In a new interview with the That Metal Interview podcast, former MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson spoke about the changes in the music industry since he first started in the 1980s and 1990s. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I got in under the wire. I got in when there was still an opportunity to have a career, make a living, basically pay for your life so you can keep making more music. For me, that was the goal. It wasn’t just to acquire a bunch of toys and then retire. It was, like, no, this is what you do. And so I’ve tried to be a good steward of the money I’ve made and the things so that I can pay the bills and not have to stress. ‘Cause believe me, me and Dave [Mustaine, MEGADETH leader], we were homeless in those early years. Man, that was rough. And I never called home for money. I said, like, ‘I’ve gotta make this on my own, man.’ And by doing that, it makes me appreciate. It’s the old saying, you know the price of everything but the value of nothing. And I think by going through what we went through, putting MEGADETH together and then starting all these new bands, ’cause you all start from the beginning, you start at the beginning, you appreciate the value of it. And that’s why I think I appreciate the value of camaraderie, the value of when you have real musical companionship with people, and the value of when you put something out and it connects with people and you feel that it’s connecting, that you really feel like we’re building a community here with what we’re doing. And I think the community, to me, at this point in my life is always more important. And we’re a tribe. We’re a tribe of kind of quirky misfits, and we do the best we can to integrate into normal life. But let’s face it, we’re the black T-shirt crowd. I was at a Comic-Con this weekend with [former MEGADETH guitarist] Chris Poland, and it’s the gathering of misfits — the wanted and the unwanted. And that’s who we are.”
He continued: “I’ve gotten to make music for the masses who consumed music through radio and MTV and these things, and I’ve gotten to make music that’s just kind of for the little clique of weirdos that we all are. I think, look, the music industry, it was all kind of born… [Late AC/DC singer] Bon Scott said it best, ‘The guitar man got famous, the businessman got rich.’ [Laughs] Look, there’s two sides to it. There’s the music industry, which is where you make music and you sell that music as a product. And it used to be done through record companies and now it’s done through Spotify, YouTube, digital, more of the digital means… But then the other side of it is the entertainment industry. So when you go on stage, you’re not really in the music industry anymore. Now you’re in the entertainment industry. So when you get on stage, what makes you a compelling product? ‘Cause that’s what you are at that point. You’re a product. And if you don’t like that, then don’t get in the business. Again, it’s kind of the circus. That’s why I think KISS learned how to breathe fire and put makeup on: ‘Let’s go to the circus.’ And for those of us, it’s so weird that my generation, we grew up as these big KISS fans with all this sort of fantasy thing, and then our generation was the opposite of that. We’re, like, jeans and t-shirts, and our connection was that we were no different than the audience. And that was our connection. And generations kind of go through these cycles. And so for our generation, and AC/DC was like this, I would say, there was a connection of that the musicians were just like us. They were one of us. We were like them. They were like us. METALLICA were the kings of this, and they still are. Their whole show is very fan-driven — the snake pit, just everything about what they do. And they were the leaders of the thrash movements. And I’m lucky that I got to be part of that and help expand and develop and color that as well.
“When you’re on that stage, you’ve gotta be doing something that is compelling, to make people watch you on the stage,” Ellefson added. “So that, to me, is kind of the mindset of it. And, of course, for us musicians, we take our songs on the stage because that’s the reason we’re on the stage, quite honestly. But, again, it’s not the music business; it’s the entertainment business. Record companies, or in this case, Spotify, YouTube, whatever, they sell the music. When you get on a stage, there’s a promoter. Their job is to sell the concert ticket. So that’s really what it is, in my view.”
Ellefson was originally in MEGADETH from the band’s inception in 1983 to 2002, when the group briefly broke up because MEGADETH leader Dave Mustaine suffered severe nerve damage that left him unable to play.
Mustaine reformed MEGADETH 21 years ago. Originally setting out to record a solo album, Mustaine enlisted studio musicians to play on what ultimately became MEGADETH‘s 2004 “The System Has Failed” comeback album, subsequently recruiting former ICED EARTH bassist James MacDonough to take Ellefson‘s place for the album’s touring cycle.
Ellefson sued Mustaine in 2004 for $18.5 million, alleging that the MEGADETH guitarist/vocalist still owed him substantial merchandise and publishing royalties. In January 2005, the case was dismissed in court, and five years later, Ellefson rejoined MEGADETH.
In his first book, Ellefson admitted that he became a salaried employee upon his return to MEGADETH 15 years ago.
Ellefson was fired from MEGADETH more than four years ago after sexually tinged messages and explicit video footage involving the bassist were posted on Twitter.
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