Megadeth/Peace Sells... But Who's Buying/1986

Somewhere along the way my hard rock and heavy metal musical tastes evolved. Like a beer drinker who now needs to smoke a little weed to get him where he needs to be, I found that as I grew older the hard rockin’ thump of AC/DC just wasn’t cutting it anymore. I needed something more. I had been introduced to Metallica by a fellow high school burnout who loaned me a cassette of Master of Puppets. I thought it was badass. I asked Santa Claus (mom) for Ride the Lightning and … And Justice for All for Christmas that year. Santa came through and as a result Metallica quickly replaced AC/DC as my favorite band. By this time I had purchased every album that AC/DC had put out to date. I loved me some AC/DC. Metallica however, was on another level. The music was heavy, fast, and dynamic. The lyrics dealt with real issues, not simply getting laid. That was always the inherent problem with listening to cock rock as a teenage boy; nobody was fucking me. I might as well of been listening to music about unicorns, leprechauns, and the tooth fairy because for this pizza-faced teenager, sex simply wasn’t in the realm of reality. Metallica wrote entire albums about alienation, revenge, manipulation, anger, & death. These were topics that spoke to me. I could relate. Music would no longer be something that just sounded great — now it expressed my feelings — feelings I lacked the maturity to express or even understand on my own. I had a voice.

Soon all of my friends were hooked on this unbelievably heavy underground band. We would scour the rock magazines and newspapers for any little detail about the band that we could dig up. The internet as we know it, did not exist. We knew that they just lost their original bass player to an unfortunate accident. We knew that they had just blown the mighty Van Halen off of the stage at The Monsters Of Rock. We also came to find out that they had fired their original lead guitar player and that this red-headed ne’er-do-well was now fronting his own band of thrash metal degenerates — Megadeth. The legend of Dave Mustaine was growing. As teenage kids without any real, credible source of information, Dave Mustaine’s departure form Metallica became the metal equivalent of Greek mythology. The story changed depending on whom you talked to.

It wasn’t long before I got my hands on a dubbed cassette copy of Dangerous Dave Mustaine’s second attempt at Metalli-revenge, Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying. I loved it. I can remember listening to it on my Walkman everyday on the way to and from school. It was heavy and fast like Metallica, but darker. The songs were more challenging to the listener. Master of Puppets was instantly memorable because of the hook in the chorus; ”MASTER, MASTER!” Peace Sells didn’t have obvious hooks. The song writing was complex… even jazzy at times. You had to want to like this album because it was going to take a few listens to click. For the most part Megadeth eschewed traditional verse-chorus, verse-chorus song structure on Peace Sells. For example the opening track, Wake Up Dead, kicks right in with eight lines of vocals, then nothing until the middle part of the song after several lead guitar solos and time changes. There is not any discernible attempt at a chorus. The same can be said of the second track, The Conjuring. No chorus whatsoever, just verses that continue to build. It isn’t until track three that we get anything resembling traditional song structure. Peace Sells, isn’t just a song, it’s an anthem.

”Whaddya mean I aint kind? I’m just not your kind.”

The lyrics are spit out in Mustaine’s unique sarcastic delivery. Many fans are put off by Dave Mustaine’s vocals. He does not possess the macho bark of a James Hetfield or Tom Araya. Dave’s vocals are closer to the punk rock snarl of Jello Biafra or Johnny Rotten, with a little Alice Cooper mixed in for good measure. Political and poignant, Peace Sells would become the trademark Megadeth track. Dave Ellefson's signature bassline would serve as Kurt Loder's MTV News intro music for years.

Devil’s Island follows and is as close to a traditional thrasher as this album will get. Good Mourning/Black Friday is the albums centerpiece. A brilliantly executed (pun intended), and morbid tale of a serial killers exploits, the track features some incredible lead work from virtuoso guitarist, Chris Poland as well as some frantic and jazzy drumming courtesy of the late Gar Samuelson. Like Wake Up Dead and The Conjuring, Black Friday avoids a traditional chorus, that is unless you consider Mustaine shouting “I’m out to destroy and I WILL CUT YOU DOWN” a sing-along chorus. Bad Omen, a cover of I Ain’t Superstitious, and My Last Words (a song about Russian Roulette) round out the album in glorious thrash metal fashion. Again, the material is dark. These are not happy campfire songs, unless the aforementioned campfire is taking place in hell.

For guitar players, Peace Sells is a veritable cornucopia of riffing and lead work to worship and digest. At the time, in what I’m sure was intended to ruffle the feathers of the mighty Metallica, Megadeth branded themselves ”The World’s State-of-the-Art Speed Metal Band.” They earn the title on Peace Sells. A band of lesser skill would simply be unable to perform this particular collection of Megadeth songs.

After my introduction to Megadeth via Peace Sells, Metallica quickly and quietly fell to number two on my list of favorite bands. I could just relate to Megadeth more. Rooting for Metallica is like rooting for the Yankees or Apple. It’s easy. They always win. Megadeth however, are perennial underdogs. I can relate to getting fired and having to start over. I've been there. I can relate to bad decisions and equally bad behavior. I can certainly relate to regret. I understand the desire for revenge — the motivation it instills. I get it.

In 1986, Peace Sells was Megadeth’s declaration of war. Despite being asked to leave, Dave Mustaine wasn’t going anywhere. 9.5/10