Megadeth are one of those rare acts that have housed a litany of incredible musicians. Regardless of how long various former members have been out of the group, the fans haven't forgotten them. In fact, frontman Dave Mustaine still receives pressure to bring guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza back into the fold, but he compares their return to putting "a rotten tooth back in your mouth."

Both Friedman and Menza are two of the most esteemed former Megadeth members. The two were bandmates for nearly a decade, with Menza manning the drums from 1989-1998 and Friedman playing guitar from 1990-2000.

In a recent interview with Loaded Radio, Mustaine spoke about Friedman and Menza coming back to Megadeth. "That makes as much sense as somebody saying, 'Put a rotten tooth back in your mouth.' Don't get me wrong, but I've seen stuff that Menza's been saying [in interviews and online postings], and it's unfortunate. And I know that Marty's happy doing what he's doing. And frankly, if I wanted to get them back in the band, I would have worked it out, but I don't want 'em in the band. I think that Shawn [Drover, drums] is, all around, if you add all the parts up, is way more what I want in my life and my band, and the same thing with Chris [Broderick, guitar]

Mustaine adds, "There's no 'I'm in it for myself' bullcrap and 'I can't wait to do my solo albums' kind of stuff that'll tear a bunch of bands apart. If you look back at my career, I've been doing this for 33 years almost, and I've only done one thing outside of Megadeth, and that was the MD.45 thing, and that was because I loved Fear; I thought Fear was one of the greatest punk bands from America ever. I'm sure people will disagree, but I don't care."

Mustaine also took a slight jab at guitarist Kirk Hammett, who replaced him in Metallica, while talking about performing at the band's intimate 30th anniversary shows back in 2011. "Well, they gave me an invitation and I thought it was really awesome. And I had asked them, 'Do you want me to just play rhythm?' Because, you know, Kirk's [Hammett] in the band. And Lars [Ulrich] said, 'No. Play your stuff.' And I went, 'Alright. Now we're talking.' So I went up there and I did my thing. And it was great. I imagine it must have been really awkward for Kirk watching me play the songs the way that they were supposed to be played in the beginning, but that's open for his artistic interpretation. If he doesn't wanna play it the way that I played it, hey, that's cool."

Mustaine is currently working on new music for Megadeth's 15th studio album. Listen to the full interview with Mustaine below.

Dave Mustaine Talks to Loaded Radio

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