Watch Megadeth, Nikki Sixx Cover Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy in the U.K.’
Megadeth and Motley Crue were L.A. metal rivals during the Eighties, but time appears to have healed old wounds. Crue bassist Nikki Sixx joined Megadeth onstage June 11th at England’s Download Festival for a raucous cover of the Sex Pistols‘ punk anthem “Anarchy in the U.K.,” Ultimate Classic Rock reports.
Fan-shot footage shows Sixx strutting across the stage on bass. Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine cranked out a blazing guitar solo midway through the song. The performance ended with Sixx embracing the band members as he departs.
According to Eon Music, Mustaine introduced Sixx by referencing the heated history between Megadeth and Motley Crue. “Back when Megadeth were starting out, we lived in L.A., and there was a lot of rivalry between the big bands,” said the guitarist, previewing their stage collaboration as “a coming-in together of both sides.” After the performance, Mustaine cracked, “Well, hell has frozen over.”
Both bands have covered “Anarchy in the U.K.” Megadeth’s version appears on 1988’s So Far, So Good … So What!. Motley Crue revamped the track for 1991 compilation Decade of Decadence 81-91. Rolling Stone asked Sex Pistols’ rocker John Lydon what he thought of metal bands covering that particular song. “Heavy metal understood us, oddly enough,” he said. “Although the fan base resented our music, the bands themselves liked us. And surely that’s all that counts in the end.”
Sixx’s current band, Sixx:AM, released their fourth LP, Prayers for the Damned, in April. Megadeth issued their 15th studio album, Dystopia, in January.