Megadeth
Megadeth, American heavy metal band whose signature sound combines complex musical arrangements, sharp instrumental skills, aggressive vocals, and fast tempos, lending its music the name “speed metal.” The group rose to prominence in the 1980s as one of the “Big Four” thrash metal bands along with Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax.
Formation and debut album
Megadeth was founded by the southern California–born musician Dave Mustaine, formerly the lead guitarist of Metallica until he was fired in 1983 while the band was on tour in New York, reportedly because of his substance abuse and conflicts with other band members. On the bus ride home to California, Mustaine found a political flier with the term megadeath, a reference to nuclear arsenals with the power to cause one million or more casualties. Mustaine adopted the term, spelled as Megadeth, as the name for his new heavy metal band.
Basing the band in Los Angeles, he soon recruited David Ellefson, a bassist from rural Minnesota. The two were eventually joined by guitarist Chris Poland and drummer Gar Samuelson, two musicians from Dunkirk, New York. Megadeth quickly forged a sonically aggressive combination of intricate dual-guitar work and fast-thudding bass and drums with Mustaine growling angry lyrics laced with dark humor. In 1985 the band recorded its debut album, Killing Is My Business…and Business Is Good!, on the Combat Records label.
Popular success and the heavy metal renaissance
In 1986 Megadeth signed with Capitol Records and released its second album, Peace Sells…but Who’s Buying?. With its combination of clever antiestablishment, apocalyptic song lyrics layered over tighter rhythms and even more complex guitar work than in the band’s first release, the album is considered a standout in the thrash metal category. At the same time, a heavy metal renaissance in Los Angeles helped make a variety of hard rock, glam metal, and other types of metal bands popular on MTV and radio, leading to the launch in 1987 of MTV’s heavy metal music video program, Headbangers Ball. Videos of songs from Megadeth’s albums played on MTV and furthered the band’s popularity.
The group also received wide exposure when director Penelope Spheeris included interviews with band members and concert footage of Megadeth in her 1988 documentary film The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years alongside such hard rock and heavy metal favorites as Aerosmith, Alice Cooper, Kiss, and Ozzy Osbourne. That same year, Megadeth released its third album, So Far, So Good…So What?, which included “In My Darkest Hour,” a song about loneliness and despair that Mustaine wrote in 1986 after hearing that his former bandmate, Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, had died in a tour bus accident. The album was Megadeth’s first to break into the Top 40 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
Lineup changes
Substance abuse issues and quarrels among band members resulted in a series of lineup changes. In 1989 Mustaine and Ellefson were joined by Marty Friedman on guitar and Nick Menza on drums. This lineup recorded a few of the band’s most notable albums, including Rust in Peace (1990) and Countdown to Extinction (1992). Rust in Peace earned the band its first Grammy Award nomination, for best metal performance. It also went gold within a few months of its release, quicker than Megadeth’s previous albums. Countdown to Extinction reached number two on the Billboard 200 album chart and went double platinum within two years. Its single “Symphony of Destruction” was the first of Megadeth’s songs to break into Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. To compose the song, Mustaine drew upon diverse influences: the music of the Beatles and the metal band Queensrÿche and the political themes in the 1959 novel and 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate. Countdown to Extinction was nominated for a Grammy for best metal performance.
A turn toward the mainstream
In 1993 Megadeth recorded the song “Angry Again” for the comedy-action film Last Action Hero, starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; the song was nominated for a Grammy for best metal performance with vocal. For the next few years, from the platinum-selling Youthanasia (1994) through Cryptic Writings (1997) and Risk (1999), the band departed from its signature speed metal sound to include synthesizers, a slightly slower pace, slicker production, and even melodies, making for a more mainstream, radio-friendly output. In addition, Megadeth racked up three Grammy nominations for singles released on tribute and compilation albums and for “Trust” from Cryptic Writings. In July 1999, the band’s former drummer Gar Samuelson died at age 41 of liver failure. Less than two weeks after his death, Megadeth performed at the notorious Woodstock ’99 music festival and dedicated a song to him.
Disbanding, legal issues, and The Big 4 concert
After more lineup changes, Megadeth bounced back in 2001 with The World Needs a Hero on the Sanctuary label and a more metal, though still not thrash, sound. However, the group soon disbanded for a time while Mustaine recovered from various health issues. A lawsuit filed in 2004 by Ellefson against Mustaine regarding royalties led to a countersuit filed by Mustaine and to Ellefson quitting the band. He returned in 2010.
After years of a war of words between Mustaine and his former Metallica bandmates, in 2010 Megadeth and Metallica, along with Slayer and Anthrax, played in Bulgaria for a concert and film billed as The Big 4: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria. The live album of the concert quickly went double platinum. In 2010 Mustaine published Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir, in which he described his time with Metallica as well as his alcohol and drug addiction and his subsequent recovery.
Later releases and lineup changes
Undaunted by continuing label and lineup changes, Megadeth maintained a steady release of studio and live albums and earned several more Grammy nominations. In 2016 it released Dystopia. The album not only demonstrated a return to the band’s classic thrash sound but also scored the group its first Grammy, for best metal performance. That same year saw the death of another former band member; in May drummer Nick Menza, who had left Megadeth in 1998, died at age 51 after suffering a heart attack while performing onstage with his band OHM.
In 2019 Mustaine was diagnosed with throat cancer, but he recovered after chemotherapy and radiation treatment. In 2021 Ellefson was fired from Megadeth after allegations of sexual misconduct with a 19-year-old fan. James LoMenzo, who had played with the band from 2006 to 2010, returned to fill in on bass. In 2022 Megadeth—featuring LoMenzo, guitarist Kiko Loureiro, drummer Dirk Verbeuren, and the ever-present Mustaine—released its 16th studio album, The Sick, the Dying…and the Dead!, which featured a track with rapper Ice-T. The album garnered the band its 13th Grammy nomination, for the aptly titled single “We’ll Be Back.”