With each passing year of the 1980s, it seemed like the amount of hairspray, make-up, and spandex outfits modeled by heavy metal bands increased dramatically. And forget about a deep lyrical message in their tunes – it seemed to be all about partying and/or rocking.But in the metal underground, there was a movement of bands that completely rejected the glitzy look and pop-friendly sound of mainstream metal. Adopting a denim and leather look, and also, increasing the speed of their riffs, thrash metal (or early on, often referred to as "speed metal") provided a much-needed alternative. And certainly one of the leading bands of this movement was Megadeth.
And my book, The World's State-Of-The-Art Speed Metal Band: The Megadeth Story 1983-2002, focuses on the era of the band that many consider to be their best. But also, doubles as a story concerning how several of the decidedly un-mainstream thrash metal bands still managed to break through on a massive scale – despite little radio airplay and none of their videos aired often by MTV during "non-vampire hours."
In the following excerpts, we let some of the folks interviewed for this book explain several different ways that Megadeth and other thrash metallists managed to not only succeed and thrive, but by the dawn of the '90s, were one of the biggest metal bands on the planet.
Demo Trading
Parris Mayhew [Original Cro-Mags guitarist/toured with Megadeth in 1986]: "Prior to the internet, there were only certain ways people got music. In the underground, there was so much of it that was just like, literally, tape trading and word of mouth. And there wasn't a whole lot of it. So, when somebody found something that was like a gold nugget, like, you're panning for gold to find great things, everybody seemed to know about it, and it got around. It's the only way to explain how we [the Cro-Mags] went from being a bunch of guys standing on a street corner in New York, to touring with Motörhead six months later." [And in the case of Megadeth, it was their Last Rites demo tape from 1984]
Photo: Christopher Lee HeltonMix Tapes Compiled by Your Fellow Metal-Loving Mates
Chris Adler [former Lamb Of God & Megadeth drummer]: "I was 14 years old. There weren't too many kids around my area, but the kids that were, were super into skateboarding. So, I got super into skateboarding. And at the time, this would have been '86, we were still trading cassette tapes – punk rock bands. Y'know, 7 Seconds, Misfits, Samhain, all that kind of stuff. And one of these tapes had a Megadeth song on it. I think it was 'Black Friday.' And I heard that song, and I remember the day, I remember the ramp, I remember the board that I had, and I remember hearing it in my Sony Walkman – the yellow, waterproof, old school Sony Walkman. And it totally flipped a switch in me."K-tel Compilations
Richard Christy [Death & Charred Walls of the Damned drummer]: "The first time I heard Megadeth was in 1986 – it was the song 'Peace Sells.' I knew about Megadeth because I was a big Metallica fan, and I knew that I wanted to hear them, but I lived in Kansas, and I don't think Walmart sold their cassette. Walmart, they wouldn't stock a lot of stuff. They wouldn't even stock AC/DC, from what I remember. The only way I could get cassettes is if I had my aunt buy them for me in Wichita and mail them to me.""But I was able to buy these K-tel compilations, and there was one of them that had 'Peace Sells' on it. It had like, Megadeth, Stryper, Judas Priest, Accept. That was my introduction to a lot of bands in the '80s – these compilation cassettes. And that was my introduction to Megadeth. I remember hearing the song 'Peace Sells,' and it was just so unique – the way Dave Mustaine kind of talked, but also sang. And it sounded very evil to me – just the gnarly kind of anger in his voice, and the way he's kind of yelling at people while he's singing. It scared me a little bit, but I loved it, and it was very unique. And I loved the bassline right away."
"I wore this cassette out. It was a cassette [from 1987] called Metal Force. It's funny, the track order – the opening track is 'Boyz Are Gonna Rock' by Vinnie Vincent Invasion, then the next song is 'Peace Sells,' and it also has 'Fast as a Shark,' and what I really loved on it was 'Calling on You' by Stryper. And it also had 'Fear No Evil' by Grim Reaper, 'I Am a Viking' by Yngwie Malmsteen. Man, I love those days when you could buy one cassette and get like, ten killer different metal bands that you'd never heard before."
MTV's Late Night Metal Program Aired Every Saturday Night, Headbangers Ball
Richard Christy: "See, I was watching a lot of MTV Headbangers Ball at the time, and both the 'Peace Sells' and the 'Wake Up Dead' videos I loved. But I really loved 'Wake Up Dead.' It's so barbaric and heavy. And the video was very barbaric.""And it looked like the most fun thrash metal concert that ever had happened! It was kind of like Roadhouse [the 1989 film starring Patrick Swayze], the 'Wake Up Dead' video. The metal version of Roadhouse, where they have to fend off all these crazy metal fans so they don't destroy the band. And Dave looks so cool in that video – the close-ups of him snarling and all the kids climbing the chain-link fence."
Parris Mayhew: "Just being on MTV, even though it was like late at night or whatever, it was rare to have that opportunity to listen to new music. So people really engaged. It wasn't like now, where everybody's just so passive about it."
Good Old Fashioned Touring
David Ellefson [Megadeth bassist from 1983–2002 & 2010–2021]: "It should be duly noted, [booking agent] Andy Somers was our cheerleader, man. I mean, he came in while we were on that fucking horrible tour with Exciter [in 1985] – because the agent that we had, Leona Faber, like, fucking two dates were canceled, and we were living hand to mouth, you know what I mean? And that was Exciter's agent. She was not our agent. But Andy came in and really picked up the pieces and got us out doing some one-off dates with Motörhead and Wendy O. Williams, and sent us and Slayer to New York to play together at L'Amour. So, Andy was really our cheerleader through the '80s – really, into the early to mid '90s."July 14, 2025
Order The World's State-Of-The-Art Speed Metal Band: The Megadeth Story 1983-2002 on Amazon.
Photo, and book cover photo, by Christopher Lee Helton
Further Reading:
Interview with Dave Mustaine
Interview with David Ellefson
Fact or Fiction: Metallica Edition
Interview with Charlie Benante of Anthrax
Riki Rachtman's 10 Best Metal Videos of the '90s
More Song Writing
