The History Of Megadeth

Megadeth will always be known as one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time.

Created from the bitterness of Dave Mustaine when he was kicked out of Metallica back in 83. They weren’t happy with his ongoing drug habit. Kirk Hammett, who at the time was the Exodus axe-man, replaced him. He made his goals clear: “Megadeth will rival, conquer and destroy Metallica.” Over the years, Megadeth have become bigger and better and have released some of the benchmark albums in metal history such as classics ‘Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?’ and ‘Rust in Peace’.

Suffering from numerous line-up changes they have been held together by founding members Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson. There is almost a different line-up on every record they have released! In 1983, Slayer's Kerry King was hired as guitarist. He left soon after. Even though they have had these band changes, on every record, the quality is there. If it’s a 7-minute long instrumental or a 2-minute blast of riffage, you can certainly tell that these guys are some of the best there is. In November 1984, they were signed to Combat records. In 1986, they move to Capitol records and finish recording ‘Peace Sells’. They recorded all of their albums there and then in 2000, they left Capitol and signed with Sanctuary. Here is a short review on some of their major albums.

Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? [1986]

This was the first major studio album they had ever recorded and it features the original line-up of Mustaine, Ellefson, Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson (R.I.P) who was later killed in a car accident. There are some of metals greatest songs on here like the title track, which demonstrates their capability with use of riffs, solos, and lyrics that make this album what it is.

Rust In Peace [1990]

Some say this was the prime of Megadeth’s career. With songs like "Hangar 18" and "Holy Wars…The Punishment Due", this is surely one of the best albums of their career. ‘Nuff said.

Countdown to Extinction [1992]

Surely another must have Megadeth album. This release is non-stop pure genius. From the first track to the last this is a masterpiece and seems to be a big influence on today’s bands. Featuring many of the people’s favourites like “Sweating Bullets” and “Symphony of Destruction”, these songs are guaranteed to be played at almost every show.

That brings us up to a few years ago, when Mustaine suffered from a compressed radial nerve, which damaged his little finger. That’s when Megadeth decided to call it quits. After the split, they all went their separate ways. Mustaine is now working on a solo project, Al Pitrelli (the latest guitarist) went on with his orchestra project, and Ellefson is working on a solo album as well as doing guest appearances on recent records. Mustaine has even said he would like to do a side project with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, with Ellefson doing bass. “We would call it Metallideth!” he said in an interview. Recently, when Jackson guitars went up for sale, Mustaine obviously was first in there as he had been playing them for around 20 years, but just before the deal was done they pulled out and sold it to Fender. He has now signed a deal with ESP guitars and has his own signature model ‘DV8’out now.

They are no doubt one of the most influential bands ever in metal, along with the likes of Black Sabbath, Metallica and Pantera. Current bands like DevilDriver, Shadows Fall and Avenged Sevenfold have mentioned them as one of their biggest influences.

Megadeth may be over but the spirit will remain forever…

POSTED: 12/25/2003 - 07:27 am

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Comments

[Leevan]

No one will be better than Dave after being kicked out.. Imagine you being kicked out of a band you liked..

[TalAnMiR]

Good article....read it before..i think u posted it in the forum a couple weeks ago.

Megadeth may be equal to Metallica, but definately not better.

[Snyper]

lol people talking shit about megadeth and not being able to spell it right obviously dont know shit about them
anyways my comments about the article and not my opinions on the bands:
in that first paragraph...i dont think things were bitter between the two bands, metallica did give dave thanks in the booklet of kill em all, and dave has talked about them a lot but not in bad ways, reasons for his departure seems to be one of the biggest rumors around the net, it should be cleared up when metallica release their book
i find hard to believe you didnt mention marty friedman, the man is a monster on guitar, deffinantly the most talented dave had in the band
and finally, i've read that dave wants to get the band going again if he can get marty and menza back in, that would be great
:cheers:

[YouKnowYourRite]

This is good stuff everyone should stop debating the better band

[kromatik]

Megadeth are an amazing band.Dave was apparently kicked out because of his drug habit btw.

[Guns4tots]

Megadeth had it going on. When Holy Wars came out, I stopped playing guitar for 2 weeks.

Dave Mustaine had a great formula: New drummer and 2nd guitarist for every album. If he had stuck to that formula, Megadeth would have become bigger than Metallica. But for some reason, Dave decided to keep that faggot Friedman and their albums became more and more fagified. Dave should hook up with Jeff Hanneman and Danny Carrey---They would rule if that happened

[StreamLine]

i'm sorry, how the *** could you have left out MARTY FRIEDMAN???

jesus christ, call yourself a megadeth fan???

[pinkerton]

Danny Carrey is a god. Probally the best rock and roll drumer in the world. I think Dave is also a better guitar player than kirk in the fact that his solos had soul. However, i think metallica had the bester songs over all.

[mkybrat]

Al Pitrelli lives 5 minutes away from me...and i went to high skool with his son, pretty crazy i think!

[Drifting__Bluez]

and one more thing......... when you talk about megadeth........ dont ever forget to mention marty friedman....

[think11270]

wow....a lot of people die in car accidents...

[Whiskey Leech]

sorry guys!!!

marty friedman has always been one of my favourite guitarists of all time. i had to cut the final version and the little bit about friedman was gone. i might even do an article about him!!!

thanx for the feedback

[steel_dragon]

megadeth owns all of you! marty friedman is an absolute animal on guitar, if his playing in megadeth isnt comvincing enough then get some of his old stuff with jason becker in their band Cacophony. They tear it up

[Whiskey Leech]

^word. finally someone who has ceared it up for all of you!

thanx for the comment.

[FrostyFingers]

that 'crush em' trak was a good one it was on the sdtrk of universal soldier

[ElecFenderMan]

was there ever a guy by the last name of Fontaine is metallica and megadeath?

spam deleted.

urmomandme: expect a warning if you keep it up. cute name by the way.

[musicmaniac2003]

No sweat whiskey leech...glad 2 clear out on this.
Megadeth is a class in itself...so dont compare it with anybody else. EVERY band has its own category and niche. So please stop debating which one rules. Choices will always differ when there are a million bands to choose from. PEACE.
Dont ask me "WHO's BUYING IT?"!!!

[Megadeth#1]

Dave Mustaine plays the catchiest guitar riffs I have ever heard, and I have only heard countdown and part of youthinasia. I think everybody is so absorbed in this new punk shit that they don't take time to listen to the good stuff. By the way the best song on countdown is "this was my life".

[frigginjerk]

all post pertaining to "metallica vs. megadeth" have been removed.

nobody cares if you like one better than the other. this is an article on MEGADETH.

[griff1987]

ive heard of megadeth but how can you say theyre one of the best bands of all time? to say theyre one of the best of all time you have to compare them to the likes of the beatles and elvis who started the rock era

[Whiskey Leech]

if you ask any self respecting metal fan about Megadeth, they will agree they are good.

and i said "HEAVY METAL" band not band in general.

[theTHORNwithin]

i like em both.....mustaine is kickass..all i can say man hes awesome marty friedman is pretty sweet too

[Towlie]

Dissapointed not to see martys name there ;(

[Whiskey Leech]

i've explained that up there^^^

[SlyBiscut]

They never mentioned Bret Frederickson who was the drummer for the Megadeth Dave started in High School.

{QUOTE}
Vengence:
I'm dissapointed not to see my name in there
[POSTED: 30 December 2003 - 13:40]
{/QUOTE}
i'm disappointed i have to delete your post.

more spam deleted. daaaaa-cheated. deeeelllll-teated.

[arto]

why did you delete mine?

[twobelts]

ok article. megadeth is one om my fav bands.
one correction. peace sell... was not the first album. the first album was released in 1985, and it was call KILLING IS MY BUSINESS... AND BUSINESS IS GOOD.

[xSepulturax]

He only mentioned a few of the major ALbums

[xSepulturax]

btw Dave Mustaine is the greatest rythm guitarist EVER

[napalm_scum]

When i read these kinds of articles, some are ok. But alot arent very accurate.
Folks if your gonna do a "History Of" article... make sure it accurate enough. Do a bit of easearch so people who read these wont make mistakes and we all end up with wrong info.

[UnknownHero 666]

when is the new album coming out?????

[Mega01]

Megadeth is my absolute favorite band. Mustaine is the best guitar player ever. He started it all. Also, the new album is scheduled to come out on halloween of this year. Mustaine said himself.

[BlackTooth]

Megadeth is AweSoME!