In a new interview, Anthrax‘s Scott Ian shared how he reacted when Metallica told him they fired Dave Mustaine back in 1983.
Ian was the latest guest on Billy Corgan‘s The Magnificent Others podcast. During the episode, they discussed the early years of the thrash metal scene, which was how the subject of Mustaine’s firing from Metallica came up, because Ian saw Metallica the day it happened in New York City.
At the time, Metallica were holed up in a scuzzy rehearsal room, which granted Ian plenty of time to watch and observe how the band did things, picking up influences that would help shape Anthrax in the near future as well.
“I showed up that day, I walked in, it was like early afternoon and Cliff [Burton] was standing outside smoking a cigarette… I said, ‘What’s going on?’ ‘Oh, not much. We fired Dave. He’s on a Greyhound back to California.’ And Cliff was a very dry ball-buster, so I said, ‘Oh yeah right. Sure’,” Ian remembered.
The Anthrax guitarist was apparently totally convinced Burton’s remark was a joke, especially because Metallica had a show booked a few days from then. He and Burton went back and forth a bit and the bassist suggested Ian ask James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich if it was true — and the drummer assured him that it was.
“I was like, ‘What the fuck?’ Oh my god. Was this a long time coming?’ They were like, ‘We’ve been thinking about it pretty much since we got to New York’,” Ian continued.
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The rocker admitted that he was concerned about Metallica’s decision because Anthrax had some upcoming shows booked with them, but Ulrich and Hetfield told him that they’d already hired Kirk Hammett from Exodus to take Mustaine’s place.
Ian met Hammett the next day and the rest is history.
Check out the full conversation below.
How Scott Ian Reacted When Metallica Told Him They Fired Dave Mustaine
See how we ranked every “Big 4” thrash album in the gallery below.
Every Thrash Metal ‘Big 4’ Album Ranked
Every album by Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax get ranked worst to best.
Contributions by Philip Trapp, Ed Rivadavia, Jordan Blum, Ayron Rutan and Joe DiVita.
Gallery Credit: Loudwire Staff
