In a new interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, Dave Mustaine recalled the neck injury that nearly stopped him from performing at the last ‘Big 4’ concert. He explained how the injury has affected how he writes music and performs live:
“So the guy broke my neck, and I lived with it for a few years in agonizing pain. I finally got an X-ray, and they said, ‘You need to get your neck fixed now.’ That was right before the Big 4 show at Yankee Stadium. The day before the concert, I was in the hospital.”
He also mentioned how the show went after the incident:
“The day of the concert, I had flown out right before it and was on so much anti-inflammatory steroidal medicine so I could walk because my neck was getting ready to stop working. [But] I went out and played, and we had all kinds of tape all over the stage [that said], ‘Do not headbang.’”
Mustaine Wants Another Big Four Show
In another interview, the frontman said he would be open for another Big Four show but the other bands weren’t keen on doing so. He explained:
“I think it would be really cool symbolically if we did something at, like, the L.A. Coliseum, even if it’s one show and that’s it. Slayer is from Los Angeles, so it would probably make it more convenient for them to go home at night. I personally have been hoping for this for a while, and I keep asking and asking and asking. They’re just not into it. But that’s up to them.”
Why The Big Four Show Really Took Place
The four bands did just one special show as the Big Four. Mustaine almost couldn’t make it to the show. However, a word someone told him pushed him to go ahead and take place in it even with the injury. In an interview, the rocker recalled the injury and said:
“When I did the ‘Big Four’ concert at Yankee Stadium and had my neck in a neck brace riding on a golf cart to the stage, I had tape all over the stage that said, ‘Don’t headbang.’ I would have died if I headbanged that night because I was in an emergency surgery room two days before, ready to have my neck operated on. And I called up my manager, Mark Adelman, at the time, and I said, ‘Look, I played with Metallica, Anthrax and Slayer before, I’ve played New York before, I’ve played a baseball stadium before, so none of this is new to me. And I have to cancel because I need emergency surgery.’”
The neck injury might have stopped him, but just one word kept him going. He explained:
“So, allegedly, Adelman tells this to Metallica’s management — whatever the guy with the name of a p*nis, whatever his name is… It was Dick or Peter or something… Peter! So [Peter] said I was a p*ssy. And so I went, ‘Okay. All right. Wrap me up. I’m going to New York.’ So they gave me a bunch of injections in my neck and put me in a neck brace and I flew out there and I played the concert and I came back. And I figured, nobody else knows about this except for him, and who’s the real p*ssy now?”
You can see footage from the show down below.