A Megadeth discussion...

Person 1

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To me Megadeth's music is fairly generic and Dave's vocals can be grating sometimes but overall I would say it's a fun spin once every few months but that's about it.

Megadeth only had two stellar albums: Youthanasia and Rust In Peace

Me:

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Generic!? Hardly! Megadeth helped define a sound. Megadeth sound like no one else. Hardly "generic".

Person 2:

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I agree about the generic tag.

Metallica, Anthrax, Testament, Overkill, Kreator, Sodom and Slayer defined the bludgeoning thrash movement.

Megadeth was just there to take credit for what others had done.

LOL - sorry but that's my opinion.

Person 1:

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Sound like no one else?
To my ears they sound like everyone else in the thrash scene. Just not as good. I agree with what Blackie said above. From the begining Dave Mustaine was riding on Metallica's coattails. If it wasn't for the breakthrough of Metallica and the desire of fans to hear more bands of a similar style no one would have even cared about Megadeth. The fact that people craved that style and the fact that Dave had a history of being a Metallica member got them through. Through the 80's Dave played a second rate thrash style that mimmicked every other band that was successful. Dave doesn't suck but he certianly isn't any type of innovator. With every single change Metallica made Dave & Megadeth would follow suit and try to copy them. After Metallica released the highly successful yet radio friendly, "black album" Dave decided to go more mainstream and release "Countdown". When Metallica went alt-rock on "Load" Dave decided to release "Risk". Megadeth. Always copying others in the scene and never surpassing anyone. All this is not to say they suck. Their music is fairly enjoyable but certainly nothing original or groundbreaking. The vocals on the other hand are attrocious and it's beyond me how anyone can enjoy that noise.

Person 3 (also a member of this board):

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Megadeth are a GREAT band and do NOT sound like anyone else. Genre-wise, sure, since it's all thrash/heavy metal.

But you can't honestly say to me that as soon as, or almost as soon as, you hear a Megadeth song that you mistake it for someone else. Dave's guitar riffs are most definitely unique, as are his vocals. No one sounds like them, that I've heard.

Dave might have "ridden on Metallica's coattails" a little, but he didn't do anything musically to try and sound like Metallica, or anyone else! Come on, now. The only likeness is Mechanix and The Four Horsemen, which Dave wrote anyway, as well as some of the other riffs on Kill 'Em All and even Ride The Lightning. In those cases, you could say Metallica copied Dave! I don't know if I'd say he defined a sound, as in started a sound that other bands tried to emulate, like Metallica, Slayer, etc. But he most certainly DID define a sound as in defining his own unique style that no one else has copied. There are tons of bands like that. Megadeth's not the only one.

On the vocals side of things, a person either loves him or hates him. Not many in-between folk. I happen to like his vocals. They define Megadeth's sound just as much as his riff styles. If he ever decided to get another lead vocalist, it just wouldn't be Megadeth anymore. Sure, it might gain some fans that he didn't have before, but the signature sound would be gone, and no, that's NOT a good thing.

Not every metalhead likes every metal band, and that's fine. There are lots of metal bands I don't like. Having an opinion is just fine. But let's not confuse fact with opinion.

Me in response to Persons 1 & 2:

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Wow! You couldn't be any more historically inaccurate than this diatribe bro. Metallica was still using Dave's riffs even on Ride the Lightning. They were also borrowing riffs from Exodus, which Kurk pulled over with him. Dave was a major factor in early Metallica's success. Megadeth were just as groundbreaking as Slayer, Exodus and Anthrax. All these bands had a hand in the popularity of thrash. Scott Ian has said as much about Dave. As a matter of fact, it was Dave's playing and writing with Metallica that blew Scott Ian away and gave him the idea to turn Anthrax from a traditional metal band to a thrash band. You can hear it with your own ears on Vh-1s "Anthrax: Behind the Music".

If Dave is such a hack, why didn't Metallica dump his riffs and write their own riffs, even after the success of Kill 'Em All? For that matter, once they dumped Dave, due to his drug problems, why didn't they write ALL their own songs and let Dave take his songs with him?

You don't have to like Megadeth, but to say they are "generic" or "second rate" is just an insult. It's far, far from the truth. As a matter of fact, I know many, many people who prefer Megadeth to Metallica. I happen to like 'em both.

Comments? Agree? Disagree?

I think Megadeth were a very powerful, great band at one time.

The first 2 albums are killer, the 3rd still good, and even though I don't care for it, I can't deny that RIP isn't a metal monster. After that something happened.

I wouldn't say generic. Peace Sells is an original metal masterpiece (except for the cover song).

Those are my opinions.

I pretty much agree with what you told persons 1 and 2.I happen to like both bands but They did use Daves riffs and songs.I wonder why some people waste there time on a band they dont care for.

Persona 1 and 2 need to clean their ears out.

Mustaine is THE reason Metallica had success. It was his writing that propelled the vision that Lars and James were trying to achieve. Not to say that Metallica wouldn not have had success but to my ears Dave's writing is sooooo present on the first two albums it is what really drives the best songs on those albums.

The one thing I do kinda agree with is that when Metallica did the self titled album, Dave, to my ears, did basically the same thing.....tried to apease to the raido friendly type.....and even then his songwriting, riffs and solos were better than the Metalliboys.

Megadeth, Metallica, Anthrax, Exodus, Overkill and Slayer all helped define thrash and I believe were the probably the most successful at it. That whole early 80's thrash movement, while underground, helped bring us metalheads bands like Omen, Fates Warning, Watchtower, Annihilator, Hirax, Metal Church and many others.

Dave is NOT second rate.......never has been......never will be. Ive come to appreciate all he is done.......even if he did release Risk. LOL

Person 1 and person 2 dont know what they are talking about. I havent spent a whole ton of time listening to either of metallica or megadeth, but one thing I know is that megadeth is not a copycat but a revolutionary. Theres a reason why they are part of the big four of thrash.

I personally like Countdown and Youthanasia a heck of a lot more then the stuff they released before it. I just think there were better bands doing what Megadeth was doing before they hit there stride imo. I like Megadeth but i like most other thrash bands a lot more. To me the 3 best Megadeth cd's are Countdown, Youthanasia, and Cryptic Writings. I think the earlier material was great musically but what Dave didnt have at the time was those hooks that some of the other thrash bands had.

As for being generic, what band isn't?


I will say this the line-up of Dave, Dave, Marty, and Nick was a lot more talented then all of the thrash bands out at the time imo.

I'm not really a big fan of Megadeth. I like "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying" and "So Far, So Good, So What" but cannot handle anything after due to his vocals and songs. It just didn't appeal to me.

I will say though that Megadeth were not generic in any way. They helped set the standard for the style. Metallica owes their success to Dave Mustaine!

Person 1 and 2 have a combined age of like 28, huh? Haha. If anything, Metallica road the coattails of Dave Mustaine.

I do like how Dave stole his riff for "Motorbreath" back and used it for "FFF." Haha.

These people think "bludgeoning thrash" is the only acceptable form of thrash.

You're 100% right ult except that I do think when MEGADETH started wanting to go commercial they kept their eyes on the general style METALLICA was playing to a certain extent. For example, to me "Trust" has a similar structure to "Enter Sandman".

But Dave is his own man and if you really want to get down to it Mustaine invented thrash and Hetfield and Kerry King copied it.

I totally disagree that Mustaine invented thrash. I think Lemmy and the boys from Motorhead might of had a hand in that. As far as coping, i think that bands play what they like and what sounds good to them. The whole Hetfield and Mustaine feud is a joke imo. You get that when you put together a bunch of alcoholics.

Eyesore wrote:

Person 1 and 2 have a combined age of like 28, huh?

Could also be their IQ.

I love Megadeth. They were a great band and Rust In Peace, Peace Sells... But Who's Buying, and Countdown to Extinction are all classic albums and Megadeth in general is a great band. My 2nd favorite of the Big 4, after Metallica.

No doubt that Metallica just wasn't as good after they booted Dave.
And when you look at each band's discography, Megadeth is far better, imo.

So if I have a chance to get Youthanasia in a trade I should?

scottmitchell74 wrote:

So if I have a chance to get Youthanasia in a trade I should?

You've never heard this disc? It's my second fave. Every song on it is good, imo. It's one of those albums I remeber buying and where I was the first time i heard it.

I wasn't around in the days that thrash was emerging, so I can't speak to the innovation argument as well as most of you can. However, after listening to all the artists' albums over and over again, I can say that Megadeth were certainly a very creative thrash band. The reason they're one of my favourites is because they knew the music didn't have to be 100mph all the time. The music was diverse, technical, complex, but always heavy and powerful. The variety in songs like "Wake Up Dead", "Set The World Afire", and "Take No Prisoners" is what made/makes them such an intense band.

I don't know what I'd do without Peace Sells...But Who's Buying?.....

I have mixed memories of Megadeth in High School. I stayed away from them because I couldn't stand the "heavy metal dorks" who wore their shirts daily. Just the goofiest wannabe metal guys wearing their shirts. Turned me off on the band. It took me until the early 90's to find out how awesome Megadeth was by myself.

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I stayed away from them because I couldn't stand the "heavy metal dorks" who wore their shirts daily.

You mean all the people whop post here now? You seriously need to get this disc.

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You mean all the people whop post here now? You seriously need to get this disc.

Yeah! I was thinking of myself as I typed because I am now the very embodyment of the "heavy metal dork".

Just to make it clear, Ult, Kirk wrote nearly everything in Exodus - The riffs he took to Metallica (including the main riff to "Creeping Death") were all his own work. Tons of Kirk's work ended up on Exodus' debut, Bonded By Blood, as well.




But yes, I fully agree with your statement, otherwise

zombiewalkin wrote:

Mustaine is THE reason Metallica had success. It was his writing that propelled the vision that Lars and James were trying to achieve. Not to say that Metallica wouldn not have had success but to my ears Dave's writing is sooooo present on the first two albums it is what really drives the best songs on those albums.

No, no, no, no, no - Mustain was NOT "THE" reason why they had success - He did write several riffs on Kill 'Em all, and also some solo's, but here are some factors you are forgetting - All the solo's Dave wrote were changed for the better, and to quote James - "When Kirk came along, of course he wanted his own work on the album, so he took the first four bars of Dave's solo's, and changed the rest - When he changed them, it was always for the better".

One or maybe 1.5 of Dave's riff-work was present on Ride the Lightning - I say 1.5, becaue the riff for the title-track on the album is only based off his riff - And then, he did write the majority of the main Fight Fire with Fire riff - that was it.


And just to make it clear for people, Metallica did not "Steal" the Trapped Under Ice riff - That was one of the riffs that Kirk wrote while he was in Exodus - To quote Kirk - "There was more flexibility in Metallica - Everyone contributed something. In Exodus, everyone wanted it to do it their way - The drummer only wanted to play a certain way, etc. It also took some weight off my shoulder in terms of writing - In Exodus, I was writing everything

Megadeth where very influencial - that can not be denied! Mustiane did have a big part in Metallica's initial success. Both bands where able to create great music afterwards (and some stinkers in there too!)

We can sit here and discuss this all day but the way i look at it is this. Metallica are Metallica and Megadeth is Megadeth. Yes Dave left a few riffs behind but to say that gave Metallica success is a joke in its own right. Metallica wrote 99% of there music and Metallica is Metallica w/o Dave.

Another way i look at it is that Metallica released Master of Puppets after RTL and that album alone eclipses anything Dave could ever dream of putting out.

In the end ppl can say Dave was in Metallica and they stole his riffs, but we wouldn't have those great cd's if Dave was in the band and we wouldn't of gotten Megadeth either. So all in all it came out great imo...

scottmitchell74 wrote:

So if I have a chance to get Youthanasia in a trade I should?

Hell yeah! It's no thrash album, but I think it's their best release! I love this album. And "Addicted To Chaos" is my favorite Megadeth tune. It also has my least favorite Megadeth tune, "A Tout Le Monde."

Anyway, it's a great album. Just a solid metal album, aside from that one turd.