Quest for Grammy still drives Megadeth founder Mustaine

Dave Mustaine never wanted to front a multimillion record-selling thrash-metal band.

He preferred to stand outside of the spotlight like his high-school hero — Ace Frehley, the rollicking former lead guitarist of glam-rock band Kiss.

“I wanted to be the guy (that) when it’s my turn I wanted to explode with this brilliance that makes people go ‘Whoa,’” he said.

After auditions to find a lead singer for his band, Megadeth, went awry, Mustaine threw up his hands before taking the reins.

Despite fronting the band for more than 30 years, he has yet to feel settled in the role.

“I’m still not really show

comfortable with it,” said Mustaine, 55. “How did I do it? I just started yelling, and it was very painful at first because I didn’t know how to breathe properly, and I was basically hyperventilating.”

His breath control has improved, as has Megadeth’s standing in the metal community.

In 1981, Mustaine launched his music career after answering a classified advertisement in a Los Angeles newspaper for a lead-guitarist position with then-fledgling rock group Metallica.

Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield hired Mustaine to join them on the spot, but things took a swift nosedive.

Within two years, Mustaine got the boot because of his dependence on drugs and alcohol.

When Metallica earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2009, Mustaine’s name wasn’t on the list of recipients.

He didn't let that stop him from checking the win off his musical achievements bucket list.

“I’m basically in there with the Metallica thing, that was basically just a diss those guys pulled,” he said. “But it would nice to be in there on my own two feet. I’m sure at some point it will happen. You can’t create a whole fricking music style and not be recognized for it.”

After leaving Metallica, Mustaine opted to form his own band.

Enlisting neighbor Dave Ellefson to play bass, the two spent the next several months cobbling together a Megadeth lineup. (More than 20 members have come and gone through the years.)

The band’s first few albums earned mostly positive reviews, but internal tensions — most tied to drug usage — kept the band on the edge of fracturing.

In 1990, Mustaine entered rehab. When he returned, the band found its footing. The 1992 album “Countdown to Extinction” debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard charts, the highest of any Megadeth record.

Ten albums later, he finally checked another box off the list by winning a Grammy Award for best metal performance earlier this year.

Even so, he won’t be fully satisfied until he has a Grammy with his name on it.

“As crazy as I am, I was thinking about the Grammy the other day and (how) it was given to Megadeth,” Mustaine said. “I was thinking it would surely be a lot better if it was given to Dave Mustaine and not to Megadeth. I guess you’ve got to keep the fire burning.”

With 12 Grammy nominations and five platinum albums, his drive has paid off.

The Megadeth sound centers around warbling guitar riffs built on the frontman’s incredible finger speed.

His howling chords back the internal agonizing prevalent in many of the band’s songs.

“A dark-black past is my most valued possession,” Mustaine sings on early track “Sweating Bullets.”

The reality, though, is that the guitarist has moved on from his drug-hazed days to a life that’s much more laid-back.

He cleaned up for good, converted to Christianity, owns a farm in Tennessee and is happily married with two children.

In March, Megadeth hosted a music camp at Mustaine’s Fallbrook, California, home, where dedicated fans paid up to $6,000 for a weekend of music workshops and commingling with the band.

It didn’t take much for the man of simple pleasures to enjoy himself.

“The catering was exceptional,” Mustaine said. “There was cold beer the whole time.”