Dave Mustaine

Although he never appeared on any of their albums, guitarist Dave Mustaine lent a major hand in creating Metallica's groundbreaking thrash metal sound. Born on September 13, 1961, in La Mesa, CA, Mustaine and his family had to move often while he was a youngster to escape the wrath of his alcoholic and violent father. It was through his older sister that he was turned on to music (mostly the singer/songwriter folk sounds of Cat Stevens), but by his teenage years, Mustaine had become a major metal fan; teaching himself to play guitar while not learning from his father's mistakes, he began indulging heavily in alcohol and shortly thereafter, hard drugs. It was during his tenure as a drug dealer that he was turned on to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (Iron Maiden, Saxon, Motörhead, Venom) from a "client" who would offer payment in the form of albums.



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