Dave Mustaine made a bold accusation against his former band, Metallica. In May 2025, the Megadeth frontman was a guest on The Shawn Ryan Show, where he addressed his early exit from the Los Angeles-based heavy metal band—and his feelings on their biggest hit.
“I made sure not to ever say that I quit, because I wanted people to know that I was unfairly dismissed and that I didn’t give a s—,” Mustaine told host Shawn Ryan of his past with Metallica. “Because we may not be as big as they are, [but] hell, their biggest song, ‘Enter Sandman’ — go look up the band Excel right now. Look up their song, I think it’s [called] ‘Something Into the Unknown.’… Pretty similar.”
The Excel song in question is actually called “Tapping Into the Emotional Void.” The 1989 song’s acoustic opening guitar riff is similar to the beginning of Metallica’s biggest song, which was released in 1991.
This isn’t the first time Mustaine has made the accusation against his former bandmates. In 2004, Blabbermouth reported that Mustaine said in an interview, “Their biggest song, ‘Enter Sandman,’ was ripped off from a band called Excel.”
Fans also noted the similarities. When Villanova University radio station WXVU-FM began playing the Excel song, listeners questioned if it was a demo of the Metallica hit, The Los Angeles Times reported in 1991.
Excel’s manager, Jane Hoffman, told the outlet that the band didn’t want to get into a court battle with the heavy metal giants and instead hoped the attention would help their next album. Metallica co-manager Cliff Burnstein added, “If Excel could write that one (as good as that), I’m sure they can write more.”
“Enter Sandman” remains Metallica’s biggest hit more than 30 years after hitting Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Top 10. In 2022, the song surpassed the one billion streams mark on Spotify, Loudwire reported.
Mustaine was the lead guitarist for Metallica from 1981 to 1983 before being replaced by Kirk Hammett. In his interview with Ryan, he claimed that the day he was fired, he warned the band not to use any of the guitar riffs that were on a reel tape he had prepared. “I told them when I left, ‘Do not use my music. And of course they used it,” he alleged.
“You listen to the riffs, you know they’re my riffs,” Mustaine claimed of songs on the band’s debut album, Kill ‘Em All. “So, yeah, I wrote a lot of their music that made them, and all the solos on that first record were mine,” the rocker alleged.
Related: Black Sabbath Founding Member Is Having Nightmares Ahead of Band’s Final Live Show
Go to Source
Author: Victoria Miller
