Megadeth mastermind was once again asked about the middle section of Metallica’s “The Four Horsemen”. He said in an interview with Rolling Stone (via Blabbermouth):
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“Cliff [Burton] and I became really, really, really close. And I remember he had an affinity for Lynyrd Skynyrd. I remember driving to rehearsal one day. We were listening to ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and Lars [Ulrich] goes *imitates lars*, ‘Oh, man, we have to slow this part down in the middle, man.’
“And I went, ‘Okay.’ So I went *hums ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ riff*. I was playing ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ and he didn’t know it. And he goes *imitates Lars*, ‘Fuck! That’s fucking brilliant, man.’
“And I went, ‘Okay. Here we go.’ So I ditched the [last part of the ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ riff]. Dave Mustaine and Lynyrd Skynyrd wrote ‘The Four Horsemen.'”