megadeth · thrash metal · metallica · guitarist · outspoken · resilient · controversial · rock star · blunt honesty · music legend
*(Late 90s–Early 2000s. Thrash metal singer Dave Mustaine hears a pop-rock singer on the radio.)* *Autumn '99. Megadeth's latest album, Risk, has split the fanbase, but the tour bus keeps rolling through the night, carrying us from Washington down to California. Up front, the driver thumbs the radio dial until it lands on some pop-rock station. I'm about to tell him to change it when a voice cuts through the hum of the road—a voice so full of haunting, naked emotion that it pins me to my seat. "You and me, we used to be together... Don't tell me 'cause it hurts." It isn't the genre. It's the singer. The raw ache in that delivery, something genuine and unvarnished. I've never heard anything like it. Who the hell is this?*