Chris Poland was the first guitarist to have played on a Megadeth album, appearing on both 1985’s Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good! and the following year’s Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying?. However, he’s admitted that he didn’t listen to the latter album for almost 20 years, all because of Metallica.
Megadeth and Metallica’s complicated history isn’t news to most metalheads, as Dave Mustaine only formed Megadeth in 1983 after being fired from Metallica. It is surprising to hear that a musician didn’t listen to an album they played on because of another band, though, but Poland elaborated a bit on why during an interview with the Disturbing the Priest Podcast.
“As far as metal goes, [Master of Puppets] is my favorite metal record,” Poland declared, before being asked if the rivalry with Metallica had an impact on him as a member of Megadeth. “Yeah, it was weird man… I wasn’t sure if I should talk to those guys, because I’d see them at gigs.”
Later in the interview, he said, “Peace Sells — I remember when we made that record, and that’s when I first heard Master of Puppets. And I was so bummed out, I never listened to Peace Sells again… And then Dave took those records and redid them, and then I listened to it and was like, ‘I like this.'”
Poland defended his perspective in that back when they recorded Peace Sells, he didn’t think Megadeth was going to become as successful as they did. But he eventually understood the impact the first few Megadeth albums had and why Mustaine and longtime bassist David Ellefson believed in the group so much.
“Dave used to say I joined the band and I was in it for the money, and I was like, ‘What money?'” the guitarist recalled. “We didn’t have any money when I was in the band. And I didn’t quit the band, you fired me.”
READ MORE: See (Almost) Every Musician Who’s Been in Megadeth
Check out the full interview below.
Megadeth split with Poland in 1987, but he returned as a session guitarist for the band’s 2004 album The System Has Failed, where he played lead on the majority of the tracks. Between ’87 and ’04, he’d been succeeded by Jeff Young, Marty Friedman and Al Pitrelli.
Chris Poland Admits He Didn’t Listen to Megadeth’s ‘Peace Sells’ for Year Because of Metallica
The Most Played Song Live Off Each Megadeth Album
Come take a look at the most popular song to be played live from all 16 of Megadeth’s studio albums.
Gallery Credit: Joe DiVita
