After a humiliating and cruel firing from Metallica, founding member Dave Mustaine returned to Los Angeles steamed and pissed. His goal? Form a new and better Metallica. With even faster tempos and upped musicianship more commonly seen in the Jazz world. The result? Megadeth! The baddest American thrash band ever. After finding long time partner and bassist David Elleffson, jazz drummer extraordinaire Gar Samuelson and guitar wiz Chris Poland (also from the jazz world) Mustaine went out to take over the world. The first offering: ‘Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good’. A pulsing, driving force to be reckoned with. The album was an independent, low budget record designed to put the band and the record label they were under on the map. The issue? The band spent most of it’s budget that was to go into record production on heroin. While that temporarily did fuel the passion of the band which made the song writing exceptional. It also ended up making the production of the album shitty. Now, for an independent debut that’s okay. It’s not like it was do or die, they weren’t signed to Capitol yet. But the band had that mentality which is what helped keep them alive through all the drug abuse.
Through all the trudge of the heroin abuse, ‘Killing is My Business’ was released on June 13, 1985 and the world was set afire (pun intended). The record moved 100,000 quickly. A very impressive feat for an independent debut. There was just one issue however. The record company fucked up the album art. Instead of using Dave Mustaine’s sketch of Vic Rattlehead, who would go on to become the band’s mascot, they threw together what looks like back alley garbage props to create the skull and crossbones. It really looks like a joke. Either way, Mustaine put the intended album art on the 2004 remaster. While the album originally may have looked like a parody record, it certainly didn’t sound like it. The opening track ‘Last Rites/Loved To Deth’ is an unexpected technical masterpiece. Starting with an amniotic piano piece before moving into a jazz like, time changing, thrashterpiece. The album roars on with the title track before going into one of my favorites ‘The Skull Beneath the Skin’. You can literally hear the frustration and anger in his opening vocal wail before moving into one of the greatest palm mute riffs of all time. ‘Rattlehead’ is signature Megadeth, naming the track after their mascot. ‘Chosen Ones’ is a really fun, almost punk feeling song. It’s got a catch vocal melody that moves with the thrash groove. ‘Looking Down the Cross’ displays the potential of where Megadeth would go musically in the coming years. A more progressive, classic thrash piece. ‘Mechanix’ is one of the first song’s Mustaine wrote. Metallica ripped it off calling it the ‘The Four Horsemen’ for their debut ‘Kill Them All’. It just sounds better when Megadeth plays the riff. It’s played a little differently. A pinch faster, how it’s intended! The album finishes off with ‘These Boots’. A brilliant thrashed out cover of the classic track. What an album. What a milestone in metal. It pushed the band to go to Capitol records where they exploded. Unfortunately this line-up of the band wouldn’t last. Heroin would tear them apart. But for a short minute there, this was the greatest line-up in all of American thrash metal and ‘Killing is My Business’ is one of the two prime examples.
Still taking the time to be a little fun.
The original. The best. Mustaine created thrash. This is essentially the first American thrash song written.
