It's not hard to imagine the smirk, the guttural chuckle and the rush of pride that must have taken over Dave Mustaine's face on Sunday, when he learned that Megadeth's self-titled album, their 17th and supposedly final record, was the number one album of the week.
No longer remaining in the shadows, Dave Mustaine can finally appreciate the fact that his group is at the top.
Megadeth fans have been hoping for this day for over four decades, and Megadeth has never had a bigger fan since day one than its founder and singer-guitarist himself.
Just four years ago, when I asked Mustaine why his band's previous album, The Sick, the Dying…and the Dead!was still hitting with such violence, which pushed him to break the speed limits of metal even as he approached retirement age, he answered me without blinking: “ Well, I still have a few bands in my sights that I'm pursuing. » But then again, he could have said the same thing about any Megadeth album released since 1985.
Year after year, the brash frontman fueled Megadeth's albums by tapping into a deep well of underdog jealousy — longing for the mainstream success of a band he co-founded (cough, Metallica, cough) and bitter contempt for any artist ahead of him on the charts Billboard. (This is for you, Billy Ray Cyrus, because no one has built more things with a broken, aching heart than Dave Mustaine). But today, four decades after releasing the metal gem Wake Up DeadDave woke up a winner.
“ After 40 years of delivering Megadeth's music, playing shows all over the world, I have nothing but gratitude right now “, he said of the news in an unusually humble statement. “ Discovering that our latest Megadeth record is also our first Number One only validates my desire to finish at the top. »
Of course, Dave was always on top, even when he didn't know it. As a Megadeth fan since the early 90s (I was a member of the fan club Megadeth Cyber Army back when “cyber” was still a science fiction word), I always felt frustrated reading interviews in which he focused so much on the competition. I remember reading an interview in a guitar magazine around the release of Youthanasia (1994) in which he differentiated his playing style from that of then-lead guitarist Marty Friedman, saying that Friedman, a virtuoso, played with love while he played with hate.
It makes for good songs, especially for a gritty metal band, but it also speaks to the deep resentment they felt for their fate when, hey, Youthanasia had climbed to number four and been certified platinum, at a time when many of Mustaine and Metallica's peers (Exodus, Testament, even Slayer and Anthrax) could barely dream of such commercial success.
And naturally, Mustaine's resentment took root on April 11, 1983, the day Metallica fired him for his volatile temper and alcoholism, just before recording their genre-defining debut album. Over the years, his contempt has blossomed like a mighty oak tree. There is an entire chapter in his autobiography, Mustaine: A Heavy Metal Memoir (2010), about the unwarranted embarrassment he felt the first time he heard Enter Sandmana song using the same childish prayer (“ Now I lay me down to sleep “) that Megadeth had used on Go to Hell. He assumed metalheads would think he was pumping Metallica, even though the Megadeth song had technically been released a month before the Black Album. This, of course, in a book dedicated to “ everyone who told me I would never… » (he left the blank for you to fill in).
But Dave should have felt like a winner when he started receiving royalty checks from Metallica for songs written as a teenager before he even joined the band, like Jump in the Fire And The Four Horsemen (a song that Metallica originally recorded under the name The Mechanixand which Mustaine re-recorded with Megadeth on the group's debut album). And he should have felt victorious when Metallica's second album, Ride the Lightningcredited him with writing on two songs, the title track and the magnificent instrumental The Call of Ktulu.
Mustaine alleged that the band used riffs from a cassette tape he left behind to write the songs, but hey, he still got the credits and checks for two kickass tracks, even though he felt the need to claim the chord progression from Ktulu on Hangar 18 of Megadeth and to resume Ride the Lightning on the number one album which has just been released, Megadeth. These two Metallica albums were certified multiplatinum thanks to his innovative songwriting.
Naturally, Dave should have felt honored when Slayer guitarist Kerry King joined Megadeth for a few early shows out of admiration for Dave, as King had been blown away by Mustaine's playing during Metallica's garage era. Within a few years, Megadeth began to experience their own success: their second album, Peace Sells…but Who’s Buying? (1986), went platinum, and the title track's bass riff served as MTV News' theme song for years. The next two discs, So Far, So Good…So What! (1988) and Rust in Peace (1990), also reached platinum status. Rust in Peace even had an impact lasting enough to be celebrated with irony by The Onion in 2015.
Then in 1992, a year after the release of Black Album of Metallica and the whole debacle imagined by Mustaine around Go to Hellthe album Countdown to Extinction of Megadeth became a metal juggernaut thanks to mainstream hits Symphony of Destruction (a “pop” song ranked 71st on the Hot 100!), Sweating Bullets And Skin o' My Teeth. The title song won an award from the Humane Society of the United States for drawing attention to the horror of hunting defenseless “caged” animals. And, for what it's worth, the final song, Ashes in Your Mouthis one of my favorite thrash guitar songs of all time.
The album debuted at number two, just behind Some Gave All of Cyrus, a thorn in Mustaine's side (at least until now) pushing him to accelerate the waltz of the Megadeth musicians even more, album after album. (Let's pause to salute the 32 musicians who have passed through the ranks of Megadeth over the years, tolerating Mustaine's ego, temper and perfectionism). Over the years, Megadeth has earned more gold and platinum records, a Grammy and the respect of metalheads around the world, all while pursuing the “sweet taste of revenge”, to borrow a line from Ashes in Your Mouth. But none of these achievements were number one albums, especially with that ever-present, if imagined, rivalry hovering above.
Mustaine had the opportunity to air his grievances to at least one member of Metallica, drummer Lars Ulrich, during the filming of Some Kind of Monster (2004). In the film's most memorable scene, Mustaine reveals his psychology, explaining how whenever he heard Metallica on the radio, he always felt like he had screwed up. “ It's been hard, Lars », he said. “ It's been hard watching everything you do and touch turn to gold and everything I fucking do end in failure. And I'm sure there are plenty of people who would consider my failure a complete success. But am I happy being number two? No. »
“ Do I feel any guilt (for firing you)? Um, yes, that's the case “, replied Ulrich. “ But at the same time, it's hard for me to understand that the only thing you feel when you look at the last 20 years is rooted in the Metallica thing. »
It's moving to see the divide between the two old friends, but at the same time, it's also a testament to Mustaine's singular success. Mustaine wouldn't have a number one album of his own today if he didn't have that drive to persevere, and it's plausible that Metallica would never have achieved a number one themselves if they'd stuck to the surgical thrash metal that Megadeth perfected.
But even putting “the Metallica thing” aside — and it's worth noting that Metallica and Mustaine have reconciled a few times over the past 15 years — Dave Mustaine still should have felt like a champ. Megadeth has a signature sound that has been often imitated but never replicated. It's in the sarcastic growl of Peace Sells (“ I didn't know you had feelings “), the way the opening riffs of Lucretia unfold with a strange elasticity towards a tense blues figure, and the architecture of aggression in the fusion of punk chords and blues slides in the main riff of Skin o' My Teeth. “ Hello me, meet the real me », sneered Mustaine on Sweating Bulletsbut the real Mustaine was always there, even if he couldn't see it in the mirror.
To my ears the music on the new Megadeth is an affirmation of everything Mustaine has created. The high-speed riffs of Tipping Pointthe confessions of Hey God?! (“ Sometimes I feel so insecure walking these streets alone “, whispers Mustaine on the song), and, finally, Megadeth's interpretation of Ride the Lightning all seem like the summary of a legacy that should speak for itself. Unfortunately, no one can speak of the virtues of Dave Mustaine better than Dave Mustaine himself, so if Megadeth is truly the band's farewell, at least Mustaine knows he's definitely being heard this time. Cheers to finally being Number One!
