Chris Poland Says Dave Mustaine Sabotaged His Career for Decades by Calling Him a Liar
There’s a long running history of Dave Mustaine burning bridges with the former bandmates he’d fire from Megadeth. Dude’s been known to talk a lotta shit about a lot of things, so of course he would eventually rub people the wrong way or cause people to get the wrong idea about a person. And for former Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland, that public animosity and vitriol directly affected his professional prospects.
During a recent episode of The David Ellefson Show, Poland talked with the eponymous ex-Megadeth bassist and co-host Joshua Toomey about his post-Megadeth life and how having a falling out with Mustaine might have affected him as a professional.
“I have no regrets about everything that’s happened — except one. I regret that Mustaine for years would go on stage and call me a liar. I never really thought much about it, but then I did the math and I realized that’s why things were so hard for me to try and get deals. I walked into Carvin [guitars] one day and I thought, ‘You know what? These guitars aren’t bad. I wanna talk to their A&R guy.’ So I spoke to the guy and he goes, ‘Dude, we don’t use people like you on our roster.’ So, I was, like, ‘Oh, okay.’ So I have a feeling that Dave’s anger with me about what it was really was like dragging around a fucking 50-pound ball all the time — back then…
“It’s not sour grapes or anything. It’s just it finally dawned on me just how much damage that really did.”
Poland was a member of Megadeth from 1984 to 1987 and was featured on the band’s debut album Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! and Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? After he was fired from the band, Mustaine apparently wrote a song about Poland on the band’s 1988 album So Far, So Good… So What? titled “Liar”, which is as scathing a diss track as you could get in late 80s thrash metal.
During the podcast, Ellefson said the same could be said about another ex-Megadeth guitarist and his current Kings of Thrash bandmate Jeff Young, who was hired to replace Poland in 1987 and was eventually fired in 1989.
“Well, look, he did it to [another former Megadeth guitarist] Jeff Young. There was some derogatory comment [Dave made] that kept [Jeff] from getting work for a long time. I could say the same was attempted at me. Fortunately, I just kept moving. I just kept going and was, like, ‘All right, I’m just gonna ignore that comment and keep moving.’”
Given the revolving door that Megadeth’s been since its inception — especially among its guitarists and drummers — I’m sure Poland’s experience isn’t unique at all.
