The most powerful guitar band on Earth was formed in San Francisco, CA by guitarist and lead vocalist Dave Mustaine after a four day bus ride home from New York after being fired from the metal band Metallica. Upon his return to San Francisco, Dave meet a kindred spirit in Minnesota, native David Ellefson. The two quickly set to work on the formation of the beast that would turn into Megadeth. Dave recruited Slayer guitarist Kerry King and drummer Lee Rash to round out the band. King and Rash never meant to be full time members, they were replaced a short time later by Chris Poland on Guitar and Gar Samuelsohn on the drums. Dave managed to secure a recording deal with the independent Combat Records that funded the debut album Killing is My Business.... And business is Good. A brief Tour followed.
Dave who had a drive to out do his former band mates in Metallica felt that he would never get there without the support that came with a major recording deal. Combat Records CEO sold the contract with much regret to Capital Records and all rights to their upcoming album "Peace Sells.... But Who’s Buying" which was released later that year in 1986 during which time the band was becoming a combustible element.
With drug and alcohol abuse running rampant during the bands tour to support their latest album the decision was made to release Chris Poland and Gar Samuelsohn from the band after Poland stole the bands equipment and sold it for drug money. With Chris and Gar departed they turned to Drum Tech Chuck Behler to take the drum seat and Jeff Young on guitars and began work on their third album So Far, So Good.....So What. But just as quick old demons began to haunt the band and just as fast as they came Jeff and Chuck were dismissed from the group.
After two years of heroin related problems Megadeth resurfaced with the 1990 releases of their fourth album Rust in Piece with former Vixen and Hawaii guitarist Marty Freidman and Nick Menza on the drums. The album generated a lot of press and was voted the No. 1 guitar album of all time by Guitar Magazine but for Mustaine it wasn’t enough. For all his hard work and effort he still had not achieved the mainstream publicity and success that his former band Metallica was enjoying. So once again drug abuse caused trouble for the band. Megadeth was set to play a show at the famous Budakon arena in Japan when an accidental overdose by Mustaine caused the show to be canceled it would be years later before Megadeth would make it back to play the Budakon.
After the Rust in Piece tour was brought to an end the band regrouped in Los Angeles to begin work on their fifth album. With the Persian Gulf War coming to an end and the U.N. decision to keep Saddam Hussein in power in Iraq this fueled the lyrics behind three of Countdown to Extintion's eleven songs. "Symphony of Destruction", "Architecture of Aggression", "Foreclosure of a Dream" and "Ashes in your Mouth" along with seven other offerings the album was a complete masterpiece. This time out Megadeth changed their approach to writing as they took on a more melodic tone in their songs. The album which was produced by Max Norman and Dave Mustaine debuted at number two on the billboard charts. But in a wicked irony the fifth album from Metallica released a few weeks later debuted a number one. But during the course of the two bands separate world tours they buried the hatchet and played together for the first time at the Milton Kells Bowl in England bringing their rivalry between each other to a close. But it continues in the hearts of the fans to this day.
In 1994, Megadeth began work on their sixth album Youthansia. Once again Max Norman would produce, however, during the onset Ellefson, Freidman and Menza who had been sober for some time persuaded Mustaine to enter rehab which set the album back. Upon completion of his stint in rehab, the band built Hanger 18 Studios in Scottsdale, AR where three quarters of the band now lived to complete work on their next album. Mustaine even found inspiration from his time in rehab to write the track "A Tout Le Monde". In French it means "To All the world". It set a new chapter for Megadeth since it was the first ballad they had written. Another successful album and another world tour down, they released Hidden Treasure an LP of previous tracks from soundtracks that the band had worked on which also included covers of Alice Cooper’s No More Mr. Nice Guy, Sex Pistol’s Problems and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid. When the Youthanasia Tour wrapped up, the band took a much needed break from the music business.
In 1997, the group went back to work this time in of all places Nashville, TN. What came out of the recording process was their seventh studio album (eighth overall) produced by Dann Huff. The album combined their all out frontal assault of the first four album’s with the more melodic approach of their previous two. The combined effort generated Cryptic Writings which went on to be Megadeth’s best selling album to date. One thing that was visible was that the mascot, Vic Rattlehead, the skeleton that had graced every Megadeth album cover up until Countdown and the back of the Youthanasia cover was gone a decision made by Capitol Records. It was an attempt to make Megadeth more marketable to top 40 radio stations. It became more evident that Capital Records was trying to mold Megadeth during the making of their eigth studio album Risk which was a huge departure from anything Megadeth had ever written. Gone were the speed and thrash, forgotten were the dark melodies that made Megadeth famous, now there was Risk, a more pop rock alternative type sound that Capital was convinced would get them played on top 40 radio. The move back fired
After the embarrassment of the Risk album Marty Friedman was replaced by Savataga guitarist, Al Patrelli, and Nick Menza who had departed after Cryptic Writings was replaced with former Alice Cooper & Suicidal Tendencies drummer, Jimmy DeGrasso with one album left on their deal with Capital the band released Capital Punishment: The Megadeth Years which was a greatest hits CD with two new bonus tracks "Dread And The Fugitive Mind" and "Kill the King". With their commitment to Capital over, Megadeth signed with England based Sancturary Records and released their ninth studio album, The World Needs a Hero with Vic once again gracing the cover of the album. During the world tour that followed, Megadeth recorded Rude Awaking a live 2 disc CD which was played a charity show for the victim's family's of the 9/11 attack. During the tour Dave Mustaine relapsed once again this time doing nerve damage to his left arm. The doctors told him it would be a year minimum before he could play guitar again. Stating that he wanted to spend more time with his family and other musical interest, Dave Mustaine disbanded Megadeth in March of 2002.
