Megadeth lawsuit...

[Soeru]

Megadeth singer sues former bassist

Tuesday, July 26, 2005; Posted: 1:23 p.m. EDT (17:23 GMT)

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- The lead singer of Megadeth has sued the band's former bass player for allegedly using the name of the group without permission in an ad for musical equipment.

David Mustaine claims in the lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court that he and David Ellefson entered into a settlement agreement in February that restricts the guitarist's use of the band name.

"Ellefson shall not use, or authorize anyone else to use, the work or mark 'Megadeth" to advertise, market or promote any person, band, company, organization, product or services without Megadeth's prior express written permission," according to the lawsuit.

Mustaine said an ad in this month's issue of Bass Player features Ellefson holding a pedal tuner for bass guitars and includes the names of several bands he is involved with -- including Megadeth.

Mustaine is seeking unspecified compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages.

Megadeth was founded in 1983 and released a greatest hits album, "Back to the Start," last month. Ellefson appeared on albums from 1985 to 2002 until he got into a disagreement with Mustaine and refused to rejoin the band last year.

Oh Dave.

[Cosmic]

Ouch, this isn't good. Looks like Dave has more in common with Lars Ulrich than he'd like to admit. :\

[Megalith]

Indeed. This is probably going to shrink the already small Mustaine fanbase.

[artist088]

ive always felt bad for dave. getting kicked out of metallica and having so many people make fun of him for it must be brutal.

[Soeru]

ive always felt bad for dave. getting kicked out of metallica and having so many people make fun of him for it must be brutal.

I feel the exact same way, but not just for the sole fact of being rudely kicked out of a band because of some dickhead drummer(Hetfield and the bassist at the time really liked Dave). He's been involved in a lot of serious drug-related shit, not to mention he had a fucked up childhood, but that's besides the point. Even though this lawsuit is a bit over the top, that's Dave's picky and cocky personality, but deep down he's just looking for love(and some mega bucks ).

I was kind of annoyed that he didn't allow Dissection to play in the Gigantour due to the nature of Dissec's lyrics(Satan/black metal stuff, but Dave used to be a huge fan of Venom and Bathory). Dave is just a little too unpredictable, he claimed he'd never play "Looking Down on the Cross" again because of his religious awakening, yet he still did it at some show after saying that. He also said he'd never be able to play again after that injury, but now he's still alive and kicking.

Lol... can you tell I'm a Mustaine fan? Megadave can do no wrong.

[Edgecrusher]

Jr Ellefsons been a bad boy.........

Hands up whos seen Megadeth lately

*raises hand* :eyeball:

[Soeru]

Jr Ellefsons been a bad boy.........

Hands up whos seen Megadeth lately

*raises hand* :eyeball:

Lucky bastard. Thanks for reminding me, I need to go check if the Gigantour tickets in my area are on sale yet, hopefully they haven't sold out by now.

[Hangman]

Please explain Mustaine/Metallica relationship...

[Cosmic]

Mustaine was Metallica's original lead guitarist, but he was kicked out and replaced by Kirk Hammet. He never appeard on the official albums because he was out of the band by that point, I believe he can be heard on several old demo recordings however. He also helped write a fair amount of tracks from Kill 'Em All and even Ride The Lightning.

[Soeru]

Listen to Megadeth's "Mechanix", which is basically a sped up version of Metallica's "The Four Horsemen" with humorous lyrics about sex. Metallica took credit for a lot of stuff that Dave wrote...

[Edgecrusher]

Dave pretty much wrote most of kill em all himself, and parts of Ride The Lightning. I wonder where Metallica would be today if Mustaine never left the band? Then again we'd have no Megadeth.

[Soeru]

Dave pretty much wrote most of kill em all himself

This is something that is true, but a lot of hardcore Metallica fans deny(mostly mallcore kids who've never even listened to the old shit).

You can easily tell that the riffs and leads in the early Metallica songs(the non-cover songs) are purely Dave's own, even though it was Hammet on the recorded albums you can tell he didn't write those riffs. A lot of people aren't aware that when Mustaine first joined Metallica, he was leagues ahead of them in terms of experience, Metallica have commented on how blown away they were when they first tried him out. So yeah, Dave is the meat of the first album and some of the 2nd, while the "traditional" Metallica lineup took care of most of Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets, And Justice for All(minus Cliff), etc.

I like the fact that there's another side to Metallica that not so many people are aware of. But I really think that they should just bury the hatchet, they've been bitching at each other and holding grudges for too many years. Hetfield is more like the middleman, he doesn't really take sides, the conflict is mostly between Lars and Dave but c'mon, 20 years is too long to hold a grudge against someone.