12 Hard Rock Band Members Who Switched Instruments

It's never a good sign to hear the phrase "you're out of the band." Since most bands tend to have the all-for-one mentality, it stings all the more when the other band members conspire against you. However, that was exactly what Dave Mustaine was greeted with when Metallica handed him a bus ticket back to the West Coast after driving across the country.

Filled to the brim with rage, Mustaine returned home to San Francisco and immediately started scouring the metal scene to start his own thrash band. Though he had great players in Gar Samuelson and David Ellefson, finding a singer proved to be difficult. After countless auditions for singers, Dave realized there was only one way to get Megadeth off the ground: turn himself into the singer.

Is Mustaine's vocal range as powerful as somewhere like James Hetfield or Rob Halford? Not at all. However, what Dave lacked in technique in the early days he made up for with unfiltered aggression, making each record sound like he was snarling like a rabid dog. Mustaine might not have set out to be a heavy metal singer, but his journey from the guitarist of Metallica to the feral frontman of Megadeth is one of the most impressive feats in thrash metal.