David Ellefson has commented on Megadeth's struggle to remain relevant in the 1990s, confirming "there was no comfort zone" in the changing trends of the times from grunge to nu metal. Ellefson made his comments in a brand new interview with eonmusic.
On what he views as his his favourite Megadeth era, he said; "You know, Countdown to Extinction [1992] was a sweet spot. Rust In Peace [1990] was a lot of work sort of rebuilding, putting it together. You could feel things were returning for us, you could feel things were on the uptick. It was a moment in time too; MTV, and the [thrash metal] genre was really peaking right then, so you could just feel we were cresting the wave. And then, of course, when Seattle music hit, that was a big turn in all of our lives because it was just the next generations coming up, you know, nu metal and all this stuff."
Expanding on the changing times of '90s in general, he continued; "The '90s in general were a huge transition to every record; there was no comfort zone. As popular as we were, there was no laying back, you know; 'man, we've got this in the bag!' Every album was a whole new like... we were solid from within, but from without, everything was changing. Music, MTV decided; 'yeah, we're not playing heavy metal anymore', so you have to reinvent, like with the Cryptic Writings album [1997]."
Elsewhere, Ellefson discussed the forthcoming documentary This Was My Life - The Story Of Nick Menza; "You know, Nick is the beloved son of the legacy," he said; "That was such a great era of the group [1989 - 1998] because it was very collaborative. We were together as a team, we were super prolific, we wrote a lot, and it was just a fantastic moment in that band's career. Obviously, we went through a lot of different versions of that, and to me, of course, like the fans, it was a favourite one. Unfortunately, after a decade it transitioned, but Nick's work and his personality, I think you'll see it in the film."
Read the full interview at eonmusic.
