Credit: Jeremy Saffer
Credit: Jeremy SafferFor Record Store Day 2015, Metallica reissued their 1982 demo tape No Life ’til Leather, which featured the band’s original lineup: frontman James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ulrich, bassist Ron McGovney, and guitarist Dave Mustaine, the latter of whom would go on to create Megadeth. At the time, Metallica promised an expanded version of the demo would be forthcoming, but it never materialized.
Mustaine has now revealed that the project was shelved due to a dispute over songwriting credits between him and Ulrich.
“James contacted me 2 years ago,” Mustaine tweets. “We were going to officially release the ‘No Life [’til] Leather’ demo as a record, [with] 27 tracks, pics, the whole enchilada, and the talks broke down because Lars wanted credit on two songs I wrote every note and word to. I have the texts. I passed.”
Mustaine was fired from Metallica in 1983 due to his issues with substance abuse, resulting in long-standing tension between them. Their relationship has since improved, with Metallica and Megadeth performing together during the Big Four tour in 2010.
Copyright © 2017, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.