Megadeth founder and frontman, Dave Mustaine
announced that he has disbanded the group due to a severe injury to his
left arm and hand he suffered last January.
This marks the end of a 19 year career
for Megadeth, which Mustaine formed with bassist Dave Ellefson, guitarist
Kerry King (Slayer), and drummer Lee Rauch in 1983, after he was fired
from Metallica.
On the rumor front, there is so speculation
that the real reason for the breakup of Megadeth is that founding member
Dave Ellefson has been recruited to replace Jason Newsted in Metallica,
but we were unable to confirm those reports at press time.
Back to the official reason for the breakup,
Mustaine issued the following statement today (April 3, 2002)
During the first week of January 2002,
while MEGADETH was on hiatus, in Texas, I suffered an injury that caused
severe nerve damage to my left arm and hand. It was diagnosed as Radial
Neuropathy - specifically, a "compressed radial nerve." My doctors tell
me it will take about a year to make as complete a recovery as I can, and
even then, we don't know how complete that is going to be. I am working
hard with a great team of doctors and physical therapists daily, and God
willing, someday I hope to play guitar again.
In the meantime, while I work on rebuilding
my arm, I will take this opportunity to reappraise my career and my future.
For the time being I have decided to exit MEGADETH, and explore other areas
of the music business where I might make a contribution without being able
to play my instrument.
I have had a terrific time singing and
playing for you while I was in MEGADETH. I am truly grateful for all of
the numerous Gold, Platinum, and Multi-Platinum Records I have been awarded,
as well as the many International Record Awards. And I can never thank
you, our fans past and present, enough for your loyalty and affection over
the years.
My immediate goals now are to do what I
can to make something good come out of this terrible situation. First and
foremost, I want to use this opportunity to devote more time, energy and
attention to my wife Pam and my two children, Justis and Electra. Pam has
done a wonderful job carrying the load while I was a long-distance husband
and father in the studio or criss-crossing the world on tour, but in terms
of being a Gold or Platinum parent, I have a long way to go, and I'm eager
to get started.
In closing I would like to depart with
the beautiful French words I wrote on the record Youthanasia: "A tout le
monde, a tous mes amis, Je vous aime, Je dois partir." (To all the world,
to all my friends. I love you, I have to leave)
Rant
or Rave? Your turn, post you comments
and thoughts on this news item. But hey keep it clean, we wouldn't want
to have to wash your mouth out with Old Spice.
Fan
Speak:
Posted by Gabitsch:
Wrote a column about it today. Here goes:
Header: So far, so good, so long…
This one’s a eulogy of sorts. It’s for metal fans, but not exclusively. If you want to know what turns a nice young man into everything your priest warned you about, read on. This is as sentimental as I get, people, so whip out the scissors and glue.
Anyway, Megadeth is breaking up. I read the news at Metal Sludg
