Megadeth frontman and former Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine discussed sexual misconduct charges across the entertainment industry in a new Jasta Show interview (transcribed by Ultimate-Guitar):
“I think that with all of the stuff coming out about sexual harassment – it’s about time.
“Guys get sexually harassed too. I remember our first record we did, one of the engineers in the studio sexually harassed [former Megadeth member] Chris Poland to the point where I thought Chris was gonna quit.
“And Chris is a bruiser from upstate New York. I rabbit punched him to the head probably thirty times and he walked away, and I know I hit him hard.”
Jasta said, “Wow. Was he Irish?”
Mustaine responded, “No, he was on heroin at the time. [Laughs]”
“But then you run the risk of false accusation, too. It would be really easy for some girl who doesn’t like you, or a guy that doesn’t like you to have a girl come up with with some of these things. All it takes is a suggestion. And from there the fire is burning.
“That kind of stuff I would stay away form personally, unless it was someone who I can 100% guarantee their character reference.
“And you can’t. You just never know if somebody has a bad day, or they’re under the influence, or it’s consensual and the person changes their mind.
“I remember a very long time ago I knew somebody who had a girlfriend and she said that the guy raped her. And then I heard that there’s marital rape. Well, I guess if you use your brain and you think about advances being unwanted – ‘no means ‘no.’
“‘No’ doesn’t mean ‘yes.’ I know a lot of guys that think it’s funny to say ‘No means yes!’ No, it doesn’t. I have three sisters, I have a daughter, and I respect women a lot.
“I was talking to someone the other day, we were joking around and I said, ‘Can you imagine if the shoe is on the other foot and you had to go out there and have our balls hanging out like girls have to have their tits hanging out? And we had to talk about how hot we are instead of talking like a dude?’
“Or trying to come off as somebody else. Think how easy it would be for a female entertainer to justo go out there and be herself and just sing. I remember talking to the girl in In This Moment, Maria, and I told her ‘You’re such a beautiful lady, I think you should just be yourself.’
“Because when we first went out with them she was doing the Raggedy Ann kind of look and had the mascara all running and stuff. I didn’t understand that at the time and I just thought ‘You don’t need to appeal to men’s carnal side, let them hear how good your songs are.’
“You can have a great stage show, you don’t have to… NFL hired Justin Timberlake for half time next year and they were talking about the wardrobe malfunction and all that kind of stuff.
“I don’t know on what planet you’ve gotta be to think there was a wardrobe malfunction – that was totally planned. Just to think – If I had to bare my body to have people give me a record deal or if I had to sleep with a bunch of people to get a tour, stuff like that – I don’t know that I would do it.
“Because I believe that whole act of making love is sacred. It’s part of you, you have a soul tie with these people. I was single for a long time and I’ve been separated several times, those were some of the most miserable times of my life. I have a best friend now. It hasn’t always been that way, but it’s good now, we get along great. We travel all the time.”
