Dave Mustaine net worth is in millions, but his story is one of the most tragic ones. He is a self-learned guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for his thrash metal band Megadeth. His early days as a child have been tragic, followed by a series of traumas, tragedies, and health problems.

But nothing stopped Dave Mustaine from playing for his band, Megadeth. After being fired from the famous rock band, Metallica, it was hard for Dave to focus on music as it came as a sudden blow. The journey of this thrash metal guitarist and frontman of Megadeth has been far from rosy.

Dave has come a long way, loving his craft endlessly, from the death of band members to a host of controversies and battling with life-threatening health ailments. The lyrics of his songs express chaos, grief, and all the topsy-turvy emotions he experienced dealing with numerous tragedies.

Dave Mustaine Net Worth

Dave Mustaine net worth is a story about the gruelling challenges he dealt with at every stage in his life but never gave up his passion for music. He is the most influential musician in the rock and metal genre. His personal tragedies and the jolt of being removed from Metallica led him to form a new genre of heavy metal music.

He pioneered thrash metal music and created a distinct style of playing metal guitar with riffs, speed, and distortion, adding melodies, growls, and symphonies. Thrash metal is a semi-symphonic offshoot of the punk rock genre, a more distinct and rhythmic metalcore genre.

His daughter is a country music singer. His son has played the guitar with him at several local events. The Grammy-award winning guitarist-musician impacted the music industry in the metal music genre. He started to play the guitar to outnumber his sister, who was learning to play the piano and has developed a passion for music since then. His debut album won a Grammy award for ‘Best Metal Performance’ and sold a million copies worldwide.

The Tragic Early Life

Dave did not have a happy childhood. His father was an alcoholic, violent, and abusive. His mother was strict and religious, which was not the ideal home environment he was looking up to. He could never grow as a person dealing with extreme behaviour and attitudes from his parents and lack of support.

When his brother-in-law was generous enough to lend him his guitar, he started learning and fell in love with music. Since then, there has been no stopping. His first band, ‘Panic,’ saw a dead end after two band members died in a car accident.

He admitted to being addicted to substance abuse and sold them to pay his rent in his early days. Working on Megadeth, he overcame yet another series of tragedies, most of which were his injuries and health problems. He developed a neck injury due to headbanging and was diagnosed with throat cancer.

He lost his sister, his mother-in-law, and one band member of Megadeth. The other band member was removed from being charged for grooming. It has not been a smooth journey for Dave, but he has won numerous awards for inventing thrash metal and a dazzling style of playing thrash guitar.

Journey As A Musician

After the failure of his debut band, ‘Panic,’ he joined Metallica but was disappointed and heartbroken for being fired. Though he takes the blame for being irresponsible, that didn’t end his music career. He created Megadeth, invented a new metal genre and won numerous awards for his guitar playing style and compositions.

He invented the ‘spider chord’ style of playing power metal. Throughout his career, Dave was hurt about being replaced by Kirk Hammett and was relieved when he read the book authored by Joel Mclver about Metallica and their band members. He has been ranked numerous times as one of the greatest guitarists and musicians in the rock and metal genre.

He remodelled the electric guitar, switching from Gibsons to Jackson with 24 frets instead of the standard 22 and more changes on the fretboard. Jackson still sells the remodelled version of electric guitars created by Dave. Dave has been instrumental in overhauling the rock and metal genre by introducing a novel style of playing chords and reinventing electric guitar.

He endorsed numerous guitar-making companies such as Gibson, E.S.P., and Jacksons Guitars. With E.S.P., he created a signature style of custom electric guitar called Axxion, which made huge sales in the market. Axxion received an award for its new design. For his tours and stage performances, he uses his signature style guitars remodelled by him.

There was a time when Dave couldn’t afford basic equipment when he started off as a guitarist. Over decades, mastering the style of electric guitars and power chords, he has remodelled numerous equipment with his signature style for various brands, which he uses on stage and on tours.

Birth Of Megadeth

The idea of Megadeth happened when he was returning home disappointedly being fired from Metallica. Being replaced by Kirk was his pet peeve for the most part of his musical career. He came across a poster with the slogan ‘ the arsenal of megadeath can’t be rid.’ This is how he came up with the name Megadeth, and the rest is history.

The year he created his first album, he won a Grammy, and his album sold more than 38 million copies worldwide. Dave started the ‘Gigantor’ metal fest and toured America with bands like Dream Theatre, Children Of Bodom, Fear Factory, Opeth, etc. This was to bring an eclectic lineup that was more affordable than the Ozzfest.

Dave has been inventive about everything he ever did with Megadeth. It was creating a new genre of metalcore, remodelling guitars, and an eclectic lineup to promote metalcore and its subgenres. He was raised in a strict Jehovah’s Witness faith and has expressed his faith in Christianity.

Though most of the metalcore bands are anti-establishment and anti-Christ, he retains his faith. He sings about the intense touches of melancholy he dealt with and about making a change in different aspects of societies and the political arena.

Thrash metal could be more bearable if the lyrics were not intensely troubling and more thought-provoking. There’s a reason punk, and its sub-genres are obsolete and not rising over the oblivion. It’s the sorry state of thought process in the blasphemous lyrics in a world that has evolved in spirituality that doesn’t resurrect punk and its sub-genres.

The 80s welcomed anti-Christ ideologies through heavy metal and punk genres because it was a novel movement that people didn’t give much thought to. The 2000s have been the death for the timeline of punk and heavy metal that are anti-Christ spewing negativity and violence in the name of rebellion.

Thrash and melodic death metal rose with Swedish and American metal bands that blended symphonies with riffs of guitars and growls give them a thundering beat. This music genre thunders on your senses, giving an adrenaline rush. That is what most of the listeners like, the thundering symphonies. It changes how metal music used to be, and now with symphonies in the background, it creates the magic.

Dark Side Of Dave Mustaine

Dave admits to practicing black magic as a teen and using those spells on people. He says he regrets it, has retained deep faith in Christ and wants to reach heaven following the spiritual path. He feels unsettled about playing his song ‘The Conjuring,’ which is about black magic and hexes. He admits that it tormented him, and he is no more a part of the dark arts as it haunts him.

Critique, Controversies, and Political Issues

Dave Mustaine is known to be an unpleasant person, and critics call him a pompous dolt. But he articulates with his interviews about how heavy metal is stereotyped as being angry music. His music does not talk about the pleasant side of life. It expresses anger, disappointment, and grief about corrupt politics and the ills of society.

Most of the teens relate to his music when he expresses the dark side of people’s emotions in their growing years and relates to the pain, anguish, and anger he expresses through the music he creates. There is a reason why heavy metal is still a hit. It exposes the dark side of human emotions and ordeals a human has to go through without being politically correct or soft soaping.

That’s what makes the ‘angry’ metal music honest. They leave no stone unturned in exposing and singing about everything that affects human life and emotions. Dave has been a controversial, favorite child, for the blatant comments he makes on various issues.

He claimed that ex-president Barak Obama staged Arizona shooting. He has taken an active interest in politics writing lyrics about corruption and how things are left unsaid when people choose to commit suicide. His songs have an element of truth that most dare not speak, and that is what makes the band popular among youth.

Real Estate And Vineyards

He owns a couple of properties that he sold for millions of dollars which added to the Dave Mustaine net worth. He created custom wines and won a platinum-gold award for She-Wolf and Merlot-Rose wines which he created for a competition. He also earns from custom wines he creates and Megadeth merchandise which ships worldwide.

The merchandise include, clothes, costumes, t-shirts, posters, accessories, etc. Metal fans love wearing tees and buying the award-winning wine Dave created, which is said to be class apart. Here is a frontman who has dealt with miseries and traumas to turn it into a piece of thought-provoking music with interesting merchandise. Dave Mustaine net worth also comes from the sales of merchandise of Megadeth.

Awards And Achievements

He won numerous awards and nominations. In 2014, he won the ‘Metal Guru’ award. He won a silver medal in 2016. His albums ‘Rust In Peace’ and ‘Hangar 18’ won the ‘Best Thrash Band’ awards in 1991. In 1993 his album ‘Countdown To Extinction’ won Genesis Award. Most of the Megadeth albums were nominated for Grammy Awards. His album ‘Dystopia’ won the Grammy for ‘Best Metal Performance.’

In 2011, his albums ‘Thirteen’ and ‘Public Enemy No 1’ won ‘Metal Video Of The Year’ from Loudwire Music Award. He won the ‘Metal Hammer Golden Gods Awards’ for ‘Riff Lord’ and ‘Best Live Band.’

From 2004 to 2016, he won numerous ‘Metal Storm Awards’ and nominations. He was ranked in the ‘100 Greatest Artists and Influential People’ by various music magazines and television channels.

Things You Didn’t Know About Dave Mustaine

• He owns expensive cars and once worked as a car mechanic before starting a band.
• He is known for supporting Republican candidates.
• He is a strict Christian who does not support gay marriages.
• He claims to heal cancer for one of his fans through magic and prayers.
• Dave consciously chooses not to play to professed Satanist bands because of his Christian faith.
• He enjoys doing interviews where he has something positive to talk about.
• His arm injury almost put an end to playing guitar.
• He has a strict workout routine
• His bandmates connect spiritually before performing
• He loves playing golf and played hockey as a kid
• He loves connecting with important people, and told Loudwire he has friends in ‘Secret Service’ and the ‘F.B.I.’

Conclusion

Dave Mustaine net worth is created with his inventiveness, grit, and consciously not choosing to be politically correct. Many of his songs are misunderstood, but they have a thought-proving element which most of them relate to, especially those who are dealing with pain and misery.

His songs express unspoken emotions and give a voice without beating around the bush about various issues that affect human life. He takes criticism well and has stopped at nothing from achieving all that he ever dreamt of.

His passion for music and the ideologies he cares about keeping his Christian faith intact contrasts with what the Satanist bands portray. His songs are thoughtful and hard-hitting. His band spews truth about the side of life you never thought about.

What most people don’t get about metal music and its sub-genres is the beauty of the dark emotions expressed. They do not encourage negative emotions but express how pain changes them and what emotions they go through dealing with all the pain on the inside. That’s what makes them relatable because life is not all fairytales; there is a dark side in all of us, else we wouldn’t be humans.