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Happy 50th Birthday to Megadeth's Dave Mustaine!
Born in California in 1961, Dave Mustaine lived his early life as one of independence and drug-addled irresponsibility. Supporting himself through his teenaged years by dealing dope, Mustaine would develop a taste for the then-burgeoning heavy-metal scene of the late '70s.
Mustaine most famously came into the American consciousness as Metallica's first lead guitarist by simply blowing away James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. But Mustaine's tenure in the band would be short-lived given his over-the-top excessive excessiveness when it came to alcohol and drugs. Some might say that these early skirmishes clashing with the genius of Mustaine are what lead to the band's seeking therapy many years later.
But proving you couldn't keep a strawberry blond down for too long, Mustaine quickly founded Megadeth and developed a friendship and partnership with bassist Dave Ellefson that has lasted to this day, barring a hiatus or two.
Mustaine managed to clean his act up at the end of the '80s long enough to record the masterful Rust in Peace. This album maintained the heavy-metal charm but displayed a radio-play sensitivity that would begin their slow climb into mainstream success. It also hammered a few nails in the coffin of bitterness that he's felt for the Metallicans since his unceremonious firing in 1983.
Metal's eternal ginger continuously appears in greatest guitarist lists and has become a recognizable voice in the genre that continues to draw fans, almost three decades after inception. Now, do your best Vic Rattlehead and bang along to these choice Megadeth tracks.
"Mechanix"
"Wake Up Dead"
"Anarchy in the U.K." (Sex Pistols cover)
"Polaris"
"Symphony of Destruction"
"Train of Consequences"
"She-Wolf"
"Ecstasy"
"Dread and the Fugitive Mind"
"The Scorpion"
"Blessed Are the Dead"
"Bodies"
New World Order"
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