Dave Mustaine’s Black Sabbath song: “It was the neatest thing ever”
The thrash metal genre wouldn’t be the same without Dave Mustaine. From contributing to Metallica’s early sound to breaking new ground in Megadeth, the guitarist has certainly earned a rightful label as one of the godfathers of metal and an integral part of the entire movement. Although he left Metallica prior to the debut album release, his contributions to thrash as a pioneering frontman cannot be understated.
Although Metallica’s early days were significantly influenced by Maine, who was credited with four songs on Kill’ Em All, it was his experience within Megadeth that saw him truly come into his own. Fronting the band meant that he now had complete control over the process and musical direction while realising his entire creative vision.
Most notably, Mustaine became the ultimate innovator in the field, popularising certain aspects of guitar playing, like the “spider chord”, and introducing new ways of achieving certain progressions and sounds in metal. His intuitive approach to music creation and unrelenting dedication to constant improvement have earned him various titles over the years, including the greatest metal guitarist of all time.
Mustaine is undoubtedly inextricable from the evolvement of the thrash metal genre, which is partially due to his immense appreciation of metal itself. Black Sabbath, for instance, identified all of the most powerful and transgression aspects of rock music and trailblazed metal as a definitive offshoot, supercharging the poignancy of less syncopation to create something with more brute force.
Mustaine formed a friendship with Ozzy Osbourne just after forming Megadeth and even once got asked to perform in a tribute show. Megadeth and Black Sabbath seemed like the perfect alliance even in the early days, as both sought to extract the best aspects of rock music, appropriating its heavy and dark themes and taking them to a new level.
According to Mustaine, Sabbath were at their very best when Osbourne was at his most notorious. This is evidenced by his favourite musical pick, ‘Never Say Die’, a standout track on their self-titled 1978 album, which was also incidentally the last record they put out before Osbourne was fired. “It’s a great song,” Mustaine told My Planet Rocks, despite it being “painful for the band to remember.”
The song is special not only for its sound but also due to the personal memory it forged within Mustaine’s mind. “We got invited to do this ‘Nativity In Black’ tribute,” the guitarist recalled, an event which saw them perform the song in tribute to the legendary metal band. It turned out to be one to remember for everybody in the room, particularly the fans, who went away with a magical memory of the “neatest thing ever”.
