Political Metal: Super Tuesday Edition

On Megadeth's first album, Dave Mustaine ranted like a classic metal god, spewing tales of death, depravity, Satan, and sexual double entendres. But one year later he found a new nemesis in American politics.



The vitriolic title track to Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? was Megadeth's aesthetic breakthrough, the first proof that a thrash metal act could be as blunt and politically stirring as the Sex Pistols or Dead Kennedys. Over an urgent-sounding riff, Mustaine voiced the angry, disillusioned American who would be 'first in line' for 'a new way.' The father-son exchange at 2:20 in the song's video is a little dated, but it's also one of the most referenced, quoted and parodied moments in metal history.

A few years later, Mustaine was so deep in the throes of drug addiction and alcohol abuse that he could barely sing/play guitar at the same time, much less come up with a full album's worth of original material. But that didn't stop Megadeth from covering one of the greatest anti-establishment anthems of all time, which they set to a video with Gerald Scarfe-like cartoons of a gun-toting Ronald Reagan, a beastly Uncle Sam and other atrocities.

Part of what makes Dave Mustaine such a compelling spokesman is that he can't sing very well. Most metal singers still imitate either Rob Halford's operatics or Lemmy's growls, but Mustaine barks out his standpoint like the insubordinate son of Bob Dylan. Unlike most metal singers, there's usually no way to mishear what Dave Mustaine is saying.

On Countdown to Extinction, Megadeth simplified their music to be more palatable for rock radio, but their politics were sharper than ever. Their first big hit, 'Symphony of Destruction,' is a headbanger's retelling of All the King's Men.



The follow-up, 'Foreclosure of a Dream,' addressed Reaganomics and the crumbling economy, which had put bassist Dave Ellefson's Minnesota-farming family out of business. The song included a sample of the first President Bush's most famous utterance...



For better or worse, (and with Mustaine's increasingly conservative values, it may be worse), Megadeth's political forays go on to this day. The past year saw Dave Mustaine release his most political record to date, get chewed out by the UN Dispatch and make fun of Mike Huckabee's bass chops on 'Good Morning America.' But Megadeth's greatest political moment is still probably 'Holy Wars...the Punishment Due,' a now-standard metal anthem with speed and complexity that Meshuggah, Mastodon and the Dillinger Escape Plan all took note of.



The most harrowing take on the Israel-Palestine conflict ever set to music, 'Holy Wars' kicks off with Mustaine's infamous declaration, "Brother will kill brother/Spilling blood across the land" before decrying the warring parties, "Ask the sheep for their beliefs/Do you kill on God's command?" It's also the only metal song that I know of that paraphrases Abraham Lincoln. The song's furious second movement is no political statement (in fact, it's an ode to Frank Castle), but Mustaine's delivery of lyrics about thought-control and his narrator's murdered family are as effective as anything in the Megadeth canon.

The nimble, authoritative bassline to 'Peace Sells' was the theme music to MTV News for a few years. If it sounds lame that Megadeth would affiliate themselves with something like MTV, remember that the former music video channel also used to have programming like this: