Dave Mustaine Calls David Ellefson’s Contribution To Kingmaker ‘Pathetic’

In a recent interview with SiriusXM’s ‘Trunk Nation L.A. Invasion,’ Megadeth’s frontman Dave Mustaine shared that David Ellefson‘s addition to ‘Kingmaker’ clouded the song’s potential.

Dave Mustaine and David Ellefson’s relationship has always been rocky. The two never fully saw eye to eye, and their relationship got more distant each year, sometimes to the point of filing lawsuits.

More recently, Dave Mustaine mentioned that they wouldn’t use Ellefson’s bass tracks on the new Megadeth album ‘The Sick, The Dying… And The Dead!’ that dropped on September 2. Mustaine also claimed that the song ‘Kingmaker,’ a part of Megadeth’s 2013 album ‘Super Collider,’ was Ellefson’s method of getting his hands on the track to add his own riff.

The guitarist stated that during the recording of ‘Kingmaker, ‘ David Ellefson and producer Johnny K had been adding a riff to the song’s intro without his knowledge. When Mustaine confronted them, Ellefson claimed he wanted to add his riff to the track. Even though Mustaine allowed them to keep the riff in ‘Kingmaker,’ he still believes that the addition of Ellefson’s riff made the song sound pathetic.

Dave Mustaine’s words about David Ellefson’s contribution to ‘Kingmaker’:

“And I came in and said, ‘What are you two doing?’ You know, trying to explain, ‘I’m gonna f*cking poach your song, and I’m going to put one of my riffs in front of the song.’ And it was so pathetic.

I just felt so sorry for the two of them. I just said, ‘Go ahead. Leave it in there.’ But if you listen to ‘Kingmaker’ tonight when you go home, you’ll hear the beginning of the song; there’s a dumbass part in there.”

You can listen to ‘Kingmaker’ below.