Dave Mustaine Opens Up About Punching Metallica’s James Hetfield: ‘I Wish Things Wouldn’t Have Ended the Way They Did’

“The whole reason that I ever even pursued any of this was I really liked those guys.”

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine recently spoke about his relationship with his former Metallica bandmate, James Hetfield, and expressed regret for some events which preceded his departure from Metallica.

The relationship between the two thrash icons has been through its rocky patches after Mustaine got dismissed from Metallica just prior to the recording of the band’s 1983 debut album “Kill ‘Em All”.

However, an air of mutual respect has been upheld, evidenced by the recent comments Mustaine made about James Hetfield’s emotional speech this May.

A widely circulated video of Metallica’s performance in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, saw a visibly emotional Papa Het open up to the audience about his recent struggles with insecurity, after which the frontman received a group hug from his bandmates.

Speaking about his relationship with Hetfield in a recent fan Q&A session with Revolver, Mustaine expressed regret for seeing Papa Het in such a state, especially since he notes how his love for Metallica was a large part of the reason why he kept pursuing a career in music with Megadeth:

“I saw the thing with James on stage where he was saying that he was going through a rough patch. I was sad to see that because it’s been one of those really weird love-hate relationships. And the whole reason that I ever even pursued any of this was I really liked those guys.

“If I didn’t like them I would just say, ‘Fucking flush the toilet and be done with it.’ He’s always been somebody that I really liked playing with. I wished things wouldn’t have ended the way that they did, but que será, será.”

On a rather positive note, Mustaine also expresses his regret for punching Hetfield during their shared time in the band, after the other musician allegedly kicked Mustaine’s dog:

“It was a dumb thing that I did by taking my dog up to practice, and it was even dumber to punch [Hetfield]. I really respect him, and I respect his playing, and I hope he knows that there are a lot of people out there, like me, that like him as a person and don’t give two fucks about him being in Metallica.”

Megadeth’s latest studio album “The Sick, the Dying… and the Dead!” is out now via Tradecraft/Universal.