David Ellefson Opens Up About MEGADETH Lawsuit and Band Power Structures: "Not Every Band Works As a Democracy"

Okay, so—David Ellefson, ex-MEGADETH bassist, legendary lawsuit haver, and a guy who’s probably had to explain that no, he is not related to Elle Woods from Legally Blonde, just dropped some hot takes about band dynamics. He did this on The Good The Band & The Ugly (which is, like, the most aggressively podcast-y name I’ve ever heard). And listen. You already know where this is going.

“Not every band works as a democracy,” he says. Groundbreaking. Absolutely revolutionary. This is like someone saying, “Hey, did you know the sky is blue?” or “Water is wet?” or “Facebook comments are a lawless wasteland?” Of COURSE not every band is a democracy. You think NSYNC was voting on their dance routines? You think METALLICA was letting Lars Ulrich have an equal say in things? (Actually, bad example, Lars has way too much say.)

Anyway, Ellefson explains: some bands split everything equally—money, creative control, those mysterious royalty checks that probably look like Monopoly money to normal people—while others have one or two main songwriters who rake in the big bucks while everyone else fights over scraps.

“Bands usually start that way [where things are split more equally]. They don’t always end that way where it’s like that. Trust me, I know.” Oh buddy. We know you know. Your entire career arc is basically a case study in “things were great until they weren’t.”

Mustaine vs. Ellefson: The Lawsuit That Launched a Thousand Blog Posts

If you somehow missed it (and if you did, HOW?), Ellefson and Dave Mustaine have had drama. I mean, like, Real Housewives-level drama. You could put their entire feud in a 90 Day Fiancé spin-off and it would get renewed.

Back in 2004, Ellefson sued Mustaine for $18.5 million over unpaid royalties, merch money, and what I assume was a general vibe check that did not pass. The judge? Laughed him out of court and dismissed it. (Okay, not literally, but you know that judge went home and told their spouse, “Honey, you will NOT believe what I had to deal with today.”)

Mustaine, being Mustaine, did not let this go. He went on Fox Sports 910 (???—why was he on a sports show? Was he there to talk about his favorite protein powder? Who knows.) and basically went, “Yeah, Ellefson sued me, got DESTROYED, and now we’re cool, I guess.”

“I think forgiveness is a super-cool thing,” Mustaine said. A wild statement from a man who has beef with literally everyone he has ever met.

But then, in a moment of peak soap opera energy, Mustaine called up Ellefson after a random flight layover and was like, “Hey, wanna get dinner?” And Ellefson, apparently not fearing for his life, said yes. And just like that, BAM—water under the bridge.

Fast Forward: More Bassist Chaos

So Ellefson did end up rejoining MEGADETH in 2010, but not like, really. He was no longer a co-owner—just a sideman, a hired gun, a mercenary in the Mustaine empire. He even admitted this in his Metal-Rules.com interview:

“Going from being a co-founding owner to just a sideman musician was initially why I didn’t come back in 2004. I was not happy with the participations that were presented to me. […] Being a sideman absolves you from being involved in all the other stuff. At this point in my life, I would rather leave that stuff on the sidelines.”

Translation? I took the paycheck and moved on. (Honestly? Fair.)

Oh Yeah, There Was Also That Scandal

So if Ellefson’s name sounds familiar for non-bass-related reasons, you might recall that in 2021, he was fired from MEGADETH after some, uh… let’s call them “questionable” videos surfaced online.

These videos involved explicit messages and footage, and Twitter/X did what it does best—set everything on fire.

Mustaine wasted NO TIME cutting him loose. Honestly I picture Dave Mustaine sitting in his mansion, reading the news, and immediately grabbing his phone like a Roman emperor about to execute someone. Just instant firing.

Ellefson’s Final Thoughts: “Read the Room”

Despite all this, Ellefson is still out here dropping nuggets of wisdom about being in a band. Like this absolute gem:

“Hey, here, this is what we do. This is how we do it. We need you to dress like this, play like this. And like I always say, don’t bring the six-string fretless to the punk rock gig and don’t bring your P Bass with BLACK FLAG stickers on it to the wedding band gig. Read the room.”

Look. The man has a point. No one wants to see some jazz nerd show up to a death metal show with a five-string bass tuned to standard. No one wants to see a crust punk dude try to shred in a jazz fusion group. We all saw what happened to Limp Bizkit when Wes Borland quit—chaos.

From MEGADETH to… What, Exactly?

No one knows. Will he start a new band? Will he write another book where he casually drops the phrase “membership has its privileges” like he’s a sentient American Express ad? Will he end up on a reality show where he just rants about Mustaine for an hour a week? (Actually, that would be incredible. Somebody fund this.)

One thing’s for sure—he’s not going back to MEGADETH anytime soon.

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