Marty Friedman has made a case for Nick Menza that is rarely made out loud: that Megadeth got out of the underground because of the drummer.
Asked on the Chilean podcast La Pajarera what he wishes people knew about Menza, Friedman said "a big reason why Megadeth became as popular in the mainstream as we did was because of Nick". He went further: "Nick's playing is not a typical thrash metal drummer style. It's very mainstream. If you take the drums on its own, it's very musical, and there's not a lot of heavy metal cliches."
"His playing elevated us to stadium level," he said. "So I think people should know that about Nick."
Menza died on 21 May 2016, collapsing behind his kit during a show with OHM at The Baked Potato in Studio City. He was fifty one. The coroner recorded hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.
The reunion that nearly happened is the part that still stings. At the end of 2014 he was asked back to replace Shawn Drover and had begun working on new material, then walked away over what he called a very unfair contract. Eighteen months later he was dead.