Before joining Metallica in late 1981, a teenage Dave Mustaine formed his very first group, Panic, in Southern California around 1980. Though short-lived and plagued by tragedy, Panic was where Mustaine developed his aggressive lead guitar style and wrote early riffs that eventually shaped thrash metal history.
The original lineup was Dave Harmon on drums, Tom Queck on guitar, Bob Evans on bass, Pat Voeks as singer, and Mustaine on lead guitar. Although the band lasted a long time, the guys rarely performed and rehearsed, especially in late 1980 and 1981, when the band was already beginning to break up. They mostly went to parties, jammed a little, and hung out with girls.
“Well, there was a talent show where they told us we were too loud and kicked us out, but my first gig was with Panic at Huntington Beach.” Mustaine recalled. “Although the sex, the girls and the drugs were rampant, it was marred by the death of two friends: the guy who made our sound and our drummer at the time.”
On that tragic day, Harmon was replaced by Mike Leftwych, who along with sound engineer Joe died in the car accident. Mustaine stated that after the band started to fall apart in 1981, Quecke was also killed in a separate car crash shortly after.
“We were all partying, and I decided to spend the night,” Mustaine said. “I stayed behind and these two guys went home. They were driving down the Pacific Coast Highway, south of the pier, by the Jack in the Box, and crashed. The driver was able to get out of the car, but he diеd because he’d broken his neck. The drummer was asleep in the back, and he, unfortunately, diеd in the fire. Yeah, Panic had a very painful beginning; our other guitar player also died in a car crash. It was kind of a very painful, dark period when I started playing.”
The sequence of events left the band shattered. Shortly after Panic dissolved in 1981, Mustaine spotted a classified ad in The Recycler placed by drummer Lars Ulrich—leading directly to his audition and entry into Metallica, where he would stay for a little less than 2 years.
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