Greg Handevidt , guitarist for the original Megadeth , participated in The David Ellefson Show with Joshua Toomey and the band's former bassist, David Ellefson . In the episode, the musicians talked about the group's early days and reminisced about past events.
Greg recalled how he came up with the name Megadeth (via Blabbermouth ) :
“We were sitting in our little apartment, and Dave had read a pamphlet by Senator Alan Cranston talking about the ‘megadeath arsenals,’ and I think that really sparked something in him about nuclear war and how devastating it was and all that. And I remember thinking, ‘Holy shit, the megadeath arsenals.’ And he had this line in the lyrics. It just occurred to me: ‘Megadeath.’ I thought, ‘That would be a cool name for a band.’”
The guitarist explains that despite the catchy name, he felt it could be negative karma to have something directly linked to death, and suggested a slight modification.
“So I sat down and wrote it all down in one word, took out the “A”, wrote it on a piece of paper and thought: “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 dark connotations. And I think people would see it and not mind.”
Check out Greg Handevidt's appearance on The David Ellefson Show :
Greg Handevidt recounts Dave Mustaine's reaction.
According to Handevidt, Dave Mustaine didn't like the name at first. "At first. It took him a few days to get used to it. And then I remember a few days later he came back and said, 'Yeah, this is winning me over.' And that's how it came about."
However, in his book Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir , Dave credits the name to another former member.
"At first, I was skeptical about my own vocal ability, so we brought in a vocalist named Lawrence 'Lor' Kane."
Dave says the name came up while they were talking about the subject while driving one night.
“Lor knew I had already written a song called 'Megadeath' and thought it would work equally well as a band name. And he was right. So, thank you for that, Lor.”
READ ALSO: Megadeth was not invited to Black Sabbath's farewell show, according to James LoMenzo
