Who came up with the name Megadeth? There are different accounts, including from frontman Dave Mustaine, who in his 2010 book Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir, claimed short-lived vocalist Lawrence “Lor” Kane coined it. “Lor knew I had already written a song entitled Megadeth [Set the World Afire] and thought it would work equally well as a band name,” he wrote.
But now, guitarist Greg Handevidt – who was in Megadeth briefly in 1983 – claims it was actually his idea. He drops the revelation in a new guest appearance on The David Ellefson Show, hosted, of course, by the band’s former bassist.
“We were sitting down in our little apartment, and Dave had read a pamphlet by Senator Alan Cranston talking about the ‘arsenals of megadeath’, and I think that really triggered something in him about nuclear war and just how devastating it was and everything,” Handevidt says [via Blabbermouth].
“And I remember thinking, ‘Holy shit, the arsenals of megadeath.’ And he had that line in the lyrics. And it just occurred to me, ‘Megadeath.’ I’m, like, ‘That would be a cool name for a band.’”
But after some contemplation, Handevidt thought to himself: “‘Do you really want the word ‘death’ in the name of your band? Do you really want that?’ It seemed kind of negative-karma-ey to me back then; that’s what sort of was in my head.”
Rather than scrapping the idea, he says he came up with a subtle tweak: “I sat down and I just wrote it out as one word and I dropped the ‘A’ out, and I just wrote it on a piece of paper and I was, like, ‘I think this is cool. We could call the band Megadeth. One word. We take out the ‘A’. It’s unique. It doesn’t have any sort of dark connotation around it. And I think people would see it and not be put off. It wouldn’t put people off.’”
He also cites commercial reasons for dropping the ‘A’, saying that people were just not ready at the time for extreme band names:
“And I think at that point in time to break through in a commercial sense without just completely selling yourself out, I think there were barriers that would’ve… I’m not sure Capitol Records was ready to sign a band called ‘Death’ at the time. And maybe, maybe not.”
Mustaine, Handevidt goes on to say, did not agree to using the name immediately, but warmed to over a couple of days: “He came back and he was like, ‘Yeah, you know, this is growing on me.’”
The post “I sat down and wrote it out as one word – and dropped the ‘A’ out”: Early Megadeth guitarist claims he came up with band’s name – here’s his account appeared first on Guitar.com | All Things Guitar.