Megadeth

• 1. Introduction

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  Megadeth is an American heavy metal band, and its name began with a line on a political pamphlet. In 1983, Dave Mustaine found the leaflet on a bus heading back to Los Angeles. California senator Alan Cranston had put it out. One sentence in it read: "The arsenal of megadeath can't be rid no matter what the peace treaties come to." The word lodged in Mustaine's mind. He wrote a song with that title, altered the spelling to Megadeth, and said the new word stood for the annihilation of power.

  The band formed in Los Angeles that same year. It grew into one of the four pillars of American thrash metal, standing beside Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica. Its sound is known for technical guitar work, fast rhythm sections and dual lead guitars. Its lyrics deal with war, conflict, politics, religion, death and personal relationships.

  Over a career of seventeen studio albums, musicians arrived and left again and again. Mustaine was the only one who stayed. How did a guitarist with a grudge build something this durable? What did the band have to survive along the way? And why did Mustaine announce that the group would end after its final album?

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• 2. Revenge and Rivalry

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  On the 11th of April 1983, Dave Mustaine was dismissed from Metallica. The band had not yet recorded its debut album, Kill 'Em All. The reasons were substance abuse and personal conflicts, including James Hetfield kicking Mustaine's dog.

  Mustaine had been Metallica's lead guitarist since 1981. He had composed some of its earliest songs, among them Mechanix, Ride the Lightning, Jump in the Fire and Phantom Lord. He had also helped turn the group into a tight live unit. Afterward he vowed revenge by building a band that was faster and heavier than Metallica.

  The song Mechanix shows how entangled the two groups stayed. Mustaine told his former bandmates not to use the music he had written. Metallica instead recorded a different version called The Four Horsemen, with a slower tempo and a melodic middle section. When Metallica's debut appeared in July 1983, Megadeth had to retool some of its own material. Mechanix still ended up on the first Megadeth album, as the only Metallica-era song there.

  One Megadeth show in 1988 featured a guest appearance by Lars Ulrich, Metallica's drummer and Mustaine's former bandmate. The old wound also reopened in public. Mustaine voiced his anger in the documentary Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, in a scene he later disapproved of. He felt it mischaracterized him and did not show the full extent of what happened in that meeting.

  In 2009, Metallica was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and invited Mustaine to attend the ceremony. He was told he would not be inducted, because the honor went only to members credited on a Metallica album. Mustaine congratulated the group respectfully and kept his commitment to a European tour with Judas Priest.

  At the last show of the 2013 Gigantour, Mustaine's own touring festival, Jason Newsted joined Megadeth onstage. Newsted was Metallica's former bassist, and the pair played Phantom Lord, a song Mustaine had co-written during his time in Metallica.

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• 3. Assembling a Band

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  In April 1983, Mustaine formed a group called Fallen Angels, with Lor Kane on vocals, Robby McKinney on guitar and Matt Kisselstein on bass. Mustaine called McKinney "a great guitar player, but he wasn't the right fit." Drummer Dijon Carruthers joined around the same time, and the first of many rotating drummers had arrived. Kane recommended changing the group's name to Megadeth.

  Mustaine then added his new neighbors, David Ellefson on bass and Greg Handevidt on guitar. Both had moved from Minnesota to Los Angeles. Handevidt lasted only a few months and left because he had a daughter back in Minnesota. Mustaine and Ellefson, however, formed a tight musical bond.

  Filling the other chairs proved hard. Mustaine and Ellefson auditioned about 15 drummers, hoping to find one who understood meter changes. Lee Rauch won the job in late 1983. Singers came and went too. Billy Bonds and John Cyriis each had a turn, and Cyriis went on to found Agent Steel after being fired. After six months of searching for a vocalist, Mustaine decided to sing himself.

  Songs from that first summer included No Time, which zine writer Brian Lew said carried anti-nuclear lyrics. Another was Self Destruct, about a girl whose father buried her alive because he believed she was a witch. A three-song demo tape called Last Rites, featuring Mustaine, Ellefson and Rauch, came out on the 9th of March 1984.

  The band's debut gig took place on the 17th of February 1984 at Ruthie's Inn in Berkeley, California. Slayer's Kerry King filled in on rhythm guitar. King played five shows in total with the band, including one at The Keystone in Berkeley that April, before returning to Slayer.

  Gar Samuelson, a jazz fusion drummer, officially joined on the 24th of October 1984. He had once played in a jazz band called The New Yorkers with guitarist Chris Poland. After watching Samuelson perform with Megadeth as a trio, Poland went backstage and suggested an impromptu audition. He joined as lead guitarist in December 1984.

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• 4. Thrash Records

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  The first Megadeth album, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, appeared in 1985 and sounded like it had been made on a shoestring. Its low-fidelity production did not stop it from finding an audience in underground metal circles and catching the eye of major labels. At that point the band was calling itself State Of The Art Speed Metal. Music writer Joel McIver praised its "blistering technicality" and said it "raised the bar for the whole thrash metal scene, with guitarists forced to perform even more accurately and powerfully". The cover also introduced the mascot Vic Rattlehead, who kept appearing on later album artwork.

  The record included a cover of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", played faster and with altered lyrics. In the 1990s its writer, Lee Hazlewood, called the changes "vile and offensive". Under threat of legal action, the song was dropped from pressings released between 1995 and 2001.

  Mustaine felt the pressure of the follow-up. He said: "That sophomore offering is the 'be-all or end-all' of any band. You either go to the next level, or it's the beginning of the nadir." Combat Records provided a $25,000 budget for Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?. Dissatisfied with those limits, the band left for Capitol Records. Capitol bought the rights to the album and hired producer Paul Lani to remix the earlier recordings.

  Released in late 1986, the album had clearer production and more sophisticated songwriting. Mustaine wanted socially conscious lyrics, unlike mainstream metal bands who sang about "hedonistic pleasures". The record was noted for its political commentary, and a video for the title track received regular airplay on MTV.

  So Far, So Good... So What! arrived in January 1988, after more than five months of recording with Lani. Mustaine clashed with him from the start. Lani insisted on recording drums separately from cymbals, which was unheard of for rock drummers. After the two grew estranged during mixing, Michael Wagener replaced Lani and remixed the album. Fans and critics received it well. It included a cover of the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." with altered lyrics, which Mustaine later admitted came from simply mishearing the original.

  The lineup that fans consider definitive came together for the next album. Guitarist Marty Friedman got the job on the recommendation of Ron Laffitte of Capitol management. Laffitte had heard Friedman's solo recording Dragon's Kiss, made when he was in Cacophony. Others came close first. Slash of Guns N' Roses jammed with Mustaine and Ellefson but stayed put. A deal with Diamond Darrell of Pantera collapsed when Mustaine refused to hire his brother, drummer Vinnie Paul, because Nick Menza already held the drum seat.

  Recording of Rust in Peace began at Rumbo Recorders in March 1990 with co-producer Mike Clink. He was the first producer to finish a Megadeth album without being fired. Released in September 1990, it entered at number 23 in the United States and number eight in the United Kingdom. Mustaine wrote with a rhythmically complex, progressive edge, with longer guitar solos and frequent tempo changes. Decibel described it as a genre-defining work. The singles "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Hangar 18" both became live staples. The album earned a Grammy nomination in 1991 and went platinum in December 1994.

  Countdown to Extinction came next. Recording began in January 1992 at Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California, with producer Max Norman, and took nearly four months. Menza suggested the title, and every member contributed to the songwriting. Ellefson said the band started writing more melodic songs. The album entered the Billboard 200 at number two in July 1992 and reached double platinum in the United States. Its title track won a Genesis Award from the Humane Society in 1993 for raising awareness of animal rights. The Grammy nomination ended in a loss, and Ellefson later recalled: "It was such a bizarre moment, because it was as if the amount of work it had taken to ramp up to that hopeful night was literally gone in a second."

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• 5. Chasing Radio

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  For Youthanasia in early 1994, Megadeth reunited with producer Max Norman. Three band members lived in Arizona, so work began at Phase Four Studios in Phoenix. Equipment problems there forced a search for another studio, and Mustaine insisted on staying in Arizona. At Norman's request the band built its own studio in a rented Phoenix warehouse. It was later called "Fat Planet in Hangar 18".

  Norman suggested slower tempos, at about 120 beats per minute. The band dropped the progressive approach of its earlier albums and focused on stronger vocal melodies and radio-friendly arrangements. For the first time, Megadeth wrote and arranged an entire album in the studio. Released in November 1994 after eight months of work, Youthanasia debuted at number four on the Billboard 200. It was certified platinum in the United States two months later.

  On the 1st of October 1994, the band launched Megadeth, Arizona. It is considered the very first official artist website ever. Capitol sales director Robin Bechtel conceived it, with designer Wendy Dougan and copywriter Jane Bogart, on a total budget of $30,000. They described it as "a virtual cybertown in cyberspace". It featured a chat room called Megadiner, band news under the heading Horrorscopes, and digital postcards.

  The image changed too. Capitol hired fashion photographer Richard Avedon, who had the members trade their jeans and T-shirts for a more conscious appearance. A Halloween show in New York City, "Night of the Living Megadeth", was broadcast live on MTV. The band also played twice on the Late Show with David Letterman.

  After the long tour that followed, Megadeth took most of 1996 off and nearly broke up. Mustaine started a side project called MD.45 with Lee Ving of Fear. Many of its songs had been meant for Megadeth. Then manager Bud Prager began supervising the songwriting, contributing musical ideas and lyrics and changing many titles. Mustaine later wrote: "I figured maybe this guy Prager could help me get that intangible number one record I so badly wanted."

  Cryptic Writings, produced with country pop producer Dann Huff in Nashville, was released in June 1997. It peaked at number ten on the Billboard 200 and was eventually certified gold. The lead single "Trust" reached number five on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and was nominated for a Grammy in 1998. Press response was mixed.

  Risk, released in August 1999, went further. Prager co-wrote five of its twelve songs and convinced Mustaine to give Huff even more control, a decision Mustaine later regretted. The album was a critical and commercial failure and brought backlash from longtime fans. Mustaine said: "We hit the nadir of our career with Risk, and I vowed after that we were going to get back to our roots." Three months into the tour, Friedman resigned, citing musical differences.

  Mustaine fired Prager and produced the next album, The World Needs a Hero, himself. It came out in May 2001 and debuted at number sixteen on the Billboard 200. Critics felt it fell short of expectations, although it marked a return to a more aggressive sound.

  In September 2004, The System Has Failed arrived after Mustaine reformed the band. He contacted the Rust in Peace lineup. Menza agreed to return, but Friedman and Ellefson could not reach agreements with him. Ellefson had taken legal action against Mustaine. Menza was sent home soon after rehearsals began. Revolver called the album "Megadeth's most vengeful, poignant and musically complex offering since 1992's Countdown to Extinction". Ellefson settled out of court and rejoined in 2010.

  In 2013, Mustaine left Roadrunner Records for Tradecraft, a label he had just founded. The resulting album, Super Collider, debuted at number six, the band's highest chart position since Youthanasia. Critics were mixed, and some objected to its departure from the band's traditional metal sound.

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• 6. Demons and Recovery

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  In March 1989, while auditioning new lead guitarists, Mustaine crashed into a parked vehicle that held an off-duty police officer. He was arrested for driving under the influence and possession of narcotics. Court-ordered rehabilitation followed, and Mustaine became drug-free for the first time in ten years.

  The crash capped years of damage. During the 1987 headlining tour, Mustaine and Ellefson considered firing Samuelson for his drug abuse. Mustaine said Samuelson became too much to handle when intoxicated. Chuck Behler traveled with the band for the last dates in case Samuelson could not continue. Poland quarreled with Mustaine and was accused of selling band equipment to buy heroin. Both were asked to leave in 1987.

  In August 1988, Megadeth played the Monsters of Rock festival at Castle Donington before more than 100,000 people. The band then left the European tour after one show because of Ellefson's drug problems, and he was treated immediately. Testament took its place. Mustaine later recalled: "On the road, things escalated from a small border skirmish into a full-on raging war."

  Soon afterward, Mustaine fired Behler and guitarist Jeff Young and canceled an Australian tour. He suspected Young of an affair with his then-girlfriend, which Young denied. Menza took over the drums. The year 1989 was the first time the band neither toured nor played a single show. Director Penelope Spheeris called the video shoot for a cover of "No More Mr. Nice Guy" a "Herculean task", because Mustaine could not play guitar through his addiction.

  One month into the North American leg of the Countdown to Extinction tour in early 1993, Mustaine returned to substance abuse and ended up in a hospital emergency room. The remaining shows, including dates in Japan, were canceled. He emerged sober after seven weeks in rehab. That summer, Megadeth was removed from Aerosmith's Get a Grip Tour after three shows. Aerosmith blamed Mustaine's erratic behavior, while Capitol Records cited "artistic restrictions".

  In January 2002, Mustaine was hospitalized to remove a kidney stone. The pain medication triggered a relapse, and he checked into a treatment center in Texas. There he fell asleep with his left arm over the back of a chair. The pressure compressed his radial nerve, and doctors diagnosed radial neuropathy. He could no longer grasp or make a fist with his left hand.

  On the 3rd of April 2002, Mustaine announced in a press release that he was disbanding Megadeth, because he could not play guitar. For four months he had physical therapy five days a week and slowly began to re-teach his left hand. Contract obligations to Sanctuary Records led to the compilation Still Alive... and Well?.

  In June 2019, the band announced that Mustaine had been diagnosed with throat cancer. Every show planned for that year was canceled, with the exception of the MegaCruise. Mustaine did not attend that cruise either because of his illness. The first tour after his illness began in January 2020 in Europe, with Five Finger Death Punch and Bad Wolves in support.

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• 7. Banned and Blacklisted

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  At a 1988 show in Antrim, Northern Ireland, Mustaine dedicated the Sex Pistols cover "Anarchy in the U.K." to "the cause". Before the final song, he said: "This one's for the cause! Give Ireland back to the Irish!" The line was inspired by Paul McCartney's song "Give Ireland Back to the Irish". It set off a riot between Irish nationalists, mostly Catholic, and British unionists, mostly Protestant, in the audience. The band had to travel in a bulletproof bus back to Dublin. The incident became the inspiration for the song "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due".

  MTV also pushed back. In 1988, the network decided that "In My Darkest Hour" encouraged suicide and banned its video. It banned the video for "A Tout le Monde" for the same reason. Mustaine said that song was written from the perspective of a dying man saying his last words to his loved ones. According to him, MTV also considered the videos for "Skin o' My Teeth" and "Symphony of Destruction" "a little bit too harsh" and refused to play them.

  In 2001, the Malaysian government took action during a world tour. Authorities decided the artwork of The World Needs a Hero was "unsuitable for the nation's youth" and banned the album there. They also judged the band's mascot, Vic Rattlehead, inappropriate and told the members they would be arrested if they played. The band canceled its concert of the 2nd of August in Kuala Lumpur. Mustaine answered: "I recognize what the Malaysian government is trying to do, and it is admirable of them trying to protect the young people in the country. But it just shows the degree of ignorance and apathy that the government has toward the problem."

  Two years later, in 2003, after recovering from the arm injury that had threatened his career, Mustaine became a born-again Christian.

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• 8. Stages and Farewell

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  On the 9th of October 2005, Mustaine stood in front of 25,000 fans at Obras Sanitarias stadium in Buenos Aires. He told the sold-out crowd at the Pepsi Music Rock Festival that Megadeth would keep recording and touring. A year earlier he had said The System Has Failed would be the band's last album, to be followed by a farewell tour. The concert was released on DVD as That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires in 2007.

  That summer Mustaine had organized Gigantour, a thrash metal festival tour. Megadeth headlined the first edition with Dream Theater, Nevermore, Anthrax and Fear Factory. The festival returned several times, from July 2005 to August 2013. In October 2019 the band also held its first MegaCruise.

  In 2010, Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax agreed to share the same bill. These performances were part of the Sonisphere Festival and took place in several European countries. One show in Sofia, Bulgaria, was filmed and released as The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria. The shows continued the following year in the United States, in Indio, California, and at Yankee Stadium in New York City. Ellefson had rejoined the band that same year after eight years away. He said drummer Shawn Drover had told him: "if ever there was a time for you and Dave Mustaine to talk, now is it".

  From July 2010 on, Vic Rattlehead began making sustained onstage appearances, meant to improve the visual side of the live show. The band eventually earned platinum certifications in the United States for five of its seventeen studio albums. It received twelve Grammy nominations before its first win, in 2017, when "Dystopia" took Best Metal Performance. Mustaine, Kiko Loureiro, Ellefson and Dirk Verbeuren attended the ceremony. Album drummer Chris Adler, the award recipient, did not. While Mustaine accepted the award, the house band played Metallica's "Master of Puppets", which caused some controversy among fans.

  In May 2021, Ellefson was dismissed from the band amid allegations of sexual misconduct. Loureiro left in late 2023. He told Guitar World in January 2024: "I had two viable options: to be in Megadeth or not. I chose my personal life. No regrets." Teemu Mäntysaari joined as lead guitarist on the 20th of November 2023, and James LoMenzo and Dirk Verbeuren round out the current lineup alongside Mustaine.

  On the 14th of August 2025, the band announced a final studio album and a farewell tour for 2026. Ellefson, speaking about the tour, said: "I'm a founding member of it. I'm a 30-plus-year member of it." The first single, "Tipping Point", came out on the 3rd of October 2025. The album, titled Megadeth, was scheduled for release on the 23rd of January 2026. It led both the iTunes bestselling album chart and the iTunes EPs chart, and it became the band's first number one on the Billboard 200.

  On the 12th of November 2025, Mustaine said the final tour would run for "three to five" years. He also revealed that he suffers from Dupuytren's contracture and cited it as one reason for retirement. In January 2026, the film Megadeth: Behind the Mask, a track-by-track commentary on the new album and a career retrospective, played in over 1,000 cinemas across more than 35 countries.

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