Dave Mustaine on Marty Friedman Quitting Megadeth: “I looked at him as tears ran down his face…I knew that was probably going to be the end” – 2022 – Interview
Guitar World: Dave Mustaine reflects on Marty Friedman’s Megadeth departure: “What happened to Marty was definitely not okay.” You can read the entire article @ this location.
An excerpt from the interview can be found below.
EXCERPT:
Dave Mustaine:
“I’ve always believed we should give the guitar player an opportunity to do a solo that he feels is right for the song. If someone plays something that doesn’t work for the part, then I may make some suggestions. If it’s still not happening, I might say, ‘Okay, this is what I want you to play here.’
“If a lead totally doesn’t work then I’m going to do the part myself. That’s what happened [on] Breadline. And Marty Friedman quit over the solo in Breadline.”
Mustaine explains that Friedman had written and recorded a solo for Breadline in the studio, but Megadeth management wanted the track to be a single, and thought his solo wasn’t right for the song.
“I said [to management], ‘Well, you have three choices. Either you mute the solo completely, have Marty come back and redo it, or I do it.’ And then I said, ‘If I do it, you’d better tell him.’ Well, I redid it, and nobody told Marty.
“So we’re in there listening to the finished album and the solo comes on. It’s my solo, not Marty’s… I looked at him as tears ran down his face and I knew right away that nobody had told him. I knew that was probably going to be the end of Marty Friedman.”
“Our management was supposed to tell him and, for whatever reason, they didn’t do it. I think that was a terrible thing to do to him.”
Questioned on whether he could have asserted that it wasn’t his call to axe his solo from the track, Mustaine continues:
“Having been a partner with Marty for so many years, as much of an enigma as he was, I could tell he was really upset and he had had enough.
“What happened to Marty was definitely not okay. Our management was supposed to tell him and, for whatever reason, they didn’t do it. I think that was a terrible thing to do to him.”
Read the full interview with Dave Mustaine and Kiko Loureiro in the new issue of Guitar World, available via Magazines Direct.
