Megadeth began after Dave Mustaine got the boot from
Metallica. After a failed project, he met Dave Ellefson in San Francisco,
and they soon formed Megadeth along with drummer Lee Rush and Kerry King,
Slayer guitarist who was seemingly in Megadeth as a side project.
Rush left by 1984. King didn't stay long, either. He returned
to devote himself to Slayer. So Gar Samuleson and Chris Poland moved
in, and the band released a 3 track demo in 1985, on the small label Combat
Records. Their next album was longer and much better put together.
As the band started recording, Capitol Records its bought rights from Combat.
This resulted in an album that went gold in several countries and raised
the band into notoriety. They lived in the studio while recording
"Peace Sells," but its success enabled them to afford much more.
After stealing some equipment, Poland was booted and Samuleson went with
him. So in came Jeff Young and former drum tech Chuck Behler.
This group marked the most drug influenced period of the band. Mustaine
wasn't fond of Young and Behler's contributions, so they were out.
The new drum tech, Nick Menza, was promoted into the band. Down to
three, the band covered Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy." Soon
after, Marty Friedman joined up, remaking the quartet. Teetering
on the brink of breakup for a time, the band regrouped and produced its
fifth album. This record had the specific purpose of competing with
Metallica's newly released and highly successful (it debuted at #1) self
titled album. Having built their own studio in rural Arizona, the
band recorded in next album doing most of the songs in one take.
The record came out at midnight on Halloween. The following year,
the band decided to resurrect all its previously unreleased cuts on one
album, resulting in a montage that covered all the Megadeth styles up to
that point. Many of these songs had appeared on the soundtracks of
movies including "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey," "Last Action Hero," and
"Tales from the Crypt" movie "Demon Knight." After a three year hiatus,
the band put out its eighth and, to date, last album. Throughout
its existence, the band toured after each album. The successive tours
grew in length and grandeur as the band became more successful.
Stylistically, Megadeth evolved as it aged.
The band's early work sounds almost exactly like contemporary Metallica
(Dave Mustaine wrote much of that Metallica music). With each album,
the band developed its own sound more, until "Countdown To Extinction,"
when they had finally ended the nearly ten years of comparison with Metallica.
The albums that followed, except "Hidden Treasures," demonstrate a musical
and lyrical maturity much different from the the young rebel style the
band started with. Megadeth is still going, though they have not
produced any new material after "Cryptic Writings."
Discography:
"Killing
Is My Business...And Business Is Good" (1985) 
"Peace
Sells...But Who's Buying?" (1986)
"So
Far, So Good...So What!" (1988) 
"Rust
In Peace" (1990)
"Countdown
To Extinction" (1992) 
"Youthanasia"
(1994)
"Hidden
Treasures" (1995) 
"Cryptic
Writings" (1997)
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