After he woke up on Sunday, Feb. 1, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine got out of bed and went into the kitchen of his home in Franklin, Tenn. He downed a variety of health and wellness liquids and supplements, then picked up his phone and noticed a text from his son, Justis, who works at the band’s management company. It read, “We’re number one!!!”
Two days earlier, Megadeth’s self-titled swansong debuted at the top of the charts in Australia. It was the band’s first No. 1 album there, and Mustaine thought the text might refer to the Australian chart position since he wasn’t sure whether U.S. sales and streams for the week had been tabulated yet. He Facetimed Justis to touch base.
“I said, ‘Good morning,’ and he goes, ‘We did it!’” Mustaine says, his words aglow. “I said, ‘You mean in America?” He goes, ‘Yeah!’ And I could see the pure happiness on his face, which was so rewarding.”
“Megadeth” bested country singer Morgan Wallen’s “I’m the Problem” by 4,000 units to take the top slot on the Billboard album chart. Aside from being the band’s first No. 1 album, only three other hard rock/metal bands (Ghost, Sleep Token and AC/DC) have hit the top position in more than five years. Megadeth is far faster, louder and more aggressive than any of those acts. Mustaine is revered as one of the pioneers of thrash metal, a subgenre that combines the breakneck velocity of early American hardcore bands such as Circle Jerks and Misfits with the precision and power of British metal groups like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. The only other thrash band to hit No. 1 is Metallica, who have done so six times, most recently with 2016’s “Hardwired … to Self-Destruct.”
Megadeth on stage
(Noel Vasquez / YouTube Theater)
“Having a No. 1 was one of the last things we needed in order to say we’ve done it all,” Mustaine says, sitting at the desk of his home office. Resting on a table behind him are a potted flower and the Grammy Award that Megadeth won in 2017 for metal performance for the title track from the 2016 album “Dystopia.”
Along with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, Megadeth is a member of the exclusive heavy metal’s Big Four. The term has been widely used throughout the decades by fans, journalists and outlets chronicling the history of thrash. In 2010, all four bands played nine shows around the world together on a package tour.
“When I heard Megadeth were No.1, I was happy for Dave,” says Anthrax drummer and songwriter Charlie Benante, whose band is opening for Megadeth on a Canadian tour that ends March 6. “But I was also happy for us because Megadeth’s success shows that a lot of people are still interested in this music.”
The band’s self-titled album is an uncompromising cliff dive into a churning whirlpool of crunching guitar riffs, rapid-fire solos and tumbling beats that spans the band’s career and includes a variety of breakneck thrash, sneering, punk-ish metal and blazing rock. It could have been the natural follow-up to the band’s bestselling album, 1992’s “Countdown to Extinction,” which reached No. 2 on Billboard and sold more than 2 million copies.
Topping the album chart has been a goal for Mustaine ever since Megadeth hit No. 2, and it literally couldn’t have come at any other time. On Aug. 13, 2025, nearly six months before “Megadeth” was released, Mustaine announced it would be the band’s final studio album.
Having overcome decades of adversity — including unstable lineups (15 members have come and gone since the band’s 1985 studio debut, “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good”), drug addiction, relapses, a near-fatal overdose, major neck surgery and a 2019 battle with throat cancer that required nine chemo sessions and 51 doses of radiation — the thrash icon hit an obstacle that modern medicine, rehab and therapy couldn’t cure.
For much of the last decade, Mustaine has experienced significant discomfort since the cartilage in the tips of his fingers has worn away from decades of frenzied playing, causing the bones to scrape together. Grimacing, he plowed ahead, driven by the pain. About halfway into the recording of “Megadeth,” he realized something else was seriously wrong. He was doing chin-ups during a workout when he experienced a new kind of stabbing pain in his hand.
“It hurt like a bitch when I was hanging with my body weight on this,” he says, pointing to a raised ridge of fleshy tissue that bisects his palm. Mustaine saw a specialist and was diagnosed with Dupuytren’s contracture, a progressive condition that affects about 8% of the world’s population, according to National Institutes of Health statistics. There is no cure for the disease, and as it evolves, it typically causes the fingers to bend inward, making it difficult or impossible to fully flex. “It’s not fatal, but when it comes down to people’s careers, it is,” Mustaine says with a resigned sigh.
The longer he spent recording guitar parts for “Megadeth,” the more his ailment interfered with his playing. He gutted it out, but when he was about two-thirds done with the album, he decided that, with the speed the disease was progressing, there was no way he’d be able to write and record another album. “I completely lost my equilibrium,” he says with none of the bravado that was previously a trademark. “I didn’t want to stop making records, but I knew I had to. Finally, I decided, OK, well now I just want to go out on top.”
Megadeth launched its tour Sunday. Forty-one dates are booked around much of the world through late June. In August, the band will play its last 15 scheduled shows in North America. Mustaine hopes Megadeth will be able to add many more concerts and tour at least through 2028 before he packs up his guitar case for good. “We’ll play until it’s time to say goodbye,” he says. “And if something happens earlier than that, I’ll have to bravely announce that the end came sooner than I thought.”
Once Mustaine decided Megadeth’s days were numbered, he started reflecting on his entire career, including his early days as a co-founder of Metallica … before he was kicked out for being a belligerent drunk. It was April 11, 1983, and Metallica were in Queens, N.Y., working on their debut album, “Kill ‘Em All,” four songs of which Mustaine co-wrote. As soon as he arrived at rehearsal, the band fired him and handed him a bus ticket back to Los Angeles. It was an experience that left an indelible stain on his psyche. For years, no matter how popular Megadeth became — selling millions of albums and packing stadiums — Mustaine was plagued by the specter of Metallica. He seethed with resentment at their mainstream success and regularly took jabs at his former bandmates in the press. Metallica reacted in kind.
“Think of it. Where would I be right now if I didn’t have one of the biggest bands in the world spending their time trying to hold me back?” Mustaine says, rubbing a forefinger over his black knit cap that hides his leonine locks. “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.”
When Megadeth announced its final album would include a cover of the title track from Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning,” which Mustaine co-wrote, many fans thought the recording would serve as a last act of defiance. Others wondered whether the song would be a radical reinvention that would render the original almost unrecognizable. The recording is neither, and only slightly different than Metallica’s version. Mustaine felt covering the song would provide a bookend to his career, illustrating exactly where he was before he formed Megadeth. Strangely, he also wanted the track to be an olive branch to Metallica.
“There may not be a chance to ever say hello to [Metallica members] James [Hetfield] or Lars [Ulrich] again,” Mustaine explains. “I knew some people would have a hard time with me doing the song, but that’s OK because I wanted to pay tribute and show my respect. If they like it, fine. If they don’t like it, fine. If they listen to it, fine. If they don’t, fine.” To date, no one in Metallica has commented on the recording.
When discussing the two years he spent in Metallica and the bad blood that followed, Mustaine is contemplative and serene. Comments that once elicited antagonistic barbs are met with calm acceptance.
Dave Mustaine of Megadeth performs at YouTube Theater in Inglewood.
(Noel Vasquez)
“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.”
Long ago, Mustaine learned when not to take the bait even if he sometimes gobbled it anyway. Today, his spite and resentment have have faded and he compliments others as often as he boasts. More than anything, he wants to enjoy the time he has left instead of lamenting over missed opportunities.
“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.”
Mustaine looks up and smiles, then concludes, “You know, man, I was No. 2 so long, I forgot there was a No. 1.”
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