Megadeth

Los Angeles

Dave Mustaine formed Megadeth in Los Angeles in 1983, after Metallica dismissed him that April. He took the name from a pamphlet by the California senator Alan Cranston, which spoke of the arsenal of megadeath, and changed the spelling. David Ellefson joined on bass, and after six months of trying to find a singer Mustaine decided to sing himself. The band signed to Combat Records, which gave them $8,000 to make a first album. They fired their original producer, Combat added $4,000, and they finished Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! themselves. It came out in 1985 with the first appearance of the mascot Vic Rattlehead on its cover.

The follow-up had a $25,000 budget from Combat, enough to hire the producer Randy Burns. Capitol Records then bought the rights and hired Paul Lani to mix it. Mustaine and Ellefson wanted socially aware lyrics, and Mustaine took the title of Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? from a Reader's Digest article. Ed Repka's cover set Vic in front of a ruined United Nations building. The title song, Peace Sells, became the band's first video, and its bass line introduced MTV News. A second video followed in 1987 for Wake Up Dead.

Changing lineups

Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson left in 1987. Chuck Behler took over the drums, and the guitarist Jeff Young joined while the third album was being recorded. So Far, So Good... So What! appeared on Capitol in January 1988 with a cover of the Sex Pistols' Anarchy in the U.K. Behler and Young were gone by 1989, and Nick Menza, who had been Behler's drum technician, replaced him. The search for a lead guitarist ended with Marty Friedman, whose solo record Dragon's Kiss led to his audition.

Rust in Peace

Rust in Peace was recorded at Rumbo Recorders with Mike Clink producing alongside Mustaine, and Max Norman mixed it. The title came from a bumper sticker reading "May all your nuclear weapons rust in peace". It opens with Holy Wars... The Punishment Due and continues with Hangar 18, and its guitar showcase is Tornado of Souls. It reached 23 in the United States and 8 in the United Kingdom, earned a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance, and was certified platinum in December 1994. Kerrang! later ranked it first among the 50 best albums of 1990. In 2010 the band played it in full on a tour and released a live recording from the Hollywood Palladium.

Countdown and after

Max Norman co-produced Countdown to Extinction with Mustaine at the Enterprise in Burbank in 1992. It entered the Billboard 200 at number two, was held from the top by Billy Ray Cyrus, and went double platinum. Its best-known single was Symphony of Destruction. Youthanasia followed in November 1994 and debuted at number four. The band built its own studio in Phoenix to make it, called Fat Planet in Hangar 18. Cryptic Writings (1997) peaked at number ten, and Risk (1999) brought a backlash from many longtime fans. Friedman announced his resignation at the end of 1999, and in July 2000 the band left Capitol after 15 years.

In April 2002 Mustaine announced that he was disbanding the band. It re-formed in 2004 with The System Has Failed, and from 2005 Mustaine organized the annual thrash festival tour Gigantour. Megadeth is counted as one of the "big four" of American thrash metal alongside Slayer, Anthrax and Metallica. In 2010 all four played on the same bill at European Sonisphere festivals, and the Sofia show was filmed as The Big Four: Live from Sofia, Bulgaria. The title song of Dystopia won the 2017 Grammy for Best Metal Performance. A 2026 album, simply titled Megadeth, became their first to reach number one on the Billboard 200, and Mustaine said the band will disband when its tour ends.