Megadeth’s debut studio album “Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!” was released in 1985. Despite poor production and spending on drugs, alcohol and food, the album gained strong reviews and established thrash metal as an authentic subgenre of heavy metal music.
Megadeth’s new remastered version “Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good! – The Final Kill” features “Mechanix” and a controversial cover of “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'”. A deluxe edition with remixed artwork was released in 2002. All songs were performed during Megadeth’s initial tour, except for “Mechanix”.
Dave Mustaine former lead guitarist for Metallica, was fired due to substance abuse and conflicts with bandmates. He formed Megadeth with bassist David Ellefson aiming for revenge. Mustaine sped up Megadeth’s music, including his original version of “Mechanix” to challenge Metallica, as Metallica referred to him as drunk and couldn’t play guitar.
The album’s artwork, featuring a plastic skull with tinfoil, was not the original design, inspired by the Three wise monkeys. Mustaine and Ellefson had discussions with Combat Records to reproduce the cover artwork, but the studio lost the original sketch and replaced it with an improvised one.
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Megadeth’s “Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!” is a fast, thrashier heavy metal album that explores themes of death, violence and occultism. The album’s title and lyrics led to accusations of Satanism promotion, but Mustaine denied these allegations. The music is performed at rapid speed, with precise riffing by Poland and Mustaine. The album’s intensity and unusual rhythms make it a solid debut release, but some fans wanted some songs to be recorded in slower tempo.
Megadeth’s album features several tracks, including “Last Rites/Loved to Death”, “Looking Down the Cross”, “Speak No Evil”, “Chosen Ones” and “Mechanix”. The album’s opening track “Last Rites” is an instrumental reinterpretation of J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. The title track “Loved to Death” is inspired by The Punisher comic book and tells of a paid assassin. The song caused minor media controversy when a man posted a request to play the tune, leading to his arrest.
The album also features a cover of Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” with lyrics altered by Mustaine. The song was removed from all pressings released after, and in 2002, the album was re-released with a modified version.
Megadeth
Dave Mustaine – lead vocals, guitar, piano on “Last Rites/Loved to Death”
David Ellefson – bass, backing vocals
Chris Poland – guitar
Gar Samuelson – drums, timpani on “Rattlehead”
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