Dave Mustaine kicked from Metallica story

In 1981, Mustaine left Panic to join Metallica as the lead guitarist. Metallica's drummer (Lars Ulrich) had posted an ad in a local newspaper, The Recycler, looking for a lead guitarist. In his own words, Mustaine remembers his first meeting with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich: "I was convinced that I should be in the band and went to rehearsal. I was tuning up when all the other guys in the band were in another room. They weren't talking to me, so I went in and said, 'What the ****, am I in or not?!', 'You've got the job.' I couldn't believe how easy it had been and suggested that we get some beer to celebrate. 

Mustaine's membership in Metallica would last less than two years. Brian Slagel, owner of Metal Blade Records, recalls in an interview: "Dave was an incredibly talented guy, but he also had an incredibly large problem with alcohol and drugs. He'd get wasted and become a real crazy person, a raging maniac, and the other guys just couldn't deal with that after a while. I mean, they all drank of course, but Dave drank more...much more. I could see they were beginning to get fed up of seeing Dave drunk out of his mind all the time. 

On one occasion Mustaine brought his dog to rehearsal. The dog jumped up onto the car of Metallica bassist Ron McGovney and scratched the paint. Hetfield allegedly proceeded to yell at Mustaine's dog and kicked it in anger. Mustaine responded by physically attacking Hetfield and McGovney and yelling at Ulrich. Mustaine was fired following the altercation. The next day, Mustaine asked to be allowed back in the band and was granted his request. Another incident occurred when Mustaine, who had been drinking, poured a full can of beer down the neck and into the pick-ups of Ron McGovney's bass. When McGovney tried playing it, he received an electrical shock which he claims 'blew him across the room and shocked the hell out of him'. McGovney then told Mustaine and Hetfield to leave his house and left the band shortly after. 

On April 11, 1983, after Metallica had driven to New York to record their debut album, Mustaine was officially fired from the band because of his alcoholism, hard drug abuse, overly aggressive behavior, and personality clashes with founding members Hetfield and Ulrich — an incident Mustaine refers to as "no warning, no second chance". The band packed up Mustaine's gear, drove him to a Greyhound bus station in Port Authority, and put him on a bus bound for Los Angeles. It was on this bus ride that Mustaine scribbled some lyrical ideas on the back of a muffin wrapper, which would later become the song Set The World Afire from the 1988 Megadeth album So Far, So Good... So What! 

During his short time in Metallica, Dave Mustaine toured with the band, co-wrote four songs which appeared on Kill Em All, and co-wrote two songs which would eventually appear on Ride the Lightning. Mustaine has also made independently unverified claims to have written parts of "Leper Messiah" from Master of Puppets. He also recorded several songs with the band including the No Life 'Til Leather demo tape. A few of the songs he wrote with Hetfield and Ulrich went on to be re-recorded by Metallica. The most well-known of these is "The Four Horsemen" from Kill 'Em All, which Mustaine wrote as "The Mechanix" and later released on his debut album with the original lyrics as "Mechanix." While "Mechanix" incorporated the majority of the original riffs, the song was recorded at a much faster aggressive tempo than "The Four Horsemen".

GOOD OLD TIMES!