Get unlimited access to everything VICE has to offer.

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

Turn off all ads on VICE.com

Exclusive New VICE Documentaries

Member Exclusive Features & Columns

4 Magazines Delivered to Your Door

Dave Mustaine Has Questionable Opinion About the ‘Big Four,’ and I Hate to Admit It, but He Might Be Right

Dave Mustaine’s role in thrash, specifically the “Big Four,” could be debatable, but he certainly makes a compelling argument.

By Stephen Andrew Galiher

Share on X (Opens in new window)X

Share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Facebook

Share using Native toolsShareCopied to clipboard

Dave Mustaine has always thought very highly of Dave Mustaine. His self-confidence is quite well documented. In a new interview, though, he seemed to imply that the “Big Four” of thrash metal would not have been as good without his influence.

For posterity’s sake, the Big Four is the collective name given to Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax. They were seen as the four biggest thrash bands of the 80s. Now, I initially blew these new comments off as “Dave being Dave”—a verbatim quote—but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that there might be some truth here. Just, not exactly in the way I was infering.

So what, exactly, did Mustaine say? Well, during an interview with São Paulo, Brazil’s 89 FM A Rádio Rock, Mustaine and the interviewer got onto the topic of Megadeth’s role in the Big Four. “I’ve been very invested in the metal community,” Mustaine........

© Vice