An excerpt from Dave Mustaine’s new autobiography “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir” appears online.

MetalSucks has posted an excerpt from Dave Mustaine‘s new autobiography “Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir“. The excerpt is where Mustaine discussed the punch that led to Metallica firing him.

The excerpt:

The actual fight didn’t happen right there. They call it a hang fire, like when there’s an unexpected delay between the trigger of a gun being pulled and the actual discharge of the weapon. You know it’s coming, and there’s no stopping it. It’s just a matter of time. James and I alternately cursed at each other and refused to speak, until eventually we were both in Ron’s house, preparing to rehearse, and tensions boiled over. There was another round of accusations and insults, more cursing, more threats.

“You keep talking like that, I’m going to punch you in the mouth,” I said.

“F–k off!”

In the middle of this exchange, Ron walked out of the bathroom and into the living room. He and James went way back, and despite the fact that James often treated him like shit, Ron instinctively defended his friend.

“You hit him, you’ll have to hit me first.”

“Shut up and sit the f–k down,” I said.

And then James jumped to Ron’s defense. “You touch him, you’re going to have to hit me first.”

Jesus, I thought, what is this, some kind of f–king game show?

I realized I would have to make a decision.

“Okay, you win,” I said, and with that I threw a right cross that landed flush against James’s face, turning his mouth into a pile of bloody Chiclets.