“They don’t do it anymore, but most of the time when they did, it just made me shake my head. And it wasn’t just Metallica, it was everybody. For a long time, it very much was me against the world. It was like, OK, if you’re not with me, you’re against me.”

“You know, I had a great time when I was in Metallica, and we did something tremendous,” he says. “It’s a shame what the booze did, but we were all kids and, aside from Lars, we came from pretty broken families. Lots of stuff has happened over the years, but I felt like it would be great to make everything good with them before we stop. We should be friends. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be friends.”

“There were some spots in my life when I felt I had reached the nadir of what I thought was going to be a spotless career. And when I had some of those rough days, I asked myself, ‘Did I f—ing sign up for this?’” he says. “But then, you get to the moments like now, where I have a real sense of accomplishment. I’ve gotten to the top of the summit, and I’m able to be the master of all I survey.”

About accomplishing Billboard #1:

Mustaine looks up and smiles, then concludes, “You know, man, I was No. 2 so long, I forgot there was a No. 1.”

Source: [https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-02-20/how-megadeths-dave-mustaine-went-from-thrash-metal-outsider-to-finally-conquering-charts](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2026-02-20/how-megadeths-dave-mustaine-went-from-thrash-metal-outsider-to-finally-conquering-charts)

How did Metallica try, supposedly, to hold Megadeth back?