Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian famously described Dave Mustaine as 'arguably the Godfather of thrash metal in his 2014 autobiography. Writing in his book 'I'm The Man: The Story Of That Guy From Anthrax', Ian said "The guy is arguably the godfather of thrash metal. He wrote a lot of the riffs on Metallica's 'Kill 'Em All' and even some of 'Ride The Lightning'. Without Dave Mustaine, maybe thrash metal never would have happened. At least in the beginning, he was the driving force, artistically."
Now Loudwire have asked Mustaine directly for his thoughts on being crowned the Godfather of thrash metal.

In an interview the Megadeth mainman admits he is aware of the key role he has played in the genre but he is reluctant to take the credit.
"I think there's a good chance it (thrash metal) might not have… The guitar player that we hired in Metallica before James Hetfield actually started playing guitar and was… he wasn't metal," recalls Mustaine.

"And if he would have been the guy that we chose over me, who knows what would have happened? And I think that if you really look at the mathematics of Metallica in the beginning, me being the only guitar player, if I wasn't there, there probably wouldn't have been a Metallica."

He continues: "But let's not kid ourselves: James is a great guitar player; he really is. And I'm sure that at some point they would have realized that he needed to play guitar and sing, and they would found a guitar player as good as I am. I just know that about those guys; they're excellent musicians and they know what they want.