In January 2000, Megadeth issued a press release announcing that longtime lead guitarist Marty Friedman had left the band, mid-tour, “to pursue other musical interests.” According to MTV, frontman Dave Mustaine praised Friedman as “an incredible player” and a “keystone” in the thrash-metal band.
Behind the scenes, Friedman’s departure was exponentially more fraught, as the guitarist details in his new memoir, Dreaming Japanese, which he cowrote with author Jon Wiederhorn. In an excerpt from the book, out Dec. 3, Friedman describes how mounting anxiety drove him off the road prematurely. He had joined the band in 1989 and contributed swirling, melodic solos to the band’s punishing albums, including 1990’s Rust in Peace and 1992’s Countdown to Extinction. His work on those fan favorites helped propel acrobatic thrash to the upper echelons of the sales charts. But the group hit a nadir with 1999’s Risk, which fans pegged as a bid for hard-rock mainstream copout.
In this excerpt, Friedman describes how Megadeth’s waning success at the time compounded his stress to a breaking point. He later left the United States to become “the Ryan Seacrest of Japan,” as a record label exec described him to Rolling Stone in 2014. Last year, however, Friedman reunited with Megadeth for the first time since his departure for concerts at Tokyo’s Budokan venue and Germany’s Wacken festival. “I just feel immense joy and some serious adrenaline,” Friedman said at the time.
