Dave Mustaine says he still hopes Megadeth will eventually win a Grammy and be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
The band will release their 15th album Dystopia on January 22 and the mainman hopes it’ll help in his quest for Grammy and Rock Hall recognition. Having released their debut album in 1985, Megadeth became eligible for the Rock Hall in 2010.
Mustaine’s previous band, Metallica, were inducted in 2009.
He tells Noisey: “In the beginning, the Grammy thing was really important to us. Then, we started to see that it wasn’t really as easy as somebody would think, because the people that are on the board, they’ve gotta listen to 45 Latin records and a bunch of Hawaiian stuff and then Weird Al Yankovich kinds of records.
“So when it comes time to listen to metal, they just go, ‘Oh fuck, I ain’t listening to that, what’s the name that I recognise there?’ That’s why they saw Jethro Tull and went, ‘Okay, give Jethro Tull the metal award.’
“There’s been some bad ones. But I’m cool with it, if I get the Grammy or if I don’t get the Grammy, I’ve been recognised by my peers a lot, I’ve been nominated almost a dozen times so at the end of that day it’s like, are you satisfied with what you have? I’m content, I’m not satisfied. I’m not giving up yet.
He continues: “I’m hoping that I’ll be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, too. But if they don’t want me in there, it’s okay. I mean, I am in there vis a vis Metallica, and no matter what those guys say or what anybody believes about their induction ceremony, they wouldn’t have been there if it wasn’t for me being in the band, because I was there in the beginning, so I have some satisfaction.”
Mustaine also discusses the ‘negative perception’ some sections of the rock community has of him and his band.
He adds: “People talk shit about me. People compliment me all the time. You have to take the good with the bad. If you go through life trying to make everybody happy, then what’s your purpose? Because you’re never going to make everyone happy, you have to accept the cards you’ve been dealt and a make the best out of it.
“There’s a lot of things that have happened to me in my career that I love, some that I don’t.”