Dave Mustaine decided to disband Megadeth after one final tour because of his health issues.
The group will retire next year after completing their farewell tour and releasing their last album – and frontman Dave, 64, has now revealed he decided to walk away from the band because arthritis and problems with his back mean he is “unable to give a hundred per cent every night”.
During an appearance on SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk show, Dave explained: “It had been a long time coming – just physical stuff that was going on with my hands … My hands were letting me down.
“And there were other things that were difficult because of all the stuff going on in my neck and my trunk. All that area there has arthritis and it has discs that are bulging.
“I’ve got a broken lumbar bone. Of course, you know I have my back fused, up by my shoulders, by my neck. And just a lot of stuff …
“I always said when it got to the point where I was unable to give a hundred per cent every night, that’s when I was gonna start considering winding down.”
He went on to explain the decision came after the band finished recording their last self-titled album.
Dave added: “It wasn’t that I was unable to give a hundred per cent, because we finished the record, and I think we did a good job on it, but there was a period when we were working and I said to my manager … ‘I don’t know how much longer I can do this. My hands are really hurting.’
“And I didn’t mean to set the ball rolling. Honestly, I just was making conversation, and it turned into me talking to the band guys and sleeping on it and talking to my family and praying on it.
“And the answer was clear to me that by the time we’re done with the record, I’m gonna know how the record’s gonna do. If the record does really well, then I’ll be able to have one last really good tour.
“And the part about the farewell thing, it’s kind of like the same thing, isn’t it? We’ve got some dates that we wanna play to say goodbye to our friends.”
Dave concluded: “The thing is we’re an American band, but we play everywhere. So it’s not like we just are weekend warriors, like country acts here in the States. We’ve got a lot of touring to do in order to do our farewell properly.”
The band’s seventeenth studio album – Megadeth – will be released in January and they will kick off their This Was Our Life in Canada in February.