Megadeth’s Rust in Peace turns 20 today, according to Wikipedia and metal-archives.com.
At the moment, it is probably the most prominent classic album in the metal consciousness. This is due to two consecutive tours on which Megadeth have played it in its entirety. (Presumably they will not do so on their upcoming tour alongside Slayer and Anthrax.) I saw both tours, and my impressions each time were almost identical: Shawn Drover lacks Nick Menza’s touch on the skins, Chris Broderick does a very decent Marty Friedman impression, Dave Ellefson looks very happy to be back, seeing little kids in Rust in Peace t-shirts is weird. The only real difference was that Mustaine’s voice had noticeably deteriorated on the second tour.
These are all present-day yet distanced impressions. The lineup that recorded Rust in Peace is but a fond memory. A few good records and many bad ones followed. Megadeth has long been Mustaine, Inc. His constant, self-serving chatter almost single-handedly convinced me to stop reading Blabbermouth, mainstream metal’s CNN. The word “Megadeth” brings to mind “professional sports” in many ways, none good.
But despite his repulsive public persona, Mustaine is a musical genius. People like him are why we separate creators from their creations. I don’t want to know about James Brown’s or Varg Vikernes’ personal lives. But I can’t help but know, thanks to the overeager media – and even then I’ll look past them to their musical legacy. I believe in functional musical consumption: take what you need, and ditch the rest. All that baggage about killing people and beating wives and being all-around douchebags? That’s between those guys and their makers.
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“Hangar 18 (official video)”
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So the abovementioned present-day impressions are just distractions. If I block out the sight of Mustaine’s red hair, which, matador-like, makes me mad with Pavlovian certainty, then I remember that he crafted my favorite metal album of all time. That’s right – Rust in Peace is higher in my personal pantheon than Reign in Blood or Master of Puppets or the other usual suspects. This probably says more about me than the record itself. Positive associations would be “precise”, “efficient”, and “technically adept”. Negative ones would be “anal retentive”, “anal retentive”, and “artsy”. Guilty, as charged.
“Precise” and “technically adept” aren’t so important, as Megadeth’s ranks have always included shredders. Mustaine only hires the best. Post-Rust in Peace, Megadeth records have all met the highest standards of production and performances. But they – and most other albums by any artist – have not made their notes mean as much. (A feat considering the number of notes on Rust in Peace!) This is a nonverbal type of meaning. DJ Shadow once said something about the best music being where every moment is the perfect choice to follow the previous one. (I am greatly paraphrasing.) I keep this in mind when listening to music; often I detect seams where the artist could have gone in different directions. In good music, the choice is usually the best one, or at least the most interesting one, but it’s still evident that there was a choice. (A basic example: a song fadeout vs. a definite ending.) With Rust in Peace, there are no choices. It has thousands of twists and turns – and each one is perfect.
I didn’t read contemporary reviews of Rust in Peace – I bought the album solely based on the mind-blowing “Hangar 18″ video – but I’d guess that few saw it coming. Predecessor So Far, So Good… So What! was uneven. Mustaine was drug-dependent – or not, depending on the day – and unpredictable. Maybe if people had seen the now-famous video of Marty Friedman auditioning for Megadeth, they would have known that the band’s future was temporarily in good hands. But even in retrospect, it’s still hard to believe that Rust in Peace happened. “Hook in Mouth” is a killer song, but it’s no “Hangar 18″. Follow-up Countdown to Extinction was so stripped-down that it was almost the work of a different band. Maybe Mustaine’s God indeed touched him while he wrote this record.
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Marty Friedman auditions for Megadeth
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But there I go again with Mustaine. And it’s making me mad again. These songs are ostensibly about politics, war, and other lofty concerns – but in the end, they’re all about Mustaine. That’s all Megadeth ever was: Mustaine, Mustaine, Mustaine. He could have made this record live up to its artwork. It could have been some significant statement about government conspiracies, or how power corrupts, or the deception of people by their elected leaders. But no. Like “Peace Sells” or “Foreclosure of a Dream” or any other topical Megadeth song, it’s all a bunch of phrases. They sound good. They’re memorable, and they roll off the tongue: “Take no prisoners, take no shit!” Not that that’s bad. Maybe this is just metal in its “illustrative” rather than “prescriptive” mode. Black Sabbath talked about the war pigs, but didn’t talk about how to stop them. That would have been punk – and possibly tiresome, and possibly futile. Maybe it’s just as effective to paint an aural Guernica. Open people’s eyes, and trust them to do the right thing. Would Mustaine be magnanimous enough for that?
I don’t know. I don’t know what he thinks of the three generations of metal fans that turned out for Megadeth’s last two tours. I don’t know what he thinks of Rust in Peace now. Maybe he’s sick of playing it night after night. Maybe he resents it for being his career highlight, and the fact that reprising it in its entirety is a sign of his waning career. Or maybe he, like me, tries to separate Mustaine from the music. Maybe he is a fan of the music. Maybe when he machine-guns those notes with terrifying fluency – and, brother, he’s still got it at age 49 – he respects them and their seismic impact. They’ve bought him a livelihood. They’ve given me a lifetime of pleasure. And they’re perfectly, amazingly, maddeningly efficient.
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I was at this show. You might see me in the crowd!
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Terrific review. Honestly, this album was one that was always impressive, but did not have a huge impact on me like Peace Sells and Countdown did. That is, until recently, when I saw them play it live, and it just CLICKED. Now I’ve probably listened to the album 20 times in its entirety in the past 2 months, and bought the Rust in Peace Live DVD. I finally realized how perfect and efficient and mind-blowing this record is after witnessing the whole spectacle live. Unbelievable, and you pinpointed exactly why.
This album has always been somewhat of a double-edged sword for me. Nothing else in Megadeth’s catalogue even inches close to this one, and it is an outstanding, almost miraculous album for the many reasons detailed above. The thing is, though, that this album is so ridiculously good that it essentially sours most other thrash.
It feels like the kind of record that one ought to only be able to discover after a long slog through waves of appreciation for other thrash (and metal, in general) records. A talisman, speaking to the wayfaring metalhead deep in her dreams, but attainable only at the end of a hard journey.
Pity for the kid who picks up Rust In Peace straight out of the gates; it’s mostly downhill from this peak.
Ride the Lightning is better than Master of Puppets. Mmm hmm
I have two Megadeth records in my collection. Rust in Peace and Peace Sells… iTunes says I’ve listened to Peace Sells… twice. There’s simply no reason to listen to that when Rust in Peace exists. If I’m going to listen to Megadeth, I’m going to listen to Rust in Peace. Definite contender for best album of all time.
Thanks for linking to the Hanger 18 video. I’d never seen it before.
I’d argue that this album is even more influential for another reason: it’s the most impressive metal album to get one of those mainstream hal leonard guitar transcription books. Sure, there’ve been Yngwie books for pure exercise, and you’ve always been able to find Black Sabbath books. But until the more recent efforts of some death metal bands—Necrophagist, Martyr and Gorguts, specifically—this book was huge for would-be shredders.
“God” may have “touched” Mustaine, but I don’t think it made him any less of an insufferable prick–albeit one with business acumen/savvy. 1990 was a weird year for metal–grunge around the corner, Metallica’s crappy Black Album a year away, power/death metal poised for their short and bloody reigns–but thrash was/had been in serious decline at that point. And then this record came out. Like you, it really surprised me, especially considering their previous output which you touched on. It was like night and day–punky, sloppy “So Far…” vs tight as a duck’s ass “Rust.” Obviously, the lineup was killer–Friedman/Menza made a huge difference. The sound, however, was different too–owning it on tape, it really was subdued somewhat–it played at lower levels on my tape deck (my guess, something I thought about for years, was that Mustaine had had 2 years to digest “And Justice For All” and had set about conquering it’s efficiency, technicality and ‘dry’ sound–Mike Clink had also been involved with “Justice” in the very beginning, but had left–I wonder what that record would have sounded like had he stayed)but was mixed well with the guitars really shining. Point is, it blew away anything metal at that point–Mustaine should of gotten his Grammy, but I guess his consolation prize was a look-at-me-I’m-totally-dominating-George Clinton-and-Moon Unit-on-celebrity-Jeopardy!, a black belt, everlasting life and a fat bank account.
Rust in Peace was HUGELY influential to me around year four or five or so of playing guitar (age-16-17). I’d liked Megadeth prior to that, but hadn’t really discovered Rust in Peace until then, and it blew me away – I got one of the aforementioned Hal Leonard books and learned the shit out of it. And I ended up getting a Jackson Kelly, which was definitely a Marty Friedman influence
The opening riff to Holy Wars still sends shivers down my spine, strange to think, but Mustaine was a hero to us back then, we thought he was so fucking cool…
I wonder if Crazy Dave will bring this show to the UK? I saw them twice on the original tour but for some reason haven’t bothered since the Countdown tour, not for lack of opportunity either. I don’t think I could bear it if his voice is as bad as I read, here and elsewhere.
I still have the original vinyl, and going back listening to it, I still have the same problem I have with all the early Megadeath LPs…where the heck is the bass? I’ve mentioned this before, perhaps on other sites, but it seems like after around 85-86, the low end just completely disappeared from most metal albums.
rust in peace is one fo the best albums ever made. period. and it curbstomps anything metallica did in terms of technicality. always so funny to me that mustaine always measured himself against his old band when i always felt in the long run, megadeth were better…i can actually listen to megadeth’s “sell out” years….well..except maybe the world needs a hero…
i remember i bought this on cassette the day it came out along with slayers ’seasons’ thinking that i was going to like ’seasons’ WAY more and, for a few months, i did- but once i got over the shining gleam of ‘rust’ (compared to the grit of ’seasons’) and realised that every song, and i mean each and every song, was killer, there was no competition
people often talk about flawless albums and then make excuses for the small flaws that their chosen ‘flawless’ album has- for me, ‘rust in peace’ is that truly flawless album- doesn’t mean every track’s a classic, just that everything fits just perfectly, exactly as the original post points out
I don’t know how people don’t hear the bass on this album (original release, of course). I remember hearing this and thinking “That’s how bass should sound on a thrash album,” not too flashy like Frank Bello, not too distorted like Cliff Burton, not inaudible like Jason Newsted and Tom Araya (RIB-and beyond). Ellefson’s tone is crisp, the basslines aren’t too simple nor too complex, and the bass just grooves throughout the whole album.
Yeah, this IS the summit. And this was like the 5th thrash album I bought in my life (circa 1993). So yeah, a lot of disappointment followed.
I still remember opening Guitar For The Practicing Musician to see the transcription of “Hangar 18″ BEFORE I’d actually heard the song. I memorized it in the store and played on my guitar at home (but WAY too fast–I didn’t know how to interpret tempo yet). I kept thinking, “wow, it’s all high notes!”
A. The difference between an Artist and a Propagandist is that an Artist doesn’t give answers. An Artist makes observations and asks questions.
B. The tour with Slayer and Anthrax will have Megadeth playing all of Rust in Peace, in part because it’s the “2nd leg” of their tour with Slayer (and yea, Slayer will still play all of Seasons). I haven’t seen any of these “BIG THRASH” tours yet, so I’m looking forward to when they hit here in Hollywood in a month.
C. Admittedly, my favorite Megadeth record is Peace Sells, in part because it’s more raw and more bouncing off the walls in energy. No push against Rust in Peace though, that’s probably my second favorite from them. The guitar solo trade-offs on Hangar 18 are forever etched into my brain as one of the finest moments in Metal.
TheWolf – That’s an interesting distinction, and much of the time, I’d agree. But I don’t think those categories are mutually exclusive. If one calls attention to a problem, it is only natural (and often preferable) to suggest a solution as well. Otherwise it is just a complaint, and the world has enough of that.
Alee – I think I had that exact issue of Guitar for the Practicing Musician as well. (Whoever transcribed “Hangar 18″ was beast!) It’s indeed interesting that the main riff occurs on the high strings, though Mustaine & co., through songwriting sorcery, eventually find their way down to the low strings.
David – I’ve never heard a lack of bass on this record. The guitars are not EQ’ed to be terribly heavy, so the bass has plenty of room to shine. Dave Ellefson’s work on this record is some of the best on any metal album.
It’s just an observation I’ve made. Not to make Megadeth seem like poetic wizards, but in general I can’t think of too many musicians who make very direct political statements in their music… and I say that in the sense that an artist will draw attention to a subject and sometimes very heavily condemn it by portraying what they see as unwarranted brutality or hypocrisy. Yet, I can’t think of too many artists who then go the next step in saying “support this legislation”, “join this political group” or “I say this political figure should be killed”. Sometimes artists will say these things in interviews, but rarely does that permeate the music itself. For example, as horrible of a person as Varg is and a figurehead (intentionally or not) for National Socialist rock music, such beliefs and actions of his are never reflected in the music itself. Most people know that putting direct political statements (with no ambiguity or generality, rather very specific political statements) will alienate a large portion of a potential fan base. As much as the Dead Kennedys were poking fun and bashing what they saw as rather threatening Right Wing figures at the time, they never had songs saying people should go vote for Left Wing political figures.
I sort of just blurted that all out, but hopefully that comes across as somewhat understandable.
Enjoy the comments. The only Megadeth album I got into growing up was Symphony for Dest. – I was 12 or 13 years old – I started streaming Rust tracks as I read through the comments as I really never listened to it… very cool. Thanks for the post.
A lot of guitar talk here – I wonder what percentage of IO readers/commenters are musicians? As someone who’s listened to metal for 25 years I have to say the process of musical creation is almost as opaque to me now as it was back when this album came out. Still, love to read people geeking out over this shit…
I’ve got a copy of Rust in Peace that I had signed by the band at the time. Autographs are not something I usually care about or covet. But those guys on that record – there’s something magical about that item.
It’s my favourite metal album of all time. I couldn’t care less about the lyrical content, it just sounds like nothing that came before or has been produced since. Despite its ubiquity no one seems to try and emulate it, it’s almost untouchable.
Perfect.
Greatest metal album of all time, end of story.
There’s no need for me to repeat or rehash all the positive remarks made here by fellow contributors; simply put it’s the greatest metal album of all time, end of story.
I’ve said this before and i’ll say it again because its so funny and indicative of how scientific or artful genius is at first shunned/decried, then pondered, then accepted as if we knew it all along.
I was in Desert Storm when this album came out. I had my dad ship it to me, hopeing it would make it all that way. It made it, and upon first listen I was blown away by everything; the lyrical content, the musicianship, the ferocity. Everyone who listened thought the same. Then a few months later, a buddy had some metal mag and there was an interview with Scott Ian. Scott was saying about R.I.P “I don’t get it, don’t like it, its all over the place, where is he going with this, doesn’t make sense to me” ect. ect. I wish I could find that interview, but my impression was that he felt threatened by its greatness. Yeah, they put out their own great album P.O.T, but it was nowhere near the breakthrough that R.I.P is. I’d like to hear what he thinks about this album today and I hope he could admit that R.I.P “stunned” him into confusion.
I miss the golden era.
Rust in Peace is an amazing album. However, I still find Peace Sells to be better. I might be in the minority on that one, but, hey, what can I say? I always was. Even though Rust in Peace isn’t my top Megadeth album out of personal preference, it is definitely one of the best they ever did. Seeing them perform it live was absolutely incredible, even if it wasn’t with Menza or Freidman.
God this album makes such an impression when you first fire it up. The energy of the riffage, the crunch of the guitars, and the twisting composition… it immediately leaves its imprint on your ears and brain.
Every once and a while, there’s an album that just floors you the minute you press play. For myself, R.I.P was one of those albums. Iron Maiden’s Powerslave was another one.
Great review and thoughts for the album’s anniversary!
this was the first metal album i ever bought at age 12, a month after it came out. it blew my mind and i became obsessed with it. it’s still fucking amazing to me 20 years later. megadeth opened the world of metal up to me.
ive never heard this album the whole way through,so i dont really have an opinion. i always thought mustaine was a self absorbed,egotistical bore so i stopped bothering with his music. but the thing you wrote about black sabbath and “war pigs” and said about them offering no solutions “that wouldve been punk”,i think its more like a gloomy outlook that everythings totally fucked no matter what you do…just my opinion
Alee- “Hangar 18″ riff is Metallica “Call Of Cthulhu” sped up and distorted
I also think Peace Sells stands alongside RIP.
Besides the instrumentation though, the element that permanently endeared those (and most early Megadeth) albums to me was the attitude. Regardless of what Dave was singing about, every line just felt like it was dripping with venom, and I just remember hearing it and thinking, “wow, he has to be the most pissed-off person in music.” His delivery is just way more expressive and identifiable with to me than Hetfield’s or Araya’s. Even now I still get goosebumps after when the last verse (“Fill the cracks in…”) of Holy Wars comes in.
And for that reason I was especially bummed at his vocals during the second leg of the RIP tour, although I think it’s more a matter of coordination than his actual voice, since he sung less complicated songs like Trust & Symphony just fine.
Incidentally, there’s a recent interview with him here where on the last page he hints at possible 20th anniversary Countdown & 25th anniversary Peace Sells… tours (I’d personally see a Youth tour in a second) –
http://www.guitarworld.com/article/megadeth_rust_never_sleeps
It is appropriate that I’ve been fairly obsessed with this album again recently. I believe it truly is the band’s greatest work, although “Peace Sells…” is a very, I mean, VERY close second to me (the glorious Mercyful Fate worship is unparalleled.) It really is a total culmination of everything metal in the 1980s, the final last word. There’s not much more I can say about it.
Oh, I did have a dream just last night in which I hung out with Dave Mustain, talked about music and got to be his pal. How freaking weird…
Rust In Peace is indeed better than Reign & Master of Puppets
Sinking a couple of pints before the Watain show last night the pub above the venue was playing Puppets over it’s fucked bass-heavy stereo that sounded at times like a different band. Then Holy Wars came blasting out, guitars way down, Menza sounded so awesome I nearly stopped for another drink…
I’m not one for discussing guitar wizardry or technicality, but I will say that this was the first Megadeth record I ever bought, and for me just shades Peace Sells. Its up there with the greatest thrash of all time too. A timeless record. Shame they only played parts of it at Download. I’d have liked to have seen it in its entirety.
Rust In Peace is one of the best thrash albums ever and the only Megadeth album I listen to all the way through. Wish I would’ve caught them on this tour as RIP + Symphony = the only setlist I’d really want from them. Oh well… can’t believe this record is 20 years old already. And to think to that this masterpiece arrived when thrash was already in its death-throes — most bands don’t deliver such high quality goods four albums in.
was waiting for this one; my all-time favourite metal album. I remember my bass guitar teacher finding it difficult to figure out the dawn patrol bass lick (and me finding it extremely difficult playing it once he did find out!).
One thing I guess everybody must agree on is that, contrary to Hetfield/Ulrich, Mustaine never murdered a song by making it too long…
Greatest metal record out there or greatest metal record out there?
Perfection, my friends. “Dawn Patrol” usually gets slammed, in an effort to somehow undermine the glory of the album. The truth is, it’s a much needed song that acts as a buffer between the emotional Tornado of Souls and the face-melting RIP… Polaris. It HAS to be inbetween the two.
From the sprawling Holy Wars, to the short, but concise Poison Was the Cure, to the raw aggression of Take no Prisoners, to the calculated technical mastery of Five Magics, this album holds enough variety to last you for ages. The lyrical themes are somehow both connected and disconnected, in perfect harmony to make a solid whole.
Oh, Tornado of Souls happens to make my list of “Songs that everyone must hear, regardless of musical preference”. It is the song that got me into Megadeth, the song that made me love that album and band, and one of the last songs that made me just stop and listen with awe, jaw wide open, before it started becoming less and less possible that a piece of art could change my life.
P.S. Ironically, Holy Wars, the usual suspect for people’s favorite Megadeth song, isn’t in the top of my list of favorite Megadeth songs. Maybe I have yet to get it?
Although being into Slayer, Metallica, DRI and a very young age I didn’t hear this album until last year (!!!!!!!!!). I always hated Megadeth based on the truly shitty Countdown To Extinction and everything else just kind of slipped by.
RIP has got nothing on So Far So Godd So What. Apart from the dreadful Anarchy in UK cover the album is flawless, with so much more power and complete fuck off-ness than RIP> Holy Wars is awesome, but cmon, the rest just aint close to the first three Dave brought out.