The classic lineup of megadeth to many fans consisted of guitarist & vocalist dave mustaine,
guitarist Marty Friedman, bassist David Ellefson and drummer Nick Menza. This lineup of the band
lasted from 1990 to 1998 and released 4 albums. Musicianship, personality conflicts and musical
differences led to the classic lineup falling part by the end of the decade,
however there was a moment of hope for a lot of megadeth fans when in 2014 it was reported
that the classic lineup would reunite. That’s what were going to discuss in today’s video.
By the late 80’s Megadeth had established themselves as a force to be reckoned with, but the
band seemed to have a revolving cast of musicians coming and going. By 1989 the band was three
albums into their career and were ready to write their follow up 1990’s Rust in Peace. Ahead of the
album sessions beginning the band enlisted drummer Nick Menza and lead guitarist Marty Friedman
Drummer Nick Menza began his professional music career at age 18 and he would play in a series
of groups including Rhoads who was fronted by Randy Rhoads brother. He would even record with
John Fogerty. By the late 80’s he would land a job as the Megadeth’s drum tech for Chuck
Behler. . Behler would be fired by mustaine over his drug use leading the frontman to ask Menza
to join the group in 1989. He would appear on four megadeth albums with 1997’s cryptic
writings being his last. The following year while out on tour to promote the album Menza learned
of a tumor in his knee & he required surgery to remove it and thankfully for him it was benign.
According to menza, while he was in hospital recovering from surgery
he would recall Mustaine calling him up to let him know he was fired from the band.
Bassist David Ellefson would tell Metal Hammer why Menza was fired saying
"It's funny, Nick has been and still is the most hailed and beloved member of the Megadeth legacy.
Playing drums is hard, playing drums in Megadeth is even harder, and it beats the shit out of you.
"Nick put in a lot of good years with us, but by 1998 [when he got fired],
he was struggling to do the gig. "There was a defining moment in Macer,
Arizona, where I looked at him during some breaks in 'Darkest Hour' and it was like
he was not present. He was beat up, you know?" Marty Friedman up until this point in time had
cut his teeth playing in several bands including Hawaii and Cacophony. Friedman would be tipped off
to the audition by a friend of his who told him Megadeth were looking for a new guitar player.
Friedman would call Megadeth’s manager Ron Lafeet and book an audition. His audition would show up
on the group’s DVD Arsenal of Megadeth years later and Friedman would admit to Loudwire that by the
time he auditioned for the band in early 1990s, he was borderline homeless living with women he
had met and was sporting multi-colored hair while surviving on a diet of rice and lollipops. Looks
aside, Mustaine was impressed with Friedman’s audition and hired the guitarist the same day.
He would admit in the same interview that once he joined Megadeth he could afford to go to salon
and he cleaned up his appearance to look more presentable to fit in with what he thought was
Megadeth’s clean cut guy next door image. Interestingly enough, Friedman wasn’t the
only person on Mustaine’s radar as it was reported that Slash of Guns N’ Roses was offered the spot
in addition to Dimebag Darrell who agreed to join, provided his brother Vinnie also joined the group,
but that idea fell through since the band already had a drummer at the time.
Marty Friedman’s last album with the group would be their universally panned record Risk which came
out in 1999, and for many fans it strayed too far from the band’s traditional sound. By 2000
Friedman was out of the band with MTV publishing a report at the time with band leader Dave Mustaine
putting out a statement saying Friedman left to and i quote "pursue other musical interests."
Mustaine would also reveal that Friedman was and i quote "an incredible player," who had
been a "keystone" in Megadeth, and that the band was sorry to see him go and wished him well.
Al Pitrelli of the Trans Siberian orchestra fame would end up taking his place.
Friedman meanwhile would move to Japan and become a huge star in the country.
Following his firing Menza, turned his attention to raising his two kids and took up woodworking.
He would recall to Metalholic “I took about 10, 12 years off to raise two boys”
It was during this time that Nick also made a living through his woodworking selling a
perurvian percussion instrument known as a cajons. It was during this time in his life menza famously
said “ i don’t want to be nick menza the drummer from megadeth. That chapter of my life is closed.”
In addition to raising his kids, Menza would still play music on the side putting out a
single album under the monicker Menza. And play with the jazz fusion project called Ohm.
Fast forward to 2014 and there were rumblings that the rust in peace lineup of the band would
be reuniting, recording new material and touring. But unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be. At this
point in time both Menza and Friedman would claim that the reunion fell apart due to money. The
former members claimed that they weren’t being compensated properly if a reunion were to take
place. This is something that’s been partially corroborated by Mustaine himself recalling the
situation involving friedman saying "Marty has a really successful career in Japan where he
makes quite a lot of money,". "And this is the part where I thought it was a little weird,
where he said he said that he has to pay all his team while he's gone instead of just himself.
'Cause I thought we'll pay you what you're making so that's switching horses in the middle of the
river — it's no big deal unless you fall off. And then when we found out that he wanted to
sell his merch, his this, his that, his this, his that, then he wanted this crazy amount of money
and he wanted to fly first class everywhere. I said to our management, 'I can't deal with this.'"
Friedman would also add that musically he wasn’t really interested in what Megadeth had been
doing since the years he left. While Friedman didn’t get into a room and play with the band,k
Menza got as far as rehearsing with the band for a potential reunion with David Ellefson recalling
"Nick and I were hanging about a year and a half before [his death]," "That was when we
reconnected. And he came down to Fallbrook, where Dave's house and the studio [was]. And we jammed.
We tried to see if we could make a go of a 'Rust In Peace' reunion. And you could tell,
as much as the ambition was there for it, it just didn't connect. “Mustaine would corroborate this
telling Eddie Trunk that Menza’s playing wasn’t up to snuff and he had suggested having a different
drummer play on the album like chris adler from lamb of god and having menza tour with the group,
but once menza spoke with megadeth’s manager ron lafeet about how much he'd be paid,
he claiemd it would be a very unfair deal so the reunion fell apart.
Mustaine would claim that the rust in peace reunion wasn’t his idea but bassist david
ellefson would telling Overdrive", 'Dave really wanted to do the Rust in Peace thing and I love
Dave, he’s my partner, so I figured we’ll see what happens. When it didn’t happen, of course
everybody blamed me and I was just politely saying “go f--- yourself...any of the previous lineups
always had at least one member that was not up to standard. For example, say the guitarist is
great and the drummer is OK, or the drummer is great and the guitarist is OK,' he'd say.
The talk of a reunion also created some hurt feelings between the current members Megadeth’s
at the time including drummer Shawn Drover and guitarist at the time Guitarist Chris Broderick
who had both been in Megadeth for some years at this point. When they both got wind that
somebody inside the Megadeth organization was pushing for a rust in peace reunion,
they quit the band forming their own project together called Act of Defiance.
Sadly, any hopes for a full Rust in Peace reunion would be dashed in 2016 when Nick
Menza would pass away on stage after suffering a heart attack during a gig with his band Ohm.
That does it for today's video guys thanks for watching. Be sure to hit the like button
and subscribe and we'll see you again on rock n' roll true stories. Take care.