Despite Dave Mustaine incessantly whining like a petulant toddler for the better part of the last forty years about being kicked out of Metallica in 1983 (the guy seriously can’t get out of his own way), Megadeth is totally kick ass and helped to spearhead the American thrash metal movement in the 1980’s alongside their “Big Four” contemporaries Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer.
Killing Is My Business…and Business Is Good! is Megadeth’s debut album, their first (and only) independent release before being signed to major label Capitol Records. Operating only on a budget of $8,000 (about $23K today), Megadeth was forced to fire their original producer halfway through the sessions and produce the album themselves after spending much of their advance on drugs and alcohol to help fuel the creative process. Those 80’s metal bands were cut from a different cloth man.
Fueled by the previously mentioned disdain for his former bandmates in Metallica (as Mustaine famously said, “After getting fired from Metallica, all I remember is that I wanted blood. Theirs. I wanted to be faster and heavier than them.”) Megadeth churned out a high-intensity record which would set the stage for a lengthy career and usher in the dawn of American Thrash Metal.
Standout Songs: “Last Rites / Loved to Deth”, “Rattlehead”, “Looking Down the Cross”, “Mechanix”
