6 Musicians Who Wrote Hits for Their Biggest Rivals

Source link : https://las-vegas-news.com/6-musicians-who-wrote-hits-for-their-biggest-rivals/

Rock and pop history is full of tidy origin stories, the kind where a songwriter pens a track, records it, and moves on. Reality is messier. Some of the most recognizable songs in music were written by someone who never got to keep them, and in a handful of cases, those songs ended up in the hands of the very person or band that the writer would spend years competing against, suing, or simply refusing to speak to. What follows are six such stories, each one grounded in documented band history rather than rumor.

Dave Mustaine and Metallica

Dave Mustaine and Metallica (originally posted to Flickr as Mustaine with signature guitar, CC BY-SA 2.0)
Dave Mustaine and Metallica (originally posted to Flickr as Mustaine with signature guitar, CC BY-SA 2.0)

Dave Mustaine helped shape Metallica’s earliest sound before he was ever known as Megadeth’s frontman. He was fired from the band in early 1983, just weeks before recording began on their debut album, Kill ‘Em All, reportedly over alcohol issues and personality clashes with James Hetfield. Mustaine is credited with co-writing four songs on Metallica’s 1983 debut album, “Kill ‘Em All”, which was recorded just weeks after his dismissal from the group. Those songs, “The Four Horsemen,” “Jump in the Fire,” “Phantom Lord,” and “Metal Militia,” became staples of thrash metal almost overnight.

Mustaine went on to found Megadeth that same year, turning his old band into thrash metal’s defining rivalry for the next four decades. Mustaine is credited on six Metallica songs, two of which he wrote mostly…

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Author : Matthias Binder

Publish date : 2026-08-07 07:34:00

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