Megadeth vocalist Dave Mustaine called David Ellefson as a “Junior”
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine called David Ellefson as a “Junior” nickname. This alias added to the thrash metal band’s bassist between the 80s and 90s.
Ellefson was in the band from the line-up origin from 1983 to 2002. Also, when the band shortly broke up because Mustaine suffered severe nerve damage. He couldn’t play for a few years. After Dave Mustaine improved Megadeth with a brand-new lineup in 2004. However, Ellefson sued the former band members because of merchandise and publishing royalties. In 2005 the case was dismissed in court, and a few years later David Ellefson rejoined the band.
Also in 2016, Megadeth vocalist Mustaine posted a tweet about Dave Ellefson. Check it below:
“He was called Junior by Lor (a singer) because I was the older Dave.”
He was called Junior by Lor (a singer) because I was the older Dave. https://t.co/uu9O7YkDcs
— Dave Mustaine (@DaveMustaine) February 8, 2016
During on appearance “The Mark And HooGie Show” program, Ellefson answered:
“Honestly, I don’t give a damn, really, that much anymore. It started out [in 1983]. We were in a grocery store down on Kings Road and Santa Monica Boulevard. This was right when I’d probably known Dave maybe a month, maybe two months. And there was another guy named Peyton Tuthill.
And he was an artist. He was a bass player from Minnesota. And I and Dave somehow ended up crashing at their house… So Peyton Tuthill was a great artist, and he actually hand-drew, handpainted — I think with some ink paints or ink pens or something — the very first Megadeth logo, which essentially was what the ‘Killing Is My Business’ album cover now looks like — not the original ‘Killing Is My Business’, but the reissues [where] we’d redone the artwork.”
Then Ellefson added:
So essentially it was that. And one day we were at the grocery store, and they were busting my chops, making fun of me for being a small-town kid just moving to Hollywood. And he said it. He goes, ‘You’re like the wet-behind-the-ears kid who fell off the turnip truck from the farm, like Junior.’ And Dave just started howling. He was, like, ‘Oh my God. That is so funny.’ ‘Cause we had this thing — how are we gonna have two Daves in the band? So I think he said. ‘Okay, that’s how we’re gonna do it. You’re Junior.’ So for a lot of years, I didn’t like it, ’cause it was, like, ‘You know what? Fuck you guys.’ Now I’m fine. Dave, he doesn’t even call me Junior. He calls me other funny names. We’re buddies, and it’s a term of endearment. It doesn’t bother me now.”
You can listen to the David Ellefson full interview below.
