Dave Mustaine Recalls The ‘Chaos’ In Early Thrash Metal Shows

Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine recently discussed the early metal scene and its chaos. During a recent interview with Metal Hammer to celebrate the band’s 40th year, the frontman recalled the band’s earlier years and shared why they were so chaotic compared to today’s thrash metal shows.

Since metal was considered an underground subgenre that many were unfamiliar with back then, many people were not accustomed to it. With the formation of Megadeth and other similar thrash bands, the genre started to gain popularity and attracted many more fans seeking an outlet for their energy.

Although fans had fun going to the shows and letting their energy out, according to the Megadeth frontman, they didn’t know how to act during a show. He explained:

“The shows were out of control because hardly anyone knew what moshing was. They weren’t familiar with crowdsurfing. Kids would just jump up on the stage and there was no stagediving protocol. Some of them would run over to you and grab your mic stand to get some picks off. They’d bang into your guitar or try to scream into the mic. Then someone would shove them off the stage. It was pure balls-to-the-wall metal insanity.”

The chaos was not only limited to fans and the stage but also to the drug addiction of the members back in the day. Mustaine revealed what he had to deal with:

“They’d sell a whole bunch of gear to buy drugs. We’d have to drive around town to all the pawn shops and instrument shops looking for all the drum pieces, or other pieces of equipment.”

Though Mustaine did not make the fans’ attitudes and behaviors seem like a problem back then, he now doesn’t hesitate to warn and call out people during his shows. The rocker called out fans who interrupted his speech during shows and even claimed to kick out a drunk fan for repeatedly interrupting him. Below, you can see a recent clip of Mustaine warning a fan.

Dave shuts down two drunk idiots
byu/MalakMeister inMegadeth