“He took offense to that and we hung up, and I don't remember speaking to him since then”: Ahead of Megadeth's final album, Dave Mustaine sets the record straight on why he and James Hetfield don’t talk anymore

As Dave Mustaine gears up for his and Megadeth’s final album, questions remain about why the relationship between Mustaine – a former Metallica guitarist – and James Hetfield remains strained to this day.

Turns out, one of the core reasons goes back to the early days of Metallica. While the band has reissued every studio album – from Kill 'Em All through to Load – their early and now legendary No Life 'Til Leather demo, which includes key Mustaine contributions, has notably been omitted.

“I wrote all the music on Phantom Lord, all the music on Metal Militia, all the music on Jump In The Fire and The Mechanix,” Mustaine asserts in an new interview with Classic Rock.

“And I wrote the lyrics for Jump In The Fire and The Mechanix. So do the math: if I wrote the music and James [Hetfield] wrote the lyrics, then the credit is 50 per cent me, and 50 per cent James. Well, that's not what went down when I left. James and Lars figured out that they were going to give Lars some percentage of the songs he didn't write anything on, and that happened on all four songs.”

Mustaine reveals that writing credits were a “bone of contention” for him going forward with Metallica on anything.

He adds, “It just wasn't fair. You guys got more money than God, why do you have to take my money?”

Speaking about the reissue that never happened, Mustaine reveals, “So James called me up, ‘Hey, man, we want to release this No Life 'Til Leather thing, and we want to get all this publishing stuff straight, and, you know, we really don't remember what went down.

“I said, ‘Well, that's good, because I do. I remember what went down, and I can help with that.’

“And then the conversation took a turn,” he continues. “James goes, ‘Well, that's not the way that we remember it.’ And I went, ‘Well, James, honestly, there's three ways to look at this: there's your way, my way, and the truth, which is some combination of the two.’

“That was the end of the conversation. He took offense to that, and we hung up, and I don't remember speaking to him since then.”

Ahead of the band’s final album and tour, Mustaine sat down with Guitar World to recount the hiring and firing of every Megadeth guitarist.