Former Megadeth bassist David Ellefson recalled the first time he heard Metallica and named his favorite release by them.
As two pillars of thrash metal with a complicated history, Megadeth and Metallica had a longstanding feud through much of the ’80s and ’90s. And though Ellefson has praised Metallica in the past, he’s seemingly been more vocal about his Metallica fandom since he was fired from Megadeth in 2021.
In a new interview with Ultimate Guitar, the bassist discussed the first time he ever heard Metallica’s music, and named which of their many releases is his favorite to this day.
“Metallica just had a great sound out of the gate,” Ellefson said, adding that the first bit of music he heard by them was their 1982 demo No Life ‘Til Leather.
“I remember going to Dave’s [Mustaine] apartment and he was playing it one day while he was doing the dishes or making lunch or something. There was something just so haunting and dark, yet rowdy and fun about it, that I just loved.”
The rocker noted that although most of the songs from No Life ‘Til Leather ended up on Metallica’s full-length debut Kill ‘Em All, which came out the following year, he thought they sounded very different from each other.
“It’s a very different migration toward where they were going. That still is my favorite Metallica release, the No Life ‘Til Leather demo.”
Ellefson explained that the reason his post-Megadeth group Kings of Thrash plays the song “Jump in the Fire” is because it’s a song Mustaine had written, and also one that Megadeth often had in their rehearsal setlist in their early years.
READ MORE: David Ellefson Distances Himself From Early Megadeth vs. Metallica – ‘It Was Not My Feud’
“Anthrax, of course, had a sound that, even though they went from Neil Turbin and Dan Lilker over to Joey [Belladonna] and Frank [Bello] and other members, they’ve maintained it,” he continued.
“I guess Scott [Ian] and Charlie [Benante] sort of maintained that sound, probably the same way James [Hetfield] and Lars [Ulrich] did. And I’d like to think probably in the same way Dave and I did through all the transitions of Megadeth through the years.”
