History of Metallica – Celebrating their 30th Anniversary

It’s hard to keep a band together for a year. It’s rare to stay together for 10 years. 20 is amazing. And 30, well damn… that’s a miracle.

30 years ago, after a few ads in the local newspaper, and some wise firings, 4 nobodys formed what would be a thundering shockwave that would resonate throughout the musical community and rattle the very foundation of popular music. Metallica formed on October 15 1981. Read more

MEGADETH’s Chris Broderick Splits With IBANEZ – Broderick JACKSON Soloist

MEGADETH fans will be excited to learn that the Jackson Custom Shop is introducing its new Chris Broderick signature guitar model in January 2011. Broderick himself worked closely with Custom Shop master craftsmen to create a distinctive guitar based on a classic Jackson design.

That guitar, the Jackson Chris Broderick Soloist, brings his long and exacting search for instrumental excellence to a most satisfying conclusion.

“After an exhaustive search for the highest-quality instrument, I’ve found it at Jackson,” Broderick said. “I’ve been looking for a guitar this incredible for quite a while, and the guys at the Custom Shop really understood what I was after and where I was coming from. I have spent countless hours ensuring that this guitar is playable and stylish.”

Broderick‘s Soloist model boasts an unusual new touch in the form of a slightly offset carved-top body design for which the guitarist collaborated with longtime Jackson Custom Shop master builder Mike Shannon. Other features include dual DiMarzio humbucking pickups and a 24-fret 12-inch radius fingerboard. Further, the guitar will be available in six- and seven-string models.

The Colorado-bred Broderick is not only a formidable shred guitarist, but also an extraordinary musician in a much wider sense. He started playing at age 10, studying guitar, voice, violin and piano, and eagerly devoured a wealth of diverse musical influences extending well beyond rock into classical, jazz, blues and country forms. He earned a degree in classical guitar performance from the University of Denver’s Lamont School of Music, and he himself has taught guitar for more than a dozen years.

Broderick joined MEGADETH in early 2008. His molten guitar work has contributed to the band’s current revitalization, including 2009 album “Endgame”, the “American Carnage” and “Rust in Peace” 20th-anniversary tours, and the summer 2010 Sonisphere festival shows in Europe that featured several metallically historic “Big Four” shows.

Jackson‘s unveiling of Broderick‘s new signature model comes closely on the heels of the guitar maker’s announcement of its partnership with MEGADETH bassist David Ellefson, who received his own new Jackson Dave Ellefson signature bass model in early 2011 and who will be collaborating with Jackson on the development of other new bass models.

Regarding the reasons for his split with Ibanez, Broderick said in an online post, “I knew people would want to know why I left Ibanez, and I had the whole event written for all to read but I deleted that and don’t want to focus on why it didn’t work out with them. Let’s just say that the events that occurred with them this last year left me feeling like my guitar company wasn’t anywhere near as loyal to me as I was to them.

“For those who are curious, you can read this old post that kicked things off.

“I talked to a lot of different guitar companies about a potential move and Jackson, by leaps and bounds, stepped up and was able to build a guitar that is nothing less than my perfect guitar. I spent countless design hours on it. With a double neck that I built when I was 17 being the basis for the guitar, and with Mike Shannon behind the tools, I think you guys will be impressed.”

MEGADETH Chris Broderick Leaves IBANEZ for JACKSON Soloist

Jackson Guitars: Megadeth Dave Ellefson Gets Signature Bass

When I was a pimple-faced teen, didn’t notice when girls flirted and was too busy rebelling at school, it only makes sense that my favorite guitar manufacture was Jackson Guitars (the axe of the late 80s and early 90s), my favorite band was Megadeth and ‘Rust In Peace‘ was (by far) my favorite all-time Megadath album. So it’s understandable why this news makes me want to reminisce. So, without further ado… Lets get to the news! Read more

Metallica and Megadeth Share Stage – First time since 1983

On Tuesday, June 22, metal fans in Sofia, Bulgaria got a rock-gasm to rattle all the bedsprings of the bowels of hell: for the first time in history, members of the founding fathers of thrash metal, the infamous “Big Four” — Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica — were all onstage together for an epic rendition of Diamond Head‘s “Am I Evil?” Read more

Metallica vs. Megadeth

Metallica and Megadeth are both thrash metal pioneers who helped usher in the modern era of heavy metal and both bands have enjoyed great success and popularity amongst rock music fans the world over. The question before us today is simply which band is better, which is a subject sure to cause much controversy and discussion. Both bands are part of the Big Four (along with Anthrax and Slayer) that redefined metal music in the 1980’s and provided an alternative to the many hairspray-addicted bands that dominated the radio during that time. Both bands have maintained long careers and kept their identities and their fan bases through up and down periods and the inevitable lineup changes that most bands with such long histories must endure. Read more

Dave Mustaine of Megadeth Interviewed by Dave Navarro – SpreadTV

Part 1 of 4

Legendary guitarist, Dave Mustaine of Megadeth was interviewed and gave a guitar lesson on Dave Navarro’s SpreadTV. In it, Mustaine spoke of his drug addictions, Metallica, the music business and some of his guitar influences. In the second half of the show, Mustaine gave a guitar ‘lesson’ to Navarro. Read more

Megadeth To Start Recording This Fall 2008

According to Megadeth’s official website, webmaster Dave McRobb announced Megadeth and crew will begin recording a new album this fall. Read more