In a private forum I posted this reply and thought the O'Club was worthy of hearing what I have to say:
Anyone who listens to metal knows one simple truth. Rust in Peace is probably the best all around example of the genera from the highest point of it's popularity. It was produced with meticulous care, and performed almost flawlessly. There are stories that they hooked a strobe tuner up to the board so each note in every solo was verified in tune. This does not mean they changed the tune of the note, they just knew if one was out and replayed the solo to fix it.
Dave was off all the drugs then, and really focused. Nick Menza probably played the best drums Megadeth had to that point in their career. Marty Friedman came from a fusion background and really played expressive riffs from Dave's examples. David Ellefson went a bit out of the norm and played almost reckless compared to earlier Megadeth. Dave... what is there to say but he put together a band that is harder, faster, meaner, technically better, and more true to the genera than Metallica ever could.
Want to talk about relevance? Rust in Peace was released September 24, 1990. Yes 1990. For comparison a few months later Metallica released that Bon Jovi produced pop-metal album. That was the beginning of the end of all that was good and right about Thrash Metal / Speed Metal. Heck Pearl Jam's "Ten" was released August 27, 1991... less than a year later.
Back to the album:
You want to hear some amazing guitar listen to the solo trade-offs at the end of
Hangar 18. If you know a bit about them you can tell when it is Dave and when it is Marty just by listening (yes the tab tells you who also). I used to be able to play all the rhythm sections up to the raga break back in the day. I never had a 24 fret guitar and much of the solo(s) are impossible without one.
I dare that other band to make something as political, yet musically astonishing as
Holy Wars...The Punishment Due. I first saw this video on Headbangers Ball. It was the first time I heard it, or anything like it. I remember the night, the place, and I also saw
This exact video the same night. I was never the same since that fateful evening.
If you play guitar
I challenge you to keep up with this, oh and sing while you are playing it live. I've seen it 2 times personally and had the weirdest b0ner. After you have failed at that
Try this. Play as precise, clean, and with no mistakes. This is where you smash the cheapest guitar you own out of respect, awe, and the smallest bit of honor you have left.
I'll even give you the tab to take a shot at it.
I'd go on and on about the album all day and night, but where does it lead us? Into the past. Originally released September 19, 1986 Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? almost instantly became the mantra for MTV News. Here is a fledgling band born from a person deemed "too wild' for those other posers. Musically superior, attitude past 11, and on the cutting edge of a new genera Megadeth captured the moment and ran with it.
I could cite all evening what they did, and how great it was. All I can do is tell you. Lead by example. I will let many of our childhood idols Looney Toons show that when the galaxy is in peril they don't call Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax... or any other metal icon. They call on the the greatest of the "Big 4" to come to the rescue.
See what I'm talking about?I'll leave you with this opus that is probably the hardest metal song ever written, played, and I got to see live one time from the 8th row.
