Ex-Megadeth’s David Ellefson Speaks Up on Metallica’s Real Impact on Metal, Says They ‘Were Always the Leader’

“With Metallica, it was always the thing: ‘We do our own thing. We don’t play by the rules.’ And to a large degree, they didn’t.”

The former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson said Metallica “broke the doors down” for metal, noting that his thrash colleagues achieved massive commercial success despite not playing “by the rules” to a large degree.

There’s no doubt that the advent of Metallica and thrash metal was so massive that time in heavy music might as well be measured by “before” ad “after” Lars Ulrich & Co. became a worldwide sensation. Of course, alongside Metallica were Megadeth, Slayer, and Anthrax as the “Big Four” of thrash, spearheading one of the most influential subgenres in metal to date.

During a recent interview with “I Ask No One With Kevin Re LoVullo”, David Ellefson recalled the massive shift that Metallica brought about, but added that even they stood on the shoulders of giants, naming Iron Maiden and Def Leppard as two arena-filling heavy metal outfits (transcription via Blabbermouth):

“Ah, it frickin’ broke the doors down. Metallica were always the leader. They broke all the doors down to every obstacle in the way of heavy metal. To some degree, Iron Maiden, before them, had superseded and became an arena act and done this stuff too, so certainly you’ve gotta give credit to Maiden. And even Def Leppard, to some degree, because they started out as just kind of a grungy little heavy metal band out of Sheffield, and then they [went] on to become essentially almost like a pop act, on some level; I mean, they became that big.

“Those guys — certainly Def Leppard and Maiden — deserve credit for sort of carving the initial path to sort of the big-time mainstream path for heavy metal. But then Metallica came in, and they just fucking [said], ‘We’re here. We’re coming in.’ They really broke through every obstacle with MTV and daytime rotation with their videos and just became a household name.

“And it’s cool, because they have ‘metal’ in their name, so it’s not like there’s any ‘what is this?’ It’s, like, come on. It says ‘metal’ right in it. You know what it is. And they didn’t clean it up and pretty it up; they just kept it raw and frickin’ grungy and in your face, and it was, again, authentic. So, again, the likes of Lemmy [of Motörhead], who influenced Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer] and the guys, that inspiration that stayed true, that, ‘We don’t have to…'”

Recalling Metallica’s uncompromising attitude, Ellefson continued:

“I remember with Metallica, it was always the thing: ‘We do our own thing. We don’t play by the rules.’ And to a large degree, they didn’t.

“And that’s, I think, what made it appealing to the fans, because, let’s face it, heavy metal is kind of working man’s music, and that’s why we look to our heroes, because they’re, like, ‘God, I wish I could my boss to fuck off and just go do that, ’cause these guys can do whatever they want.’ That’s the message, right?”

In late February, David Ellefson and the former Megadeth guitarist Jeff Youg unveiled their first original song as Kings of Thrash, titled “Bridges Burn”. You can check out the band’s first live performance of the song on fan-filmed footage below.