YMMV / Megadeth

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• Audience-Alienating Era: While the discussion among fans varies on when did Megadeth start their decline and/or when did they start their recovery, it is more generally agreed that the period beginning with Cryptic Writings to The World Needs a Hero is the worst part of Megadeth's career. The vast majority will also agree that Th1rt3en and Super Collider were every bit as bad as the albums from the first Audience-Alienating Era; while fan opinions on just how good Dystopia is are somewhat divided, virtually everyone will at least agree that it's at least as good as Endgame, if not better.
• Award Snub: Nominated eleven times for the Best Metal Performance Grammy, and eleven times denied. It was only averted in 2017, winning Best Metal Performance for the title track to Dystopia. Even if the backing band at the Grammy's started playing "Master of Puppets". Badly.
• Awesome Music: Oh God, where to start?
• Broken Base: It's arguable, but it seems every album after at least Youthanasia has highly split opinions.
  • For members, few have been as polarizing as Chris Broderick. He's either the best that Dave has had since Friedman, or he was a boring, totally unremarkable player with all the technical ability in the world and no idea how to write a memorable or captivating lead.
  • Mustaine himself has become this as of late, due in particular to insisting that Black Metal bands (e.g., Dissection, Rotting Christ) be thrown off festivals due to his religious beliefs; his homophobia, racism, bigotry, and conspiracy theories; and other similar shortcomings. To be perfectly honest, he's evinced a rather ugly strain of homophobia since at least The '90s, but many of those other traits didn't manifest themselves until his religious conversion.
  • While a very praised album, Dystopia garnered some criticism for Mustaine's...ahem...controversial lyrical themes on the album.
  • The 2021 firing of David Ellefson has been a hotbed of controversy, with Ellefson himself being widely criticized for his behavior, while Mustaine, and by extension Megadeth received an absolutely massive amount of backlash, with many arguing that Ellefson did nothing legally wrong (though morally questionable). This response also sparked many accusations of "cancel culture", and some onlookers also argued hypocrisy on Mustaine's end, given his own chequered past.
  • Chris Poland or Marty Friedman? While fans of one greatly respect and enjoy the contributions of the other, the debate on who was the all-time best Megadeth lead guitarist centers around those two. Fans of Poland prefer his jazz fusion style and trademark legato runs and wide vibrato, as well as the overall jazziness of their sound from that era that Gar Samuelson also helped provide, while fans of Friedman prefer his blend of contemporary 80s shredder and 70s guitar hero styles and his Eastern scales.
• Complete Monster: In "Prince of Darkness", Satan is solely responsible for all evil that exists. With his silver tongue, he tells lies and sows dissent to lead people to their doom. Causing accidents, wars, and disease, he has killed more than all other beings combined, with nobody safe from his wrath. Meanwhile, he gives people their basest desires, only to take it back and imprison their souls after they've destroyed their lives.
• Critical Backlash: Risk actually has a sizable number of defenders. Their main arguments being that the album was a gutsy move for Megadeth after the fan backlash Metallica received a few years prior for their similar change of sound and image. And that, when judged as a late-90’s alt-rock album rather than a classic Megadeth album, it actually isn’t too bad. Almost nobody will defend Super Collider, though.
• Critical Dissonance:
  • Cryptic Writings was hailed by many critics as the band's best album since Rust in Peace but garnered a mixed reception from fans, who saw the album as a further attempt at pandering to the mainstream (although the album had "Trust"). The album has been slightly better received since from the band started using those sorts of catchy choruses in heavy songs on later albums (such as "Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms" and "44 Minutes").
  • While Megadeth fans generally agree that Dystopia was a welcome return to form and one of their better recent albums, more than a few critics (such as Crash Thompson and The Needle Drop) took issue with with Dave Mustaine's... controversial lyric choices, leading to some greatly reduced scores as a result.
• Epic Riff: A few memorable ones based on the specific instrument used:
  • "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due", "Hangar 18", "Symphony of Destruction" (guitar)
  • "Peace Sells" (bass)
  • "Rust in Peace... Polaris" (drums)
• Epileptic Trees: One theory states that the title track to Countdown to Extinction is a Take That! to Metallica's James Hetfield, who is well-known as an avid hunter.
• Fan Nickname: Musto, MegaDave.
• Fanon Discontinuity:
  • The end of Megadeth's most acclaimed period is Cryptic Writings, though some people consider it part of it. Some people add The World Needs a Hero, but it has mostly been forgotten due to poor promotion. More still will add the reunion albums (The System Has Failed and onwards). The only general consensus is that Risk and Super Collider are the worst (read: least metal) of the fifteen albums, and many fans wish they haven't been released.
  • Or, if an album doesn't have ellipses in either the title or a song within it, it isn't canon. This of course means everything between Rust in Peace and The World Needs a Hero doesn't exist, so make of that what you will.
  • Alternatively, if your main issue with Megadeth is Dave Mustaine's changed mindset in recent years, and its influence on the band's music, just pretend their temporary breakup in 2002 was permanent.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • Many Megadeth fans appreciate Metallica, and indeed vice versa. Both bands have put the 30-year rivalry behind them, and fans who were around to see the rivalry start have done the same. However, this doesn't stop younger trolls from falsely assuming (and refusing to accept otherwise) that every single Metallica song from the first three albums was written entirely by Mustaine (which ^note aside from "Jump in the Fire" and "Mechanix/Four Horsemen", plus additional credits on "Phantom Lord", "Metal Militia", "Ride the Lightning", and "The Call of Ktulu", while he has claimed that they used some of his old riffs for "Leper Messiah" simply isn't the case; on the other hand, the claims that they told Hammett to emulate Mustaine's lead style on Kill 'Em All have been substantiated).
  • Fans of the band also have one with, of all acts, Billy Ray Cyrus. "Symphony of Destruction" was released around the same time that Cyrus' mega smash hit "Achy Breaky Heart" was getting heavy airplay and becoming an international sensation, sending his album Some Gave All to #1 on the Billboard Charts. Countdown to Extinction was at #2. The notion that a cheesy country One-Hit Wonder was the only thing keeping Megadeth from a #1 record has been a thorn in the side of many a fan.
• Funny Moments: The censored version of their cover of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'". One of these days, these boots are gonna (bleep) all over you!
  • Their cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" on the Sabbath tribute album Nativity in Black is pretty straightforward, until then-drummer Nick Menza keeps playing after the song ends. It's funny on two levels - one, that Nick was so into it that he didn't stop until Dave was practically screaming at him to get his attention, and two, they left it in the final track instead of taking it out in post.
  Dave: "Nick! NICK! NICK!!!"
  Menza: *realizes what he's doing and stops playing* "Fuck. Me. Running."
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live! had them announcing a Christmas album, Thrashing Through the Snow.
  • "High Speed Dirt" is a badass song about skydiving and the thrill of rushing towards the ground at incredible speeds... then, at the end, you can hear Mustaine go "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!" followed by a splat noise. The Mood Whiplash is darkly funny in a Black Comedy way.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • They're considered idols in Argentina. Megadeth themselves recorded a live album in 2005 there as a recognition, called That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires.
  • During the band's performance of "Coming Home" from said live album, Dave Mustaine announced to the Argentinian crowd that Megadeth will continue as a band.
  • They are also very popular in India, having performed there twice in the last ten years.
• Harsher in Hindsight: "À Tout le Monde", a song about a man giving his last words to his loved ones before he dies, became this after the passing of Nick Menza, who performed the drums on the original version.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Before the release of Super Collider, there was a rumor that Willie Nelson would collaborate with the band on said album, with said rumor fueled by Dave Mustaine meeting Nelson and posting about it on Twitter, mentioning an appearance on "The Blackest Crow". Said rumor turned out to be false - however, Mustaine might've been amused by the idea of working with a country musician, since he later did a collaboration with Brett Kissel. Mustaine admits in his book that he developed a liking for country music due to his wife's interest in it.
  • Many reviewers at the time rated the 2002 live album Rude Awakenings very highly, with many claiming that it was the band’s swan song as the group disbanded at the time. Two years later The System Has Failed came out, marking the bands return.
  • One of Pink Floyd's early names was The Meggadeaths.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": According to Dave Mustaine, he wrote "Hangar 18" in around 1981, before he joined Metallica. When in the band, he would play the riffs in jam sessions, and the band rewrote it into "The Call Of Ktulu" after he left (hence why he is credited on the song despite not being in the band at the time). It would take until 1990 for him to actually record "Hangar 18" himself. Many people assumed that "The Call Of Ktulu" was the original song and that Mustaine reused the riffs in "Hangar 18" when it is in fact the other way round.
  • Another of Mustaine's songs from this time period, "Child Saint", was recorded by a band of the same name in 1988, which featured members he had played the song with years before. When he heard the song on the radio he was so enraged that he rewrote the song into "Rust In Peace", released two years later.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • So far, Dave Mustaine himself was subjected to this, ranging from a facepalm◊, to his "bashings" towards James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich of Metallica.
  • "Life?! What do you mean life?! I ain't got a life!"
  • "As I was saying..." ^ExplanationEspecially popular in Spanish-speaking circles, Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?'s album cover, coupled with its "nuke going off" variation, became a popular format for people noticing, then ignoring elephants in the room
  • "You try to take his balls" ^ExplanationA particularly persistent mondegreen from "Symphony of Destruction".
• Mis-blamed: While people blame Executive Meddling for what became Risk, Dave Mustaine has admitted in interviews that he's as much to blame for it as anyone else. As mentioned above, Cryptic Writings got the band increased mainstream attention (though not increased album sales), and Mustaine effectively decided "Hey outside songwriters! This mainstream attention thing is pretty cool... let's have some more of that please!" He also stated in his autobiography that Marty Friedman was getting tired of metal and was itching to move on to other styles, and some of the musical changes were done to appease him and keep him around long enough to complete the album. The result... was not quite what he (or anyone else) wanted.
• Narm: The music video for the title track of Super Collider.
  • The song “Mission to Mars” from The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead!, which is literally about Dave dreaming of becoming an astronaut!
• Narm Charm:
  • The lyrics often end up like this, most notably on "Peace Sells".
  • Especially the spoken word parts of "Sweating Bullets".
  • "Have Cool, Will Travel" in the Cryptic Writings remaster. "The wheels on the bus go round and round" *Drowned out by loudass drums*
• Nightmare Fuel: See here.
• Older Than They Think: Many people think "À Tout le Monde" (from Youthanasia) was the band's first ballad. It's actually "Foreclosure of a Dream" (from Countdown to Extinction).
• Overshadowed by Controversy: A minor example with Dystopia. While the album was well-received by fans, critics were generally a bit harsher on the album due to the album's lyrical contents, which veered into Author Tract territory for some. This, in turn, led to even more backlash towards critics from fans of the band, who felt that reviewers were focusing too much on the lyrics and not giving credit to the actual riffs and songwriting where credit was due.
  • In the runup to The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead's release, some people were skeptical due to the firing of Dave Ellefson during it's production. However, it turned out to be very well-received.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • Jeff Young and Chuck Behler who played on So Far, So Good... So What! were only in the band for a few months and made no discernable impact on the songwriting. They replaced the much loved Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson and were succeeded by the equally loved Marty Friedman and Nick Menza. Their playing on the album is not bad, and it is still regarded as a pretty good album - but it languishes in the shadows of the albums surrounding it, Peace Sells and Rust in Peace respectively.
  • In his book, Mustaine states this about Al Pitrelli on The World Needs a Hero, he didn't feel like he was that enthusiastic about the music and it wasn't helped that the label wanted Mustaine to write all the songs himself.
• Retroactive Recognition: The documentary "Evolver", which chronicles the making of Youthanasia, features the band jamming on ideas that didn't make it to the album - including "Vortex" and "FFF" which appeared on their next album Cryptic Writings. Indeed, when the Cryptic Writings remaster came around, Mustaine made the point of including the Youthanasia outtake versions of those songs (the latter being called "Bullprick" and having different lyrics).
• Signature Song: "Symphony of Destruction", "Peace Sells", "Hangar 18", and "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due".
• Sacred Cow:
  • Rust in Peace is as universally loved in the metal community as Metallica's Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, and criticizing it won't be taken kindly. Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? isn't too far behind.
  • Amongst their post 2004 reunion albums, Endgame is universally agreed to be their best album put out in years, with Dystopia and United Abominations coming pretty close.
• The Scrappy: The Drover brothers, but especially Shawn. Some fans give Glen the benefit of the doubt and just assume that he wasn't really given much room to shine, but Shawn was pretty much universally disliked for his very straightforward, by-the-book style. He wasn't a bad drummer per se, just one whose simplistic style was not at all a good fit for a band that had historically had very technical and dynamic drummers, and many did not have any issues with his departure.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Breakpoint" has noticeably similar chord progression to "Lights Out" by UFO, which is the probable reason it was left off Countdown to Extinction.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • Regarding Mustaine remixing and remastering all of the albums from Killing Is My Business... through Risk while he was recovering from his arm injury. While they have a clearer production, insightful liner notes, lots of pictures, and plenty of bonus tracks, the changes can be a bit disquieting from the originals. Generally, people will agree that the remasters of Killing Is My Business... and So Far, So Good... So What! improved those albums tremendously. Opinions are more sharply divided about the other albums.
    • The remaster of Rust in Peace has some of the most glaring changes. The master vocal tracks for "Take No Prisoners", "Five Magics", "Lucretia", and "Rust in Peace... Polaris" were lost, forcing Mustaine to completely re-record the vocals for "Take No Prisoners" and "Rust in Peace... Polaris" and use B-take vocal tracks for the other two. Also, the bass for "Take No Prisoners" is much more pronounced in the mix and more bottom-heavy (which is a constant in all the remasters), which greatly mutes the short breakdown before the "Going to war, give 'em hell" section.
    • Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia have the drums sounding considerably muted, as if the high frequencies have been filtered out. This is especially apparent by comparing the intro to "Skin o' My Teeth" on both versions of Countdown.
    • Mustaine made numerous changes to Cryptic Writings as well. The most commonly cited ones are the removal of the "Needles and Pins" sample from the intro to "Use the Man", the addition of heavier guitars to "A Secret Place" (and pushing the sitar way back in the mix), new intros to "The Disintegrators" and "Have Cool, Will Travel", and an additional guitar and no echo on the vocals on the chorus of "Almost Honest". There are subtle other mixing differences; "Vortex"'s intro no longer fades in but starts cold, and "Almost Honest" has much better separation in the mix. It is said Mustaine did this to remove the pop elements and turn it into more of a metal album. Generally, fans like some of the changes and dislike some others. Cryptic Writings is not as popular as the band's other albums, nor is it as notorious as Risk or Super Collider, so it enjoys a cult fandom.
  • Mustaine himself wanted to do further work on the really poorly-produced So Far, So Good... So What!, but invoked this trope as a justification: he had been pissed off by Jimmy Page's remastering of Led Zeppelin albums that took out all the superfluous squeaks and details. Ironic, since later Megadeth remasters removed several of those.
  • Fan reactions to the band's gradual shift from thrash metal to a Lighter and Softer heavy metal and later hard rock sound during the '90s.
  • Super Collider got this reaction due to its more rock-oriented sound similar to Risk's, especially since the band were returning to a Darker and Edgier sound in the 2000s. Most fans enjoy Dystopia for reversing this.
  • Averted by the 2018 remix/remaster version of Killing Is My Business, which isn't as hot a mix as the 2002 version and dials the drums and bass back while still preserving the 2002 version's across-the-board quality improvements. Critical reception of this edition has generally been positive.
• Tough Act to Follow:
  • Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? is hailed as a classic, leading to follow-up album So Far, So Good... So What! being dismissed as the band's rushed attempt at keeping themselves active. It doesn't help that the latter is sandwiched between the former and their other classic, Rust in Peace.
  • Rust in Peace became the standard test to anything that came after it.
  • Endgame is sometimes considered by fans to be one of Megadeth's best albums, while the rushed Th1rt3en isn't as appreciated, and Super Collider... um... exists. The general consensus is that Dystopia is at least as good, if not better, however.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: We're clearly supposed to sympathize with Mustaine in "1,000 Times Goodbye", since his lover left him for another man. However, her voice clips make it clear that she's been suffering for years under him and tried repeatedly to make their relationship work, making the song's protagonist sound more like a narcissistic jerk than a jilted spouse.
• Vindicated by History:
  • Cryptic Writings, despite receiving good reviews when it first came out, was heavily disliked by fans who felt it stripped away from thrash metal in favor of a more hard rock oriented sound. In recent years however, partially thanks to the release of Risk in 1999 as well as the band’s second Audience-Alienating Era in the early 2010’s, it’s been looked back as one of the bands better albums, with praise going towards its catchy choruses in heavier songs that they’d later use in albums like United Abominations and Endgame and some genuinely dark, standout songs that became staples to the band like "Trust" and "She-Wolf" for example.
  • Youthanasia was also seen a decline for the band when it came out for arguably more lighthearted songs and slower tempo riffs compared to their first 5 albums. In recent years it’s gained a cult following who see it as a nice progression for the band, with some standout tracks like the ballad "A Tout le Monde", as well as some notable songs that became live staples like "Reckoning Day" and "Train of Consequences" for instance. The fact that there was enough of a demand to properly release the original album as it was is a testament to its cult following.
  • Whilst Risk was for many years a running joke, it has gained a substantial following on Youtube. At the time, many felt that Megadeth had sold out, but within the context of their current discography it can be seen as an interesting detour. The original mix in particular has been praised for high production values, which are unusual for a metal album.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • In spite of its reputation, however, The World Needs a Hero was still successful in winning back a good portion of the fandom who were turned off by their early to late 90’s, post-Rust albums, as it received fairly positive reviews that praised it for being a true return to form after the enormous fan backlash with Risk. It even charted at #16 on Billboard 200 when it first came out.
  • For many fans, The System Has Failed has been viewed as the true return to the bands early roots after Risk strayed too far from the bands thrash metal roots, and The World Needs a Hero tried too hard to sound like past albums, with more emphasis on complex instrumentals and more rounded lyrics, a trend that they would continue to improve through to the end of the 2000’s with United Abominations and Endgame.
  • After Th1rt3en proved to be a Tough Act to Follow to Endgame, and Super Collider further cemented the band going through another Audience-Alienating Era, 2016’s Dystopia brought back worried skeptics with its return to heavy lyrical and instrumental content.

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