September 19, 1986 - Megadeth and Peace Sells

A month after my last release, another new band briefly joins my library when Megadeth released their second album "Peace Sells... But Who's Buying?" on September 19, 1986. Megadeth are one of the big four of thrash metal (along with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax) but the song "Peace Sells" is the only song I have by them in my library. But who is Megadeth? They are a four-piece thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles and fronted by lead singer and guitarist Dave Mustaine (an original member of Metallica). He's joined by fellow guitarist Chris Poland, bassist David Ellefson and drummer Gar Samuelson. The main reason I don't like Megadeth is because I'm not a fan of Mustaine's singing at all. It irks me even in this one song that I do have, but the guitar work on this song is pretty amazing and makes it worthy of inclusion. 

Ellefson opens the song with a pretty nice bass riff and Mustaine plays a short but pretty crazy solo right at the beginning before they settle into the main riff. Mustaine leads the way with a catchy guitar riff but his voice is unlike anything I've heard in music as I think he sounds like a whining, pouting little kid. It's definitely not my favourite and it's why I can't stand Megadeth, but the reason I like this song isn't for it's vocal parts. The verse is nothing too special but it's decent and Mustaine delivers another short but pretty sweet guitar solo between the first and second verse. After another verse they move into a new bridge riff that sounds good and Mustaine gets his first extended chance to solo. He may not have a good voice, but there is no denying his guitar skills as he plays a pretty awesome solo. At the end Dave says "can you put a price on peace?" and things shift into a much faster new riff that sounds pretty sweet. Ellefson adds some nice bass to this epic new riff and Mustaine finally sings a chorus as he repeats the name of the album "peace sells... but who's buying?" over and over. Mustaine takes off on another solo after the chorus and in this more upbeat part he goes even faster than earlier, playing a crazy fast and pretty great solo! They return to the chorus and after the second time through it would seem like the song is ending, but not before Mustaine delivers one final solo. If four solos wasn't enough in a four minute song, here's your fifth and final one and it's Mustaine's repeated and awesome solos that I like so much. There will be no more Megadeth in my library however; imagine how good they could have been if Dave just let someone else be the lead singer?! What might have been...

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