Getting into Megadeth's music

[Guest Anticrombie]

To start off I have all of Slayer's albums minus the first two, and I own all of Metallica's thrash albums. Of the "Big Four", I haven't listened to much of Anthrax, and up until recently I found Dave Mustaine's voice annoying. But yesterday I was listening to Killing Is My Business... and Hangar 18, and something sorta clicked. Dave's voice works in a really punkish Fuck you sort of way in some of his music. I always liked to music, but now I'm getting used to the vocals.

 

So where should I start? What do you guys think of their later albums when compared to their earlier stuff? I know their has been a general negative feedback towards the later catalogue from the big four tharsh bands, but I feel since I like Slayer's 90's stuff and most of Metallica's 90's music (minus the majority of St. Anger) that Megadeth's 90's stuff shouldn't be too bad.

[AboveAverage484 0]

IMO:

 

1. Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?

2. Rust in Peace

3. Countdown to Extinction

4. Killing is My Business...And Business Good

5. Youthanasia

6. So Far...So Good...So What!

7. Cryptic Writings

8. Risk

9. The World Needs a Hero (only cuz I haven't heard anything from it)

[Red Baron 0]

Here's a break down from each album

 

Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good (1985):

 

Mechanix

Chosen Ones

Last Rites

Rattleheads

Looking Down The Cross

Skull Beneath The Skin

 

Peace Sells But Who's Buying? (1986):

 

Good Morning Black Friday

Devils Island

Peace Sells

I Ain't Superstitious

Bad Omen

 

So Far So Good So What!(1988):

 

Hook In Mouth

In My Darkest Hour

Mary Jane

 

Rust In Peace(1990):

 

Tornado of Souls

Hanger 18

Holy Wars

Five Magics

Take No Prisoners

Poison Was The Cure

Dawn Patrol

Rust In Peace

Lucretia

 

Countdown To Extinction(1992):

 

Sweating Bullets

Skin O' My Teeth

Symphony of Destruction

Architecture of Aggression

Foreclosure of a Dream

Countdown To Extinction

Psychotron

Ashes In Your Mouth

 

Youthanasia(1994):

 

Reckonging Day

Addicted To Chaos

Elysian Fields

A Tout Le Monde

Train of Consequences

 

Cryptic Writings(1997):

 

Trust

Almost Honest

She-Wolf

Use The Man

A Secret Place

 

Risk(1999):

 

Crush 'Em

Insomnia

 

The World Needs A Hero(2001):

 

Disconnect

1000 Times Goodbye

Dread And The Fugative Mind

Burning Bridges

Return To The Hanger

Moto Pyscho

 

Also:

 

Angry Again

Go To Hell

Paranoid

Anarchy In The UK

Kill The King

Duke Nukem Theme

99 Ways To Die

No More Mr. Nice Guy

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Peace Sells and Youthanasia are the only ones I ever pop in anymore.

[Guest Anticrombie]

Is Risk really as bad as everyone seems to make it out to be?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Worse, actually. It's worse than Metallica's worst album, and I really hate Metallica.

[Guest Anticrombie]

Worse than St. Anger?!?!?!

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Countdown to Extinction should be your first priority. After you hear it there's not going to be any MEGADETH that you'll think is better, but hey...you get a good flow of all of their stuff. Each song seems to flow into the next(especially 'Architecture of Aggression' into 'Forclosure of a Dream'). Symphony of Destruction to me still has one of the best openings ever and hard striking power chords into the chorus each time are great. Thing start to speed up at 'Sweating Bullets'(for a long time this was the song I chose as my personal theme/anthem) and come to a head around 'Highspeed Dirt'. From there the album goes into a slower and heavier style again before kicking your ass with 'Ashes in Your Mouth' to close it out.

 

Rust in Peace should be your second choice. Probably their best album of just fast and ripping shit(which is what Hangar 18 is on). Its the album that made alot of Metallica fans stand up and realise that MEGADETH was a viable contender to King of the American Metal throne. Its a short album compared to Countdown in both songs and track times of some but still, its got to be your second choice.

 

Cryptic Writing is choice number three in my book. The album is just that too. Through the songs you can feel what Mustaine was battling in his life at that time and how it seems everything is attacking him from various directions. The album is mainly slow, hard, power metal compared to their previous fast and thrash style.

 

Afterwards just grab whatever as its all gravy from there. Except of course 'Risk' as its just fucking awful. That's MEGADETH's mulligan album as its one of those albums you can tell the label forced upon them to do in an attempt for the band to take a direction it didn't want to take. If you should ever see a copy of RISK lying about there's a few things you can use it as.

 

1.) Skee shooting. Its easy to whip far into the air and if the person with the rifle has heard it they'll by all accounts wish to shoot it.

 

2.) Stomping on. Get your aggression out by listening to a good MEGADETH album while stomping on this one with a good pair of boots.

 

3.) The CD can be used as a coaster for a cup while the open CD container can hold nachos. Great for a football game.

 

You will want to steer clear of ever handing this out as a gift to a metal fan though, and more importantly hardcore MEGADETH fan as they will punch you in the face and then spit on you as you lay on the floor.

 

Otherwise, enjoy. MEGADETH in my opinion is in the top 3 metal bands from the US and top 5 metal bands overall

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

In a different way, yes. St. Anger is just an example of a washed up band trying to be cool, and recapture their youth in a creaky-backed day of touch football that reminds them they ain't kids anymore. Sure, it sucks, but most people expected it to suck, and the people that like it like it just because it's Metallica.

 

Risk is like a bad joke. You take this gifted metal guitarist, who has made his entire career putting out mid-tempo thrash-based heavy metal for the people, and put him and some friends in a studio where he wants to do something "different" but has NO IDEA HOW. The result is a jumbled foray into other musical ventures which sound like a career metalhead trying to force himself to branch out to compete with pop music's changes at the time. It's confused, it's off kilter, the production, songwriting, riffs, and direction are all terrible. Probably the most "What the fuck?" album any popular metal band has ever produced. Don't even buy it for comedy value, because it isn't funny.

[Slayer 0]

Probably the most "What the fuck?" album any popular metal band has ever produced.

Even more than Cold Lake by Celtic Frost?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Wow, I think Frigid's top three picks are the next three worst after Risk, for the exact same reasons he listed. Weird.

 

Peace Sells and Youthanasia just seem more complete to me, which is also odd considering they're almost 10 years apart from one another.

 

The earlier one is nicely pissed and drunk, while the other is pissed and sober, and it's really easy to tell that Mustaine doesn't like it. I think that adds a nice disgruntled tension that works well with his stressed-out vocals.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

Probably the most "What the fuck?" album any popular metal band has ever produced.

Even more than Cold Lake by Celtic Frost?

I don't know that one. Whatever happened to Celtic Frost?

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Risk is like a bad joke. You take this gifted metal guitarist, who has made his entire career putting out mid-tempo thrash-based heavy metal for the people, and put him and some friends in a studio where he wants to do something "different" but has NO IDEA HOW. The result is a jumbled foray into other musical ventures which sound like a career metalhead trying to force himself to branch out to compete with pop music's changes at the time. It's confused, it's off kilter, the production, songwriting, riffs, and direction are all terrible. Probably the most "What the fuck?" album any popular metal band has ever produced. Don't even buy it for comedy value, because it isn't funny.

Risk wasn't Mustaine's fault to be honest. He didn't want to do it at all, at least not in that direction. This was one of the new managers or record label guys trying to get them back over into the mainstream and on MTV so they could sell the records to a whole new generation...only bad thing is they turned off the actual MEGADETH fans until TWNAH. I recall Kurt Loder asking Mustaine what he felt about the album upon its release and Mustaine said "Its...an album" and then shrugged. Shortly after that they played on Nitro and had Goldberg on stage where I seriously thought Mustaine was going to take his Jackson Kelly and impale Goldberg with it's sharp bridge. He looked absolutely disgusted at what the label was having him do. Not to mention, for the most part even though Marty wanted them to take a step into the alternative area alot of his metal riffs he wrote were left off of the album(not just one as the other thread says). In an interview he had with some music magazine my uncle had(I read it while on the shitter) he said that he and the producer were on two different sides of how the album should be, Dave was often fucked up, and when the album was released the label wouldn't talk to him and explain certain aspects of the album to him which lead to him having his breakdown.

 

Risk is what happens when you don't follow your gut and write the shit that got you to where you are and instead cave-in to a record label that hires producers of which have never heard you play.

[Slayer 0]

Probably the most "What the fuck?" album any popular metal band has ever produced.

Even more than Cold Lake by Celtic Frost?

I don't know that one. Whatever happened to Celtic Frost?

Celtic Frost resource

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Wow, I think Frigid's top three picks are the next three worst after Risk, for the exact same reasons he listed. Weird.

 

Peace Sells and Youthanasia just seem more complete to me, which is also odd considering they're almost 10 years apart from one another.

 

The earlier one is nicely pissed and drunk, while the other is pissed and sober, and it's really easy to tell that Mustaine doesn't like it. I think that adds a nice disgruntled tension that works well with his stressed-out vocals.

Their only bad album in my eyes is Risk, and that's because they weren't true to MEGADETH form...so its like listening to MEGADETH cover some other shitty band's music.

 

Peace Sells and Youthanasia just seem more complete to me, which is also odd considering they're almost 10 years apart from one another.

 

The earlier one is nicely pissed and drunk, while the other is pissed and sober, and it's really easy to tell that Mustaine doesn't like it. I think that adds a nice disgruntled tension that works well with his stressed-out vocals.

 

Well, I wouldn't say he was sober for Youthanasia...but he definately wasn't doing speedballs left and right then 20min later snorting up a fat yakker. He was still a raging alcoholic though. I guess downing a pint of tequilla in a single sitting compared to his old days would constitute as being sober for Dave though. I still laugh at how he was kicked out of Metallica with Lars explaining the events. Its something along the lines of...

 

"So we waited until like 7:30am to wake Mustaine up. He had been asleep for 3hrs which was good enough to make it so he was able to do stuff but not enough where he was capable of going angry drunk on us. He woke up with his bottle of Jack Daniels beside him laying on the floor half on top of his sleeping bag and we were like 'Dave...we're sorry but you're fired. We bought you a bus ticket though and we'll see you to the station' and that was it"

 

then Dave says later on

 

"I was still drunk and didn't realise I wasn't in a band anymore until 3hrs later on the bus."

 

Vintage Dave. I believe that was on VH1's Behind the Music of Metallica.

[Guest Anticrombie]

Funny thing is (and please don't kill me over this) my first exposure to Megadeth was hearing Crush'em being played on Nitro. I recall them using it for Goldberg's theme for a while. Of course my initial reaction was ehh...nothing special especially in comparison to Sting using Seek and Destroy for his entrance.

 

I got into Megadeth the second time around while I was in my Guitar shredders period, where I was really into Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Yngwie Malmsteem, and the like, I stumbled onto the duo of Marty Friedman and Jason Becker playing in Cacophony . Though I find that type of music to be a bit to excessive nowadays (though it has its moments), at the time I loved it.

 

I found Megadeth to be so frustrating to listen to for the longest time because I have always loved the music, but Dave's goddamn out of place mumbling (especially on many the earlier songs) has always ruined it for me.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

His voice doesn't change that much...

[Guest Anticrombie]

It really seems to depend how he's using his voice in the context of the song. Like on Wake Up Dead, where he's grumbling in the background while the music is blasting.

 

Though like I said before, it has grown on me somewhat to the point where I actually like many songs I would've turned off in frustration before (Killing Is My Business...And Business Is Good for example, where his snarly repetition of the song's title actually becomes the most endearing part of the song)

[DARRYLXWF 0]

Christ, just get Peace Sells...

 

It's got everything; The Conjuring, Peace Sells, Devils Island, Good Mourning/Black Friday, and my favourite Megadeth track, My Last Words

 

It really is guitar bliss, more so than Rust In Peace IMO, though most would disagree...I dunno...I just like the riffs better.

 

And I never got what the big idea about Countdown To Extinction was. It was OK, but I take Youthanasia as the Best of Megadeth's post-RIP albums.

 

Oh, and Mechanix BLOWS THE SHIT out of the Four Horseman. Faster, heavier, better.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

I pushed for the name "Kill the King" for my band. It got rejected. Non-Megadeth listening bastards.

[Red Hot Thumbtack In The Eye 0]

Go buy the albums that mega dave made while he was constantly od'ing and freshly pissed at Metallica. The wild guitar work and general musicality will make up for the shitty voice and assholishness.

 

I just listened to their new album, their best work since youthanasia, and even before that I'd wager.

[Black Lushus 0]

Countdown To Extinction is what sold me on Megadeth....Sweating Bullets is one of my favorite tracks to this day and the rest of the album is solid...go with Rust In Peace after that...then Cryptic Writings followed by Youthanasia...Risk is bad but I think Prince Of Darkness and Wanderlust are decent enough tracks...oh yeah also get the disc with the songs from soundtracks, can't think of the name, Hidden Treasures I think. It has 99 Ways To Die on it which owns on many levels...

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Go buy the albums that mega dave made while he was constantly od'ing and freshly pissed at Metallica. The wild guitar work and general musicality will make up for the shitty voice and assholishness.

 

I just listened to their new album, their best work since youthanasia, and even before that I'd wager.

Dave is still pissing on Metallica. Really, I'm sure if you brought them up in a positive manner infront of him he would tell you to go fuck yourself. Although he isn't ODing anymore. I don't care what he says though, he still drinks. I'm an alcoholic and I've been sober for over a year but I had a couple of beers last week. How does that work? Simple. I stopped at two which is sober in my case. It didn't agree with my meds all that well but fuck it...I needed it.

 

Also I now have to pick up the new album because of Tack.

 

Oh, and Hidden Treasure is pretty good. Not one of their best but its not a faulty album either. Its just not innovative so it doesn't really come out as anything special.

[Guest GreatOne]

Probably the most "What the fuck?" album any popular metal band has ever produced.

Even more than Cold Lake by Celtic Frost?

I don't know that one. Whatever happened to Celtic Frost?

Is it true that they got lost? In the pandemonium? Never to be seen again?

 

Anyway you might go up to Countdown (I'm not as hard on it as Kerry King is) and depending on what day, Youthanasia and Cryptic Writings.

 

Me I'll give love to the underrated So Far So Good So What. Yeah it was basically just the Daves being stupid (see Liar, Anarchy in the UK) and two temp musicians but what the hell there's still some good shit on there, like Into the Lungs Of Hell--which as far as I'm concerned is right up there with Orion and Ktulu (which Mustaine co-wrote anyway) for instrumentals, Set The World Afire, 502, and In My Darkest Hour.

 

I might be the only one that thought TWNAH was overrated as all hell though........We'll see about the new one.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Get their "best of..." album first. It has just about every of their MAJOR classics, plus two new songs (for that album, anyways) that fucking rule. The songs on there are:

"Kill The King," "Dread & The Fugitive Mind," "Crush 'Em," "Use The Man," "A Tout Le Monde," "Trust," "Train Of Consequences," "Sweating Bullets," "Symphony Of Destruction," "In My Darkest Hour," "Hangar 18," "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due," and "Peace Sells." I'm forgetting one song, and I think "A Tout Le Monde" comes after "Trust." Good, good intro to Megadeth.

 

My favorite album is actually Countdown To Extinction, because the later Megadeth tunes is when it seems Mustaine really learned how to write great SONGS and not just cool riffs and amazing solo's. Rust In Peace is pretty killer, but most of Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? is bland, generic thrash tripe.

[Nevermortal 0]

Probably the most "What the fuck?" album any popular metal band has ever produced.

Even more than Cold Lake by Celtic Frost?

I don't know that one. Whatever happened to Celtic Frost?

Tom Warrior is waiting for the emperor's return. Martin Ain's trapped in the circle of tyrants. Reed St. Mark was blinded in the crypt of rays, where he remains 'till this day.

[Red Baron 0]

Bland thrash type is So Far, So Good, So What.

 

Purely horrible with three songs tolerable.

[Guest GreatOne]

Tom Warrior is waiting for the emperor's return. Martin Ain's trapped in the circle of tyrants. Reed St. Mark was blinded in the crypt of rays, where he remains 'till this day.

Also:

 

Fell from a tree in Cherry Orchid

Drowned in a Cold Lake

Went To Megatherion where he remains unti this day

 

BTW who else dug Obituary's version of Circle Of The Tyrants?

[Styles 0]

EDIT: Yeah Cory reminded me, start with either Capitol Punshiment which is a greatest hits or Rude Awakening which is a double live album. Both give you a good sampling of material.

My advice for anyone getting into Megadeth is really simple. Buy both Rust In Peace and Countdown To Extinction together. These are their 2 best albums, and it can be debated all day long which is better, but both are slightly different in style. Decide which one you like better. If you like Rust better, than work down and get So Far So Good So What, Peace Sells and Killing Is My Business which are the thrashier albums. If you like Countdown better than work up and get Youthanasia, Cryptic Writings and The World Needs A Hero which are simpler but heavier albums. Then get Risk, which takes some getting used to.

 

I for one am PUMPED for the re-release of all the albums totally remixed and remastered. I've DLed the songs they've put up at www.megadeth.com and some sound quite different and all are much clearer. I will be replacing my whole collection, hopefully Best Buy puts them on the 9.99 first week sale like they usually do. Then in Sept, it's the final Megadeth album...Blackmail The Universe!

[Guest Anticrombie]

EDIT: Yeah Cory reminded me, start with either Capitol Punshiment which is a greatest hits or Rude Awakening which is a double live album. Both give you a good sampling of material.

 

I, generally loathe getting greatest hits or best of... albums from bands that release albums where all the songs are good. I feel ripped off when I come to like all the songs on their original releases, and I end up with a useless greatest hits album. I can download and listen to mp3's for sampling (well I would normally for the rest of their albums but my Kazaa Lite doesn't seem to be working anymore). In fact, the only greatest hits album I own out my rapidly expanding CD collection is a Beach Boys album I bought when I was 10.

 

I usually skip over live albums when I'm "discovering" a band unless they release new material or reworked songs. I plan on buying The Black Crowes album with Jimmy Page, Tool's Salival, and the unplugged AIC album because they all offer new songs or a retooling of old songs.

 

I've decided to start with Countdown To Extinction, Rust In Peace, and Killing Is My Business... (since I've heard all the songs from the original release, and I loved it), however, from what I understand the only version of this album that is available now is the remastered one. I read reviews that claimed the remastered version wasn't as good as the original.

 

So, does anybody own it, what did you think?