In Dave Mustaine’s new memoir, Rust in Peace, the thrash legend, his bandmates and crew tell the story of Megadeth’s iconic fourth album, along with the stories of drug addiction and inner conflict which surrounded it.

In this rare post-cancer video interview, Mustaine gets into the book’s gritty details. “I’d be bullshitting you if I said [cocaine] did not influence [Rust in Peace] because we were all under the influence of the drug at the time,” Mustaine told us. “I didn’t really like coke that much. I liked the way that it tasted, but I didn’t like the way it made me feel. It never ended well, put it that way.”

Like many fans, Mustaine holds the chemistry Megadeth had with Marty Friedman and Nick Menza in high regard, which led to reunion attempts of the Rust in Peace lineup. “The chemistry of Nick and Marty… that was amazing,” Mustaine says. “My heart aches when I think about that. That’s why I wrote in the back of the book, ‘In loving memory,’ and not ‘In memory of.’”

“I wanted things to work out with Nick. I even said if it’s not going to work with him playing in the studio, let’s have somebody else go into the studio and have Nick play live. I was bending over backwards to get a place for Nick, and then he said he wanted an exorbitant amount of cash.”

As for the gigantic impact Rust in Peace continues to make on metalheads, Mustaine says, “I’m really happy that it made people happy — that’s the thing I like the most. When you set to do something, you do it for yourself and fuck, who cares what anyone else thinks, but if you’re doing something and it makes you feel good to make other people feel good, that’s awesome.

Watch our full interview with Dave Mustaine below and click here to grab a copy of Rust in Peace: The Inside Story of the Megadeth Masterpiece.

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