Mustaine Names 'Only' Ex-Megadeth Member Who Became 'Significant'

Dave Mustaine has never been shy about sharing his thoughts on all things Megadeth, especially when it comes to past and present players. In fact, he recently spoke about the only former bandmate whom he feels has had a consequential post-Megadeth career.

During their new interview for Bloodstock TV (posted on June 23), host Oran O’Beirne and Mustaine chatted about Megadeth’s reunion with ex-guitarist Marty Friedman at Nippon Budokan Arena in Tokyo, Japan on February 27, 2023. In response to O’Beirne asking about the “chemistry” and nostalgia that Mustaine felt playing with Friedman after 23 years, Mustaine pondered:

It did have a lot oef those emotions. It did feel like it was the good old days. Also, Marty has made quite a name for himself on his own since then. Of all of the ex-bandmembers of Megadeth, Marty seems to be the only one that’s ever amounted to anything. No offense to the other guys — it’s just that’s how the facts are, you know?

He elaborated:

If you look at their sales and stuff, Marty‘s the only one that’s ever done anything significant. And to be able to go over and visit him in his world – I think that it was neat to see him out of his environment. Plus, when he came in, he was very suggestive on some things to make the show really smooth, and he wanted to go over all the songs that we were all – all of us playing several times to make sure everything was just really shit-hot.
And, of course, Marty being in Marty fashion, he got out there and he mesmerized us all, me included. I found it kind of hard to watch him and do my job at the same time, but I very much wanted to just sit there and watch Kiko [Loureiro, Megadeth’s current other guitarist] and Marty play together because they . . . are some of the greatest guitar players in hard rock and heavy metal right now, and to watch the two of them play together was remarkable.

You can watch the full interview below.

As longtime Megadeth fans know, Friedman left the group at the very end of 1999 (during the tour for Risk, which came out in August of that year). By January 2000, his replacement – ex-Savatage axeman Al Pitrelli – was named.

Since 2003, he’s lived in Japan, where he’s appeared in hundreds of TV shows in addition to working with numerous other artists and putting out plenty of solo material. Around the time of the Tokyo reunion, Friedman gave his thoughts on artists such as KISS using pre-recorded backing tracks in concert.

As for Mustaine, he recently said that Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett “honor[ed]” him by keeping his solos after his 1983 outing from the then-fledgling trash titans. Prior to that, Mustaine told The Jeremy White Show podcast that the only way Megadeth would end anytime soon is if he “ever got in a situation where [he’d] have to stop singing.” He added: “Even if I could play, if I couldn't sing – I think because of [Megadeth] being built on my voice – I don't think that I would carry on. I just think if I didn't do that, I would be cheating the fans."

So, how do you feel about Mustaine’s assessment of Friedman in comparison to his many other former bandmates? Let us know!