Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine recently talked to Gibson, where he explained the reason he was fired from Metallica back in 1983.
Here’s what Mustaine said:
“The ride home from New York was long. I knew it was gonna be long. The ride out [to New York] was long.
“The ride out was dangerous [referencing the incident when Metallica almost died in Wyoming while traveling cross-country en route to meet Jonny Zazula in New Jersey].
“The ride out was bad. Because of the crash in Wyoming, I think that that’s what made me the guy that had to go. I don’t know.
“I probably was destined to leave before that because of, you know, the word ‘destiny,’ and the fact that there was just so much talent and so much personality between the four of us. I don’t know that we could have survived.
“There was destined to be some kind of an explosion at some point.
“I did a lot of soul-searching on the way home. Did I wanna play guitar? Did I wanna keep doing this? ‘What am I gonna do…? I got it. I’m gonna make a band that’s more metal than Metallica.'”