Unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen. This may be morbid of me to say because I feel he's finally at peace with his past demons, and he certainly wouldn't agree with my assessment, but a guy like Dave Mustaine settling on Christianity is not something that should happen in an intelligent world. I am not saying Christianity is wrong. I'm not saying Christianity didn't do good for him. I saw him playing in Dubai, and seeing him uttering "Thank you, thank you, thank you" at the end of the show, with his eyes closed and his arms wide open, was a heartwarming sight. Clearly, he has defeated his demons, and is spiritually sound for the first time in his life. He even made peace with the guys in Metallica, so how could I think that it's a tragedy that Mustaine has become a Christian?It is because he now believes that everything that's happened to him is a result of a higher power. He says so in the book. Such an individual, who was self made, had to surpass agnozing obstacles growing up, was kicked out of Metallica, left in New York with no money and had to beg people for four days in order to eat, who built a band that sold millions of records and became world renowned, should know that it was not all as a result of a higher power. It wasn't all him either. Life definitely helped him out in some places, and threw him curve balls in others, but if it wasn't for Dave Mustaine being "driven (...), possessed in a way," as his former road manager Scott Menzies said, you would have never heard of him. In a more intelligent world, Mustaine would look back at the last part of the book and might say:"Well, at the time I needed to surrender to something bigger than myself because I had no other options. It was either becoming a Christian, or losing my family and dying from my drug use. Many years have passed since then, and I now know that my success was a result of both me, Dave Mustaine, and some higher intelligence that we still can't adequately explain. You can call it God, but I don't like to put a label on it. It's more like an underlying force that governs the world without interfering. My success wasn't all on me, but if I wasn't who I was on the inside, you would have never heard of Dave Mustaine. I'd just be another guy working 9 to 5, selling insurance to make ends meet. Ha... I chuckle just thinking about that kind of life."

If you want to lose all trust in what you believed Megadeth was, read this book. I'll never play their music again.Growing up in the 80s, I singled out Megadeth as one of a handful of groups that was legit, genuine, and respect-worthy. And perhaps that was true up to a certain point, but from Countdown to Extinction it became obvious something was different...music was being made for money, not for the rock-n-roll gods. This book is the story of how the brilliant mind behind Megadeth was converted into a money-grubbing Christian, supporting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and various politicians, and ultimately creating more cogs for the machine he was so supposedly against by sending his own kids to private school while living in a gd suburb of San Diego...just all bricks in the wall I thought Megadeth was supposed to demolish...rust in peace, Dave.

Nothing new to Mustaine fans but a good read nonetheless.

Mustaine is the best. He deserved to be in the hall of fame. He did so much for heavy metal

« A Heavy Metal Memoir » est un livre indispensable à plusieurs niveaux.Indispensables aux fans de Megadeth qui voudraient connaître la genèse et l'évolution d'un des groupes majeurs de la scène thrash américaine.Indispensables aux fans de Metallica qui voudraient parfaire leur connaissance sur les deux premières années du groupe...Indispensables aux fans de Dave Mustaine qui voudraient en apprendre plus sur la vie du guitariste surdoué à l'enfance difficile, livré à lui-même à l'âge de quinze ans et qui hésita une grande partie de sa vie entre la rage de réussir et la rage de s'autodétruire.Le livre est écrit dans un style très fluide, accessible à tous ceux qui maîtrisent l'anglais courant, et l'iconographie est très riche pour un ouvrage de ce type, avec des photos d'enfance, de jeunesse, et des premiers concerts avec Metallica ou Megadeth par exemple.La lecture de ces « mémoires du Thrash selon Dave » est un vrai régal, et le bonhomme se montre pour une fois aussi terrible avec lui-même qu'il peut l'être avec les autres. La plongée qu'il nous propose dans l'enfer de son addiction aux drogues est ainsi particulièrement édifiante, répétitive et pénible et les quelques anecdotes qu'il nous sort de son chapeau risquent encore de rallonger la liste de ses ennemis...Toutefois, ce livre est aussi une leçon de vie, pleine de moments poignants et difficiles, et c'est indéniablement avec beaucoup de respect pour Mustaine qu'on le referme à regret, tant la force de caractère du personnage est indéniable tandis que sa conviction en ce qu'il fait n'a jamais faibli.Chapeau bas, « monsieur » Mustaine. Je suis fan de Megadeth depuis presque deux décennies et vous venez de me faire rempiler pour 20 ans !

Megadethのデイヴ・ムステインが赤裸々に語る、その半生。母親や姉たちに振るう父親のDV、カルト宗教に嵌る母親。問題を抱えた家庭で育った彼がギターを手にする。ラーズ・ウルリッヒに出会い、Metallicaに加入。シャイな性格のジェームズ・ヘットフィールドはステージではMCが上手く出来ず、代わりにフロントマン的な役割を務めることもあった彼。クリフ・バートン加入に合わせ、拠点をサンフランシスコに移すことになるが、そこでクビを宣告されてしまう。その帰路、バンドを失い、金銭も底をついた彼が手にしたリーフレットに書かれていた言葉「MEGA DEATH」。心機一転、自分のバンドを結成することを決意。しかし、彼の心には常にMetallica（中でもラーズ・ウルリッヒ）への強烈なまでのライヴァル意識があった。Metallicaがブラック・アルバムで全米1位になっているのに、自分たちは『Countdown ToExtinction』ではカントリー歌手に負けて2位止まり。以後のダン・ハフを迎えてのコマーシャル路線への傾倒は狙ってやったこと。などが語られて行く。バンドとしてだけでなく、自分のアルコールやドラッグに関する問題、また、腕を痛めてキャリア引退を迫られたこと。家庭の危機といった個人的な内容についても語られる。歴代のMegadethのメンバーについても多くの紙面が割かれており、加入の経緯だけでなく、解雇理由についても今だからこそ語られる事実（技術レベルや金銭問題、ドラッグといった堅い話だけでなく、ムステインが取っておいたドロ・ペッシュからのラブレターに嫉妬した元メンバーもいたりなど、軽い話題も含まれている）。環境は厳しく、絶望を何度も味わった男だからこそ語れる、その半生の重み。私のようなMegadethファンだけに限らず、ロックを愛するファンに読んでもらいたい一冊です。

J'ai devoré ce livre! Absolument génial. Il est indispensable d'avoir un bon niveau en anglais pour tout comprendre, mais ce livre est un régal.Tout d'abord, Dave Mustaine, est non seulement un excellent guitariste, mais il a du style. Il nous narre son histoire, a travers l'épopée Megadeth, et son passage au sein de Metallica.Au grand plaisir des fans des deux groupes, on apprend beaucoup de choses sur la genèse de leur musique ainsi que sur les personnalités des protagonistes... Membres présents et passés. On se régale des anecdotes très rock'n roll de la vie d'une rock star. Mais on est surtout très touché par l'humanité de MegaDave. Son histoire personnelle, l'ambition de devenir un musicien reconnu, les affres de la drogue, et la guérison par la maturité, le soutien des proches, l'amour et la spiritualité. A lire d'urgence !