Dave Mustaine says musicians can no longer speak freely the way they did when Megadeth started, and that an artist who reveals his political beliefs immediately loses half his audience. He said so on Metal Hammer Greece’s “TV War” show, when asked whether today’s climate would allow him to say what he said four decades ago.
“The world has changed for the worse, with all this cancel culture, with all this hatred people carry around. You used to be able to say certain things in the United States and now you can’t — unless you’re one of those who tell others what they can’t say,” he replied. “If you sing about politics and someone figures out where you lean, you have just cut your audience in half, because one will be with you and the other against you. And that’s ugly. Before, nobody knew who you voted for. Nobody cared. Now it matters to the intolerant to find out who everyone voted for and to expose them for something that is entirely personal.”
Of his own audience he said he does not believe Megadeth fans are such people: “I think our fans know I grew up very badly and that whatever I’ve done, I did trying to become better — and that includes sharing everything with them, so they can become better too.”
At meet-and-greets, he says, he often hears stories about how his songs have marked people’s lives, and he recalled one meeting that stuck with him: a woman in a wheelchair, without her legs, a professional and an outstanding violinist, told him “Train Of Consequences” is her song — because she had lost her legs to a train. “You never know,” he remarked.
“In My Darkest Hour” is from 1988’s “So Far, So Good… So What!” and “Train Of Consequences” opened “Youthanasia” six years later. Mustaine, whom the press has described for years as politically conservative, disputes it: “People think I’m right-wing. I’m not. I’m independent. I’ve voted Democrat, I’ve voted Republican. I vote for whoever is the lesser of two evils — sometimes of three.” As for the reputation that follows him, he said those who leave Megadeth hold bitterness and that it is easy to say bad things about him: “My reputation will get there ahead of me, but my character will remain. When we’re in South America, we sit on the hotel steps and sing to the fans. That’s what we’re really like.”
See also: Dave Mustaine: “I hope God heals me” | Dave Mustaine says MEGADETH “opened doors”
