Megadeth

Megadeth was formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by guitarist and vocalist Dave Mustaine, immediately after he was fired from Metallica on the eve of the sessions for their debut album. Recruiting bassist David Ellefson, Mustaine set out to build a band faster and more technically demanding than the one that had dismissed him, and that competitive drive became the group's engine. Their 1985 debut, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, was raw and budget-starved but announced a distinct voice: serrated riffing, complex arrangements and Mustaine's sneering, politically charged lyrics. Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? (1986) turned that promise into an underground landmark, its bassline becoming one of metal's most recognizable signatures. Alongside Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax, Megadeth is counted among thrash metal's "Big Four", the quartet that codified the genre and carried it from clubs to arenas. The band's artistic peak arrived with the classic lineup of Mustaine, Ellefson, guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza on Rust in Peace (1990), widely regarded as one of the greatest metal albums ever made and home to "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Tornado of Souls". Countdown to Extinction (1992) pushed them to multi-platinum status and No. 2 on the Billboard 200, followed by Youthanasia (1994) and Cryptic Writings (1997). Later decades brought lineup churn, a 2002 breakup over a serious arm injury and a 2004 reformation, with strong returns including Endgame (2009) and Dystopia (2016), whose title track won the band its first Grammy Award. In 2019 Mustaine announced he had been diagnosed with throat cancer, forcing Megadeth off the road while he underwent treatment. He was declared cancer-free the following year and returned to touring and recording, releasing The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! in 2022 with a rebuilt lineup after Ellefson's 2021 departure. Megadeth closed the story on their own terms. Mustaine announced in August 2025 that the band's seventeenth album would be its last, and the self-titled Megadeth arrived on 23 January 2026, debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 — the first chart-topping album of the band's forty-plus-year career — and including a reworked "Ride the Lightning", the Metallica song Mustaine co-wrote before his firing. Backed by Teemu Mäntysaari, James LoMenzo and Dirk Verbeuren, he launched a global farewell tour in February 2026.