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Why?
Why the fuck am I writing another article after having not done so in well over a year? I was unofficially retired, having zero desire to write anything else. I was done. Then Dave Mustaine announced that the next Megadeth album would be the band’s last, and that he was going to retire. Then I started hearing some songs and I was absolutely mortified by the lyrics to some of these songs alone. And I feared that this final album, released just yesterday as of my writing this, is going to be absolute shit.
I’m very tempted to write an article just shitting all over this final album. But before I do, I figured I should talk about my reaction to listening to Mustaine’s 2002 remix of Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!, Megadeth’s 1985 debut.
It was my teenage years when I began to absolutely WORSHIP Megadeth far more than I ever could Metallica, the band Dave was kicked out of right before that band recorded their 1983 debut, Kill ‘Em All. My first Megadeth experience, unfortunately was 1997’s Crypitc Writings, which is where the band truly took a stab at mainstream success. It was…ok. Two years later they released Risk, which was even WORSE, and I questioned my my spending choices greatly.
But over time I’d hear classic songs such as “Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying?”, and “Sweating Bullets” on WSOU and wonder where THIS band had been! When the band started to go back to its thrashier roots in 2001, I was inspired and bought the remainder of their 90’s-era output starting with Countdown to Extinction, followed by Youthanasia, and then finally, the motherload itself, Rust in Peace.
I was fucking FLOORED. This was so intricate, so intense. “How the fuck does he sing AND play those guitar parts??”. Then in early 2002, it was announced that Dave remixed and remastered Megadeth’s debut album to be released in February to be released on Loud Records. When they approached him about merely remastering the record, Dave offered to remix it to bring out things that you couldn’t hear in the original recording. He wanted to give it the treatment that all the other albums would get. Also…
See this shit?
Yeah, he definitely wanted the opportunity to finally do justice to this shit show that Combat Records did, making Dave think to himself “Boy did we get cheated!”.
So, upon meeting up with a friend at the Staten Island Mall the Sunday after the remixed album was released, I picked it up at Sam Goody. While taking cab service home, the driver was starting at some of the girls, and beginning to tell me about some of his conquests, before an elderly woman came into the car, forcing him to switch personalities, so to speak.
The biggest mistake I recall making that afternoon was trying to do homework while this was blasting out of my then-new Phillips 5-disc CD player. The piano and ESPECIALLY the guitar was nice and clear for the intro to “Last Rites/Loved to Death”. Once the drums kicked in you could hear that the sounds was far more crisp, the flatulent snare drum sound replaced with something infinitely sharper. And all of this was going to make for Gar Samuelson’s drums to be easier to hear, and far more brutal than what’s heard on the original mix. Then was the way Dave just fucking RIPPED that solo using his Bill Lawrence pickup as an extra fret!
Next up was the badass title track, which according to Dave’s liner notes, was based on The Punisher. I was flabbergasted, thinking that at one point, he was actually trying to sing while playing that chaotically technical riff live in concert. And it was the fucking verse riff!! It was all too clear as the speed picked up: this truly was the brainchild of a guy who lost the opportunity of a lifetime and was now out for blood. He told that band when they fired him to not use his shit. They did anyway and it challenged him to do something he knew they couldn’t pull off.
After that was “Skull Beneath The Skin”, which I’m 99.5% positive is the story of Vic Rattlehead, Megadeth’s mascot. It’s an absolute beast of an exercise in dynamics and changes. There’s a reason Scott Ian of Anthrax once described Dave’s guitar style as being “sideways”, and that’s probably because it truly never was straightforward. Maybe it was because in Gar and guitarist Chris Poland, Dave had employed two jazz musicians who probably helped him in arranging the chaos.
The speedballs might’ve helped too.
This style continued for the next two tracks, “Rattlehead”, the albums Thrash anthem featuring some INCREDIBLE leads by Chris Poland, and “Chosen Ones”. Following these was “Looking Down the Cross”, the ultimate beneficiary of Dave Mustaine’s remix job as far as I’m concerned. You can hear the difference INSTANTLY which Dave’s tapping harmonics in the beginning of the song. In the original mix, the riff is very reverberated, sounding as if it was played in a cave. Within the confines of the remix, the harmonics have more feedback to them and sound far more in your face. And that was the whole point of him remixing this whole album anyway.
This to me is the centerpiece of Killing… It’s technical, it changes tempos at the drop of a fucking dime, the lyrics are insanely intelligent for a guy that had a MAJOR drug problem long before Chris and Gar ever introduced him and bassist David Ellefson to speedballs. Considering that James and Lar$ initially didn’t have the most flattering things to say about Dave’s guitar abilities, especially in the lead department, this was the track that should have shut them both up. The second solo on “Looking…” is the most intense solo Dave ever played. It’s chaotic, it’s panic stricken courtesy of the multiple diminished trills he hits, AND it actually tells a story within the confines of the chaos!
“Mechanix” hits and here we go. Metallica fans know this one w]as “The Four Horsemen”. The primary differences are “Mechanix” lacks the mid-tempo section and the apocalyptic lyrics. In its stead are a slightly faster tempo that doesn’t relent and lyrics about a horny gas station attendant. Hearing James sing “Mechanix” on the No Life ‘Til Leather demo is hilarious when you realize those are Dave’s lyrics, and James’ vocal style still wasn’t fully developed yet.
Closing the album is a cover of “These Boots”, the Nancy Sinatra song. I hate this song with all my heart and soul. I’ll NEVER understand what possessed the band to cover this song. But I do know that it’s quite funny. Lee Hazelwood, the writer of the song, waited ten years before he decided to complain about the band’s cover version, prompting Dave to bleep out random lyrics for the sake of comedic effect more than anything else.
In the next two months leading to the news that Megadeth would have broken up (albeit temporarily), this album kicked my ass so hard. I listened to it RELIGIOUSLY for the next little while as I traveled to school and work every day. It wasn’t perfect, it was nothing like the succeeding album, which found Megadeth on a major label. But the songs were fucking RAW and the new remix job accentuated that rawness. It was very much needed. Not bad for guys who needed an extra $4,000 to finish the album because they blew half of their $8,000 budget on drugs! I give the remix of Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good four middle fingers!
Track List
Last Rites/Loved to Deth
Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!
The Skull Beneath the Skin
Rattlehead
Chosen Ones
Looking Down the Cross
Mechanix
These Boots (Nancy Sinatra)
Bonus Tracks from the Last Rites demo (1984):
Last Rites/Loved to Deth
Mechanix
The Skull Beneath the Skin
Confessions of an Angry Metalhead 