 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
| ||||||||
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band led by Dave Mustaine. The group was formed in 1983, disbanded in 2002, and reformed again in 2004.
Shortly after lead guitarist Dave Mustaine was fired from Metallica due to drug use and personality conflicts, Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson formed Megadeth. Mustaine became the band's singer and primary lyricist as well as playing guitar. The band soon added drummer Lee Rash and temporary guitarist Slayer's Kerry King. Later the same year, Rash was replaced by Gar Samuelson, and Chris Poland took over from King on guitar.
In late 1984, they were signed to Combat Records, and in May 1985 they released their first album, entitled Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!. Even with its relatively poor production, Megadeth's debut was a well-recieved album that was metal with a refreshing variety of other musical influences, like classical.
In November 1986 they released their second album, Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?, which is regarded by many critics as Megadeth's finest hour and a ground-breaking thrash metal album. Good production coupled with a certain 'maturity' that the band had achieved musically and excellent song writing allowed Megadeth to climb into the ranks of the titans of heavy metal with Anthrax, Metallica and Slayer to become the 'Big Four'. Later the same year Megadeth signed with Capitol Records, who also bought the rights to Peace Sells... from Combat.
Gar Samuelson and Chris Poland were fired from the band after a tour in Hawaii, amidst rumours of drug abuse by the entire band. Replacements were Chuck Behler on drums and Jeff Young on guitars.
In March 1988, the new line-up released their next album, So Far, So Good... So What!. The album was widely panned and seriously failed to capitalise on the success of Peace Sells..., with only a few glimmers of Megadeth's vibrancy on their last album in songs like 'In My Darkest Hour' and 'Mary Jane'. A cover of the Sex Pistol's 'Anarchy In The UK' on the album is poorly regarded and was symbolic of the wider album's failure to achieve the high standard set by Peace Sells.... On an interesting aside, during the tour following the release of the album, Mustaine dedicated a song to the IRA in Northern Island. Unsurprisingly, Megadeth was not to return for another 10 years.
In 1989, the lineup that had recorded So Far, So Good... So What! changed yet again, as the new members drummer Jeff Young and guitarrist Chuck Behler were fired, replaced respectively by Nick Menza and Marty Friedman. This line-up became the most stable and successful in Megadeth's entire career, recording four successful albums, and created Megadeth's reputation as a band that could not only play metal well, but also could create far more commerically acceptable offerings. The entire band's direction would change multiple times over the coming decade, with Megadeth's attempts to beat their rivals Megadeth by 'softening' in order to gain mainstream acceptance as a melodic metal band, something that would embitter many long-time fans who had previously viewed Megadeth as one of the leading proponents of thrash metal.
In 1990 Megadeth released their fourth album, entitled Rust in Peace, regarded by many Speed metal-fans as one of the most technically fulfilled and exciting speed-metal albums of all time. Megadeth's characteristically caustic and catchy lyrics and raw, fast thrash-metal riffs were finally truly captured with an excellent standard of production which allowed for interesting experimentation within a 'progressive metal' context.
In July 1992, Megadeth released the album Countdown to Extinction. It became an instant hit, reached #2 on the Billboard album charts, and went multiplatinum. The following album, Youthanasia was delivered in 1994, and it also became a great success.
Their next album, entitled Cryptic Writings was released in 1997. This album had more pop influences than the previous ones, but its sound was still unmistakably Megadeth's. Nick Menza left the band in 1998, and was replaced by Jimmy DeGrasso.
The pop influences were even more evident on the following album, 1999's Risk. Shortly after its release, Marty Friedman left the band, and was replaced by Al Pitrelli. Risk was not the success they were hoping it would be. Looking for a way to end their contract with Capitol Records, they released a greatest-hits collection entitled Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years (2000). This compilation included two new tracks that they were contractually obliged to give to Capitol.
In 2001 Megadeth signed a deal with Sanctuary Records. Shortly thereafter, they put out a new album, entitled The World Needs a Hero, on which most of the pop sound of the two previous albums was eliminated.
On April 3, 2002, Mustaine announced in a press release that he was leaving the band, officially due to an injury that caused nerve damage to his left arm. The remaining members decided to dissolve Megadeth as a result. This marked the end of the band's nearly twenty-year career.
Although after more than a year has passed and Dave Mustaine felt his arm was back at its 100%. While working on his solo career, he also re-banded Megadeth to make a new album originally titled Blackmail The Universe, but later renamed The System Has Failed (2004). This album would have none of the band's final original line-up, having Vinnie Colaiuta on drums, Chris Poland (who had played with Megadeth in the 1980s) on lead guitar and Jimmy Lee Sloas on bass. Megadeth's original catalogue was reissued, remixed and remastered, by their former label to try and capitalise upon what they hoped would be a resurgence in the heavy metal band's popularity. Megadeth had returned, and as Dave Mustaine said: "Megadeth is slowly rising from the ashes".
Early July of 2004 saw the entire The System Has Failed album leaked onto the internet. Dave Mustaine is said to have been deeply upset by this, however the scheduled release date of September 2004 was maintained and the album was released to overall positive reviews from critics, regarded by some as a return to Megadeth's 'golden days' of the late 80's and early 90's.
Aside from Megadeth's unmistakable guitar style, there are several recurring lyrical themes across their albums. War and military themes - particularly nuclear war - is a common theme for many of the bands songs. In fact, the band's name is a play on the word megadeath, a term coined by the US military to mean one million deaths. However, beyond nuclear war, topics for Megadeth songs include prisoners of war (Take no prisoners), military stratergy (Architecture of Aggression), the aftermath of war (Ashes in your mouth), and the Israel Palestine war (Holy Wars... The Punishment Due).
Politics is also a common theme to many Megadeth songs. Mustaine is scathing in his assessment of Tipper Gore, the PMRC, and music censorship in the song "Hook In Mouth", attacks gambling in "Train of Consequences", takes an environmentalist stance in "Countdown to Extinction", and shuns dictators in songs like "Warhorse" and "Symphony of Destruction". Mustaine's general cynicism about politics shines through on tracks like "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" and "The World Needs A Hero".
While Megadeth has recorded songs about relationships, they tend to be songs either about breaking up, or have a dark twist. "Trust", "Almost Honest", "Addicted To Chaos", and "1000 Times Goodbye" are examples of the former. Examples of the latter include "Promises", an eerie ballad from beyond the grave, and "Last Rites / Loved to death", a song about a man who is angry that he can't have the woman he loves, and seeks to kill her. The one exception to this was the Risk track "I'll be there", and is often held up as an example of what was "wrong" with that particular album's pop-rock influences.
|
||||
| View Live Article | This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License | |
||
