Mustaine

A Heavy Metal Memoir

By: Dave Mustaine, Joe Layden

Narrated by: Tom Wayland

Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

The fall and rise of a heavy metal icon.

Dave Mustaine is the first to admit that he's bottomed out a few times in his dark and twisted speed metal version of a Dickensian life.

Impoverished, transient childhood? Check.

Abusive, alcoholic parent? Check.

Mind-fucking religious weirdness (in his case the extremes of the Jehovah's Witnesses and Satanism)? Check.

Alcoholism, drug addiction, homelessness? Check, check, check.

Soul-crushing professional and artistic setbacks? Check.

Rehab? Check (seventeen times, give or take).

Near-death experience? Check that one, too.

James Hetfield, with whom many years ago Mustaine founded a band known as Metallica, once observed, with some incredulity, that Mustaine must have been born with a horseshoe up his ass. That's how lucky he's been, how fortunate he is to be pulling breath after so many close calls. And Hetfield is right. Mustaine has been lucky. He has been blessed. But here's the thing about having a horseshoe lodged in your rectum: It also hurts like hell. And you never forget it's there.

Mustaine has battled through it all to achieve dizzying heights. From the early, heady days of Metallica, being unceremoniously let go only to become a world-famous rock star - founder, front man, singer, songwriter, and guitarist (and de facto CEO) for Megadeth, one of the most popular bands in heavy metal - Mustaine's is a story that will inspire, stun, and terrify.

©2010 Dave Mustaine (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

No pulled punches here.

a very candid and open telling story of one of the most influential thrash bands of all time. a can't-miss for fans of both Metallica and Megadeth.

A wild ride!

The performance by Tom Layland is spot on, at times you swear Dave is reading it.

He has quite a story to tell, going from a 15 year old living on the streets to creating a music genre. You get the sense that he really needed to tell his side of the Metallica feud. It is amazing how much of his life was fueled by getting kicked out of that band. He doesn't gloss over the embarrassing parts. I gained a lot of respect for him from this book. Its a fun listen...highly recommend it.

Great Story of Perseverance!

I was interested in Dave Mustaine after seeing his interview on “Some Kind of Monster”. I have never bought or listened to a Megadeth record. I found this book one of the most fascinating stories of resilience I have read/listened too. On another note - the reader is phenomenal! I actually thought it was Dave Mustaine until I read the credits.

Dave opens up and comes clean

I've been a big fan of Megadeth since first seeing them live in 1986. I've met and spoken with Dave about four or five times along the way. I even made him really angry one so I'll be at inadvertently. Listening to this book has added a lot of context to those meetings and to the man himself. Recommended.

love it

I'm a huge fan of megadeth and I love this book, it's so good, I would definitely recommend:)

Dave is one of the Greats!!!

Being a metal head I knew a lot of the stories told in here, but there are a lot of new stories too! Dave, is great! He did an awesome job on this and it's great to hear his side of things.

Great listen

I really enjoyed listening to this being an avid Megadeth fan. Listening about the early days of Metallica and powering through.

Excellent narration

Tom Wayland is the best type of narrator for a rock n roll biography. He sounds like he's from L.A. and, in this case, he sort of sounds like Dave Mustaine.

I'm an atheist, but, admittedly, the best moment of the book was when he laid all his burdens down at the cross. I'm sure a great weight was lifted and he saved his life and his family.

Great story. I got confused with all the lineup changes,etc. I would have loved to hear more about how he learned to play guitar and more about how he created the music.

Perfect in every way

Great Book....very personal and everything you want in a book like this. I have always been a metallica fan, not so much megadeth, but I am certainly now a Dave Mustaine fan. His writing concerning his faith was remarkable. I have found Megadeth and Jesus because of Dave Mustaine.

Inspirational, Insightful, Encouraging

I first listened to my “My life in Deth” by David Ellefson. Mustaine, allowed me the opportunity to know the person behind the music I listened to for ears. Another must listen.