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

peace sells...I'm buying!!!

Great, great ,great... Excellent story for any/all Megadeth and Metallica fans or just metal/music fans in general. Great story full of all the details of Daves life. Alot about his Metallica days.. The Narrator sounds similar to Dave and does a great job. Very easy to listen to. I couldn't stop listening.. I have bought close to 60 books from audible.com and this is one of the best.. I also suggest Scar tissue from anthony keidis. I wish audible.com would get more heavy metal biographies. This one was awesome!!! Dave ROX!!!! Mike in Boston

Hello Me, Meet The Real Me

What did you love best about Mustaine?

I never liked Dave Mustaine, he always came across as kind of a jerk. This book confirmed all of my suspicions but also makes him a very sympathetic character. A lot of times he's his own worst enemy and he comes close to admitting that but in the same breath always manages to blame someone else. He's an alpha male rock star and being a jerk comes with the territory but Megadeth backs it up with a career filled with legendary songs. He has lots of great stories about Metallica, Megadeth, and the many people who came and left the band. He's very open and upfront about his substance abuse and the difficulties it caused. A lot of unintentional humor comes from hearing him tell a story and then imagining how other people in the room saw the same story play out but drew very different conclusions. The man is a legend but he's also the neglected kid who lashes out at everyone because he learned early on that no one was looking out for him so he would have to do it himself.

What did you like best about this story?

All the stories about early bands, Metallica, and all the Megadeth stories.

Which character – as performed by Tom Wayland – was your favorite?

Dave Mustaine. He does Dave better than Dave does Dave.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Angry Again

Any additional comments?

The narration is incredible. Tom Wayland sounds like Dave Mustaine and he delivers the stories with the intensity and righteousness that they deserve. I always liked Megadeth's music but never liked Dave himself. This book really helped me understand who he is and where he came from and why he is the way he is and it has a lot of great stories about the various band line-ups and the trials and tribulations of touring while addicted to drugs. I've read/listened to many musician autobiographies and this is one of the best.

Best read of the year

I will preface this by saying I am a huge Megadeth fan and have been since the late 80's. This book is an uncut, gritty look into the business of rock and roll and Dave does not pull any punches here. He gives a brutally honest look at his life from a very young age through the inception of Megadeth including all the ups and downs it took to get where he is today. The book was a roller coaster of emotions ranging from hysterical laughter to sadness and despair. This book puts a lot of the pieces together for you on the history and reasons behind some of the untold Megadeth madness that you don't get to hear as a typical fan. I have always loved Megadeth and respected Dave as an artist and this book only elevated my respect for him. This is a true story of redemption and a reminder that no matter how far you have fallen, there is always hope.

Tom Wayland did an unbelievably good job narrating, he was the next best thing to Mustaine himself reading. I blow through a lot of audible books and he was truly excellent.

Read this book, I gurantee you will not be dissapointed.

HELLO DAVE!!

Loved this - I really had to keep reminding myself that I wasn't listening to Dave himself read these memoirs, the narrator captures every nuance of his voice superbly.
These memoirs are insightful and brutally honest, revealing a very intelligent, articulate - if not somewhat self-obsessed - man who is for the most part misunderstood.
It was a pleasure getting to know the man behind the music.

Highway to hell, u turn, highway to heaven.

Being a huge megadeth fan for close to 15 years I wanted to read this book, but who am I kidding. I don't read....so once I saw this I jumped at it.

Quick overview but no spoilers.

This feels like Dave is just sitting there telling you his life story. It's very easy to listen to, if your a fan of megadeth then you'll have no problem listening to it.

He does go deep into what all he has tried, how it made him feel, as well as not pulling any punches. It does as well have a fair amount of cussing. So if that is a put off for you, then you might not want to listen to this.

And by the end he doesn't pull any punches about his faith in God/Jesus either. In making it clear that he's not a perfect guy, but the only way that he's still here is due to the fact God saved him.

As a Christian myself I loved hearing this story. In that aspect it felt like a huge testimony, more than a life story.

good but could be better

love the book. I wish the author or at least someone with a rock and roll voice would have narrated it.

A little too on the nose

I remember discovering Megadeth around the same time I discovered Metallica, before both bands made some very questionable decisions. In short, I am/was (love everything up to and including Countdown/Justice respectively) a fan. That being said, I know Dave is a jerk. What made this book almost unbearable was the narrator capturing said jerkiness. Dave's words on the printed page would come across with this aspect perfectly well I am sure. But having the narrator amplify it was distracting. The story is whiny and boastful all at the same time. The narrator kills the whole thing, but not in a good way. I'd suggest it for the most hardcore Dave fans, but I'd pass if you, like me, love the music, but could care less what kind of leather pants or haircut one of the many past members wore or lacked

Great story!

Narrative was little hard to get used to, but the story was great. I would recommend it.

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.

This guy goes on and on about his addictions

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would have liked to hear more about his songwriting and less about his addictions.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance is ok, but not great.

Whinge whinge whinge

Having listened to a large amount of metal musicians audiobooks, I can confidently say that this is one of the poorer books i have come across. It is almost 12 hours of Mustaine whinging about Metallica and his addiction, I get it, he was kicked out of Metallica and was rightfully bitter, but no need to write a whole book where he primarily focuses on addiction and his peeves about being kicked out of the band. I was hoping for something more behind the scenes, and was on the whole disappointed. All this book has done is reduced my opinion of Mustaine.

Wow! So much respect for Dave Mustaine

A few days ago I came across an interview of Dave Mustaine on some YouTube channel and decided to check it out. This was my first time hearing him talk and I found myself wanting to listen to more of what he had to say. And so I checked out a few more interviews, and a few more, and some more.. And then I did a quick Google search and found out about this book. I immediately ordered it! But impatience kicked in- I couldn’t wait for it to arrive- so I got the audiobook too. I spent this rainy weekend listening to the audiobook and I loved every minute of it, every story told, and at the end I was left feeling tremendous respect and admiration for Dave Mustaine. His life story, his struggles, his journey to overcome addiction and other destructive tendencies, his refreshing candour and vulnerability, his ability to persevere, his resilience, his talent and ultimately his success as the co-founder of two huge metal bands and his ability to consistently put out great music throughout his career- he is truly an inspiring person.
The narrator did a good job for the most part, though there were instances where I thought he was doing a disservice to the story. Regardless, I highly recommend this book!

Ramblings of a Narcissist

I didn't know much about Mustaine before this audiobook, but listening to it made me strongly dislike him.

The two main themes are how bitter he is after being kicked out of Metallica, and how he was addicted to drink and drugs.

He clearly has a very fragile ego and I was left thinking what hard work he must have been to deal with for a lot of the people he talks of in this book.

The narrator was excellent. He spoke clearly and gave the impression they were his words he was speaking.

Overall though, this has been the worst of all the rock star autobiographies I have listened to.

Amazing

Great performance. Great story and insight. True honesty. Highly entertaining. I recommend this to anyone with even a passing interest in the genre.

Great book!

Great book and really got to understand a lot about Dave’s life and events he’s had to deal with through the highs and the lows.

a good listen into a legendary guitarist

Prerry good, bit cliche at times and his descriptions of being a born again Christian were a bit over the top but I guess for him it will have been that life changing from what he was before i guess its worth more than just a mention. Didn't really know much about Mustaine beforehand but love the band. Hes a bit of a narcissist at times "me me me" selfish, arrogant but hes a character isn't he? It would be boring otherwise. good listen.
Narrator was pretty good actually.

Spectacular

I loved this book so much, I could listen to it over and over again!

good stuff

A great insight into Dave's story: growing up, booze, drugs, Megadeth and Metallica... and jesus. interesting, funny and very well read. Tom Wayland even sounds like Dave.

great story

very interesting journey through life with Dave mustang. From Metallica through to present day. fun!

Changed My View

Really changed my view of Mustaine, great book really would recommend it to fans and non fans.