MUSTAINE

DAVE MUSTAINE & JOE LAYDEN
MUSTAINE
AUGUST 3, 2010

I have been a fan of Megadeth from the get go and I have taken heat for being a staunch supporter of Dave Mustaine long after the split with Metallica.  The four tracks that were stamped with Dave Mustaine's name: "The Four Horsemen", "Jump In The Fire", "Phantom Lord" and "Metal Militia" are the songs that drive the entire Kill 'Em All album.  "Seek and Destroy" is a classic, but the repetitious grind of the guitars that seem to lead to nowhere and the limited lyrical content are less than stellar.  It is a party rock style song that will go on to be played at every rock party and it will be hard to overlook at any future live song list discussions.  Still, Mustaine gave them the early platform to build on to what we now know as the Metallica sound.

This book was the one thing I had waited a long time to hit the stands.  Rumors of its writing swirled around but nothing solid peaked my interest.  When I saw it on the local library web page, I was jolted and quickly put my order in as every copy was either checked out or in transit.  This meant that even after months of its release, people were still scrambling to get a copy, me included.  So once in my hands, it dominated my time and I must say it was well spent.

As with all autobiographies he starts at the beginning, giving a bit of back story from childhood to adolescence.  His father (John) was out of the picture by the time young Dave turned four and his parents had divorced.  His mother (name unknown) became a Jehovah's Witness and it soon became a way of life for the family.  He is the youngest of 4 children, two of which are much older (Michelle And Suzanne), leaving him and his sister (Debbie) only three years older.  He had a typical future hard rock musician’s childhood.  He was often left to his own defenses with little stability but his mother loved him dearly and Dave acknowledges that she  was always there for him when his back was to the wall. 

He has been known as the most difficult person in the rock world to deal with, but after reading this book the reader will soon have some understanding of his character.  This book at times seems to be him needing to clarify his position as to why things happened the way they did through his eyes.  That is exactly what I was looking for because even I felt at times like saying, "Why did he do that or say that?"  I found his story to be very fair and he took blame where he knew that it was all on him but never let others off the hook who may have been at fault in certain situations. 

In chapter 8 he talks about Chris Poland, his guitar player at the time, getting arrested for buying drugs.  "I couldn't believe he had done something that stupid; I was livid." This coming from a guy who, throughout the previous six chapters, talks about scoring drugs on several occasions and that is an understatement.  This makes his statement a bit ironic which is found throughout the book.  When his life is on the upswing, he expects everybody to be of the same mind set.  When he is on the downslide he seeks out those who will indulge him and take the ride to the dark side.  Many times he would allow for understanding but I am sure that some of that did not come about until the writing of the book, which was many years after some of the situations.

Sometimes it was as if he was the little boy who everyone allowed to play baseball with them only because he had a bat or ball.  When things were not going his way he would take his equipment and go home or just threaten so as to get his way.  Mustaine seems to need to have his ego stroked because when he did not want his part from the docu-movie Some Kind Of Monster seen, it became a nonissue once he received positive feedback about it.  This is the guy I never thought he would be, with his lyrics continually opening the minds of the young up to being more than a couch potato.  He kept the younger generation knowledgeable and invested in the things going on in the world.

Do not let his impression of a producer get anybody who wants this as a future profession be tainted.  A producer must be open to all different kinds of music.  To be good at the job, you must be able to fully invest yourself in the musical taste of the band that put you in charge.  This does not mean the producer in any way has to be dedicated to one genre.  The great producers are able to sit with any band during the recording process and bring the best the individuals have to the forefront with the final product sounding like a tremendous group effort.  Sadly, Mustaine is very intolerant of other musicians who have put as much effort into their style of music as he has in heavy metal.  He mocks with slang the glam bands, maintaining that “glam” is actually an acronym for “gay l.a.”. I thought that by now the name calling would have been left behind when maturity has set in.  Oh well, this is only chapter 9 and it will take several more before Dave grows up to the point where name calling is not necessary. 

Mustaine admits that at a certain point he grew thicker skin, although I believe it happened a lot sooner than he announces it in the book.  His declaration is more directed toward the critics who would often slam him for his guitar playing or his vocal technique.  I am one who is glad he continued to do what he knew was best for the band.  There is no doubt that his choices for the band were always the front runner for where the band was heading.  The decision to put cover songs on his releases was challenging for the speed-metal style of Megadeth.  The first choice was quite an off-the-wall decision, but it inevitably had an amazing outcome.  The fans, myself included, went for it hook, line, and sinker.  Having been very familiar with Nancy Sinatra and her version and knowing all the words, it was a small matter of simply adjusting to the new approach.

As an avid music listener, I put everything to the test no matter what genre; pop (although it has become very stagnate), rock (punk, heavy metal, pop/rock etc.), country, jazz, blues, soul or R&B.  I need the musicians I listen to able to bring other aspect of the music they listen to into everything they put on 'record'  (like Dave, I am showing my age here.)  When musicians reach beyond the security of what they are familiar with it only adds to what they are already doing.  Stepping out of heavy metal for a minute, look what Pat Benatar was able to achieve after being ingrained in the genre of opera.

This is a long awaited purge that Mustaine needed to rid himself of things that would gnaw at him personally and professionally.  The yin and yang of Dave Mustaine is that professionally he knows exactly what direction the music he records needs to be going.  Sometimes he allows other people to get involved and swing the pendulum a bit too far away from his goal.  This is at times why the CD's he records are a little off the mark.  Personally he knows exactly where he needs to be and who keeps his aura aligned.  His wife Pam is a godsend, because without her this book may never have been written.  A rock and roll life is hard on those who are left at home to do the daily grind alone.  Pam and Dave are one of few couples in the world of rock that have lasted for the long haul.  Dave seems to know where his bread and butter comes from and he has found a way to balance the demands of his band with the needs of family. 

The book answers a lot of questions and Mustaine has opened the door to his world for 346 hardcover pages.  It has been just over a year since the last release from Megadeth (Endgame), so hopefully the fans will not have to wait long for the next CD.

RUSTY

RUSTY