The moment Aerosmith fired Megadeth: “Not cool”
The art of a good old-fashioned rivalry in music has kind of lost its way in the past few years, hasn’t it? You don’t hear so much of artists sparring with each other anymore, and petty private grievances are rarely brought into the limelight, probably because they’ve all had far too much media training now. Compare it to days gone by, and you can see we’re living in a pretty placid world by music standards – which was certainly not the case with Aerosmith and Megadeth.
Everyone knows how gruelling touring can be, especially for a rock band not exactly known for keeping things low-key on or off the stage. But throw in a support act you don’t get along with, and it’s a recipe for disaster. Aerosmith knew that uncomfortable state of affairs all too well on their Get a Grip tour, which lasted a mammoth 18 months from June 1993 to December 1994 and seemed doomed from the outset in many ways.
The main source of that tension came from their support act, Megadeth. It’s fair to say that they weren’t a great fit with the headlining Boston rockers, not least because of their sonic positions. Although we often speak about rock music in fairly general terms, this does not give appreciation to the fact that within the genre, there are complete chasms of which Aerosmith and Megadeth were situated at polar opposite ends. What with Megadeth being one of America’s ‘Big Four’ thrash metal bands and Aerosmith occupying arguably a more mainstream stance, they weren’t exactly match-made companions.
Obviously, sometimes unlikely fusions can strike up excellent results – you’d only have to look at Aerosmith and Run DMC, after all – but the best place to test this out would have probably been within the private confines of a rehearsal studio and not the massive global arena tour. It also looked to be a bizarre vitriolic dynamic insofar as Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine seemed hellbent on watching what he had decided was the sinking ship of Aerosmith. Let’s just say it didn’t go down well.
Mustaine initially contested that his unpleasantness was rooted in Aerosmith’s poor treatment of his band on the road, but in many ways, that was a bit of a ruse covering up the real truth. He went as far as announcing on stage that the main act were past their prime, which was hardly going to put him in the good books – and was also just hilariously a blatant lie given the album Aerosmith were touring had gone multi-platinum.
Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry later recalled: “Although for the most part, we enjoyed an easy and respectful relationship with other rock bands, at the start of the Get a Grip tour, when Megadeth was opening for us, there was a nasty moment. Dave Mustaine was onstage and bad-mouthed us for being over the hill. Not cool. We dropped them from that tour.” Touché. By calling Mustaine’s bluff, it’s clearer now that Megadeth were getting just a bit too big for their boots, but that all came to an end very quickly.
Therein lies the toxic paradox of fame – you have to know your worth but get too cocky with it and risk losing everything. In this instance, Mustaine’s ego eclipsed his big opportunity and subsequently left his arena success and relationship with Aerosmith in tatters.
