‘I Love U2’: David Ellefson Says He ‘Copped a Lot of Adam Clayton Basslines’ for Megadeth

“Bono is a goddamn rock star. Because, half the people love him, and half the people hate him, which is probably almost required.”

David Ellefson c

If you thought that U2 and Megadeth couldn’t be farther away from each other, well, think again. In a recent interview on the X5 Podcast, the thrash giants’ former bassist David Ellefson revealed that his bassline on “Trust”, taken from the rather underrated 1997 LP “Cryptic Writings”, featured some heavy Adam Clayton influence (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):

“On ‘Trust’, for instance, the opening track, it had this nice warm when the band came in… I did this kind of U2 chord thing in the beginning, and then, once the band kicked in… In fact, the mixing — [it] was so good, it sounded like pyro was going off. It’s like KISS; every KISS song is written for pyro.”

In fact, Ellefson notes how he’s interwoven plenty of little Adam Clayton references in his work with Megadeth:

“I love U2, I’m a fan. In fact, I cop a lot of Adam Clayton basslines. I love just playing on one string, punk rock. Instead of playing it up on the second fret, you just take it to the 12th fret, because it just sounds more Sid Vicious.”

As is perhaps expected of a self-proclaimed U2 fan, Ellefson has nothing but praise for the Irish rockers’ frontman:

“Bono is a fucking rock star. Because, half the people love him, and half the people hate him, which is probably almost required. You know, great music is very polarizing.”

As for U2 itself, Ellefson added:

“I think U2, they’re just freaking international rock stars. Man, the first time I saw ’em was on ‘Joshua Tree’, which is my [favorite] U2 record. I love it.”

Moreover, Ellefson shared one particularly interesting observation when it comes to U2. According to the bassist, Bono & Co. didn’t only leave a large mark on rock music, but also on contemporary church music:

“I started playing in church a little bit, which was right after the ‘Risk’ album. My kids were real young, so my family started going to this modern church. And I realized almost every song in there, if it weren’t for U2, there would be no modern church music. Chris Tomlin, all this stuff. It’s all U2, you know, ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’… The whole genre. And thank

“It’s a bit of a cliché but post 40, as a man, you do tend to accept yourself in a different way, and accept that’s there’s some things you’re never going to be able to do again,” U2 bass player Adam Clayton said at the David Bowie: A Day in the Life panel discussion in Fitzrovia last night, hosted by the Standard’s editor-in-chief, Dylan Jones.

“I think there’s a period in the male psyche where there is a lack of risk you get as a young man in your late teens and early twenties, and part of the brain to weigh up consequences is not yet developed,” the bassist said. “That changes when you get older. But looking back on U2, I just think ‘How did we do that?’”An exhibition of David Bowie portraits by Kevin Davies display the musician in his forties, “which is in such a happy time in his life, whilst also quite a scary time,” Clayton said. “By the time you get to your 40s, you become a bit more aware of consequences and some of those skills that you used to have, are gone because you’ve had to grow and learn.” Also on the panel was Bowie’s 35-year-long publicist Alan Edwards. He said pop stars have a worse work ethic today and that Bowie’s patient attitude towards media would never happen now. “[Bowie] would sometimes do 20-30 interviews a day. Imagine Beyoncé doing 30 interviews, it’s inconceivable,” Edwards said.