Getting Into The Business
Megadeth started in 1983 after Dave
Mustaine got kicked out of
Metallica and he knew he just had to do something. After moving back to San Francisco from New
York ( where he had been with Metallica ) in 1982, Dave started a band called "Fallen Angels,
but it never got very far. The next year ( New Year's Day, 1983 ) Dave up with met David Ellefson,
"Dave Jr." after the New Year's party when Dave was very hungover and Dave Jr., not knowing this, decided to
practice his bass. The Dave's lived right above/below eachother in an apartment
complex, it seems, and so Dave, hungover as I said, got really angry at Dave Jr. and, ledgend has it,
threw a flower pot at Jr's window to show his dissapproval.
But eventually, when he was able to listen comfortably, he found that Jr. was a great player and they
got together on better
terms and formed the core of Megadeth. Dave and Jr. eventually got hooked up with
Kerry King ( yes, he's that guy from Slayer ) for guitars, and Lee Rash, a drummer ( who
has dissappeared since he left Megadeth ). So now Megadeth was Lee, Dave, Jr., and Kerry. Dave
wanted to find one more person to be the vocalist for the band, but the only person
they came across to do it was some freak with makeup all over him. This wasn't very
good, but it was the best they could find. So rather than have some freak as a
vocalist, Dave decided to give it a try. His friends called him the "angry whiner"
or something along those lines since he had a lot of difficulty handling both guitar
and voice in the beginning. But he started to get better and better. The King/ Rash/
Ellefson/ Mustaine lineup preformed several times ( most likely on five to ten
occasions), but Kerry left since he was also in Slayer at the time, so he had to
make a choice between the two, and he went with Slayer. Dave wasn't too happy with
Kerry since Kerry had his "Slayer Image," which Dave says he found "fairly poseur."
Based on that, Kerry made the right decision. Slayer had been around before Megadeth
, and Kerry was more attached to them, although if he had wanted to saty with 'Deth,
he could have. That explains the comment in the thanks from KIMB...ABIG! which says
"Slayer, for loaning Kerry ( or did you? )". Lee's fate is unknown to me, but in any
case, he was out of the band by 1984 and Gar Samuelson and Chris Poland,
who had been together for a long time already in a
jazz fusion band, came in. This lineup released a 3-track demo,
and signed to Combat records. Their first experience in the studio was not a good
one. Combat gave them $8,000 to produce the album. But $4,000 of that went into the
band members recreation; i.e. drugs. After that, Combat forced them to make the album
with just the remaining $4,000. This is why the album sounds sort of rough. But in
any case, Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! 
was released on May 17th, 1985 and soon Megadeth had a small but loyal
following. Of course a tour followed, although not a very large one, but eveyone
has to start somewhere. At least one branch of the tour was called the 'Killing
For A Living' tour, which a guy I know saw in a bar somewhere in Texas. Towards
the end, he had to make a decision; buy another few beers or get a shirt; he didn't
have enough money for both. So he went for the beer. Now he's all pissed off at
himself. Anyway, Megadeth was soon back in the studio for another go-round in the
recording industry.
Next Album
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