Editing Megadeth (section)

===Influences and style===
Traditional [[heavy metal music|heavy metal]] bands such as [[UFO (band)|UFO]], [[Black Sabbath]], [[Budgie (band)|Budgie]], [[Judas Priest]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.revolvermag.com/uncategorized/exclusive-excerpt-from-dave-mustaines-autobiography-meeting-lars-ulric.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151120220741/http://www.revolvermag.com/uncategorized/exclusive-excerpt-from-dave-mustaines-autobiography-meeting-lars-ulric.html|title=Exclusive Excerpt From Dave Mustaine's Autobiography: Meeting Lars Ulrich|date=August 3, 2010|last=Grow|first=Kory|work=Revolver|publisher=NewBay Media|archive-date=November 20, 2015}}</ref> [[new wave of British heavy metal]] (NWOBHM) bands such as [[Raven (British band)|Raven]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://sleazeroxx.com/ravens-debut-album-rock-until-you-drop-getting-released-as-the-4cd-over-the-top-edition/|title=Raven's debut album 'Rock Until You Drop' getting released as 'The 4CD Over The Top Edition'|publisher=sleazeroxx.com|access-date=March 7, 2022|date=March 7, 2022}}</ref> [[Angel Witch]], [[Motörhead]], [[Iron Maiden]], [[Diamond Head (English band)|Diamond Head]], and [[Venom (band)|Venom]], and [[punk rock]] bands such as the [[Sex Pistols]] and [[Ramones]] had a significant influence on Megadeth's sound.<ref>{{cite news|last=Smyers|first=Darryl|title=Megadeth's Dave Ellefson Talks About Christianity and Lady Gaga|url=http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2012/03/megadeths_dave_ellefson_talks.php|access-date=November 23, 2013|newspaper=[[Dallas Observer]]|date=March 1, 2012|archive-date=December 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203013034/http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2012/03/megadeths_dave_ellefson_talks.php|url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Hard rock]] bands such as [[AC/DC]],<ref>{{cite web|author=Full Metal Jackie|title=Megadeth Frontman Dave Mustaine on Touring With Iron Maiden, Social Media + More|url=http://loudwire.com/megadeth-dave-mustaine-touring-iron-maiden-social-media-more/|access-date=November 23, 2013|work=[[Loudwire]]|date=October 7, 2013}}</ref> [[Queen (band)|Queen]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/19891-dave-mustaine-megadeth-favourite-albums-interview?page=12|title = The Quietus &#124; Features &#124; Baker's Dozen &#124; Th1rt3en Best: Dave Mustaine of Megadeth's Favourite Albums| date=March 16, 2016 }}</ref> [[Led Zeppelin]],{{sfn|Edmondson|2013|p=147}} and [[Rush (band)|Rush]],<ref>{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|url=http://www.2112.net/powerwindows/transcripts/19911101chicagotribune.htm|title=Rush Still Feels No Special Need To Hurry|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|date=November 1, 1991|access-date=May 25, 2024}}</ref> as well as German acts like [[Scorpions (band)|Scorpions]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://loudwire.com/bands-who-influenced-megadeth/|title=10 Bands Who Influenced Megadeth|website=[[Loudwire]]|date=January 29, 2019 }}</ref> and [[Accept (band)|Accept]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uncivilrevolt.com/2021/02/b-mac-album-review-accept-too-mean-to-die/|title=B-Mac Album Review: Accept, Too Mean To Die ~ Uncivil Revolt|date=February 2021|publisher=uncivilrevolt.com|access-date=February 8, 2021|archive-date=April 7, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407034003/http://www.uncivilrevolt.com/2021/02/b-mac-album-review-accept-too-mean-to-die/|url-status=dead}}</ref> were also influential on the group's guitar style. Although the music has roots in punk,{{sfn|Dika|2012|p=188}} university professor Jason Bivins wrote that Megadeth followed the basic blueprint of Motörhead and Iron Maiden. He described the style as a mix of "the instrumental virtuosity of the NWOBHM with the speed and aggression of [[hardcore punk]]", while also drawing lyrical inspiration from the horror-themed punk band [[Misfits (band)|Misfits]].{{sfn|Bivins|2008|p=74}} Mustaine has also listed albums by [[the Beatles]] and [[David Bowie]] as recordings that influenced him.<ref>{{cite web|last=Carney|first=Christine|title=Megadeth's Mustaine Talks About Albums That Influenced Him;|url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/megadeth-s-mustaine-talks-about-albums-that-influenced-him-video-available/|work=[[MP3.com]]|publisher=[[Blabbermouth.net]]|date=September 18, 2007|access-date=November 26, 2013}}</ref>

Mustaine is the band's primary songwriter. He develops songs starting with a particular riff that, with modifications, becomes the central part of the song.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sharken|first=Lisa|title=Dave Mustaine of Megadeth|url=http://www.seymourduncan.com/blog/artist-interview/dave-mustaine-of-megadeth/|work=Seymour Duncan|date=January 9, 2007|access-date=December 3, 2013}}</ref> He has said that song fragments are composed separately, and then the band makes a compact structure from them.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bosso|first=Joe|title=Interview: Megadeth's Dave Mustaine talks Thirteen, Metallica and riffs|url=http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/interview-megadeths-dave-mustaine-talks-th1rt3en-metallica-and-riffs-519610|publisher=[[MusicRadar]]|date=December 14, 2011|access-date=December 3, 2013}}</ref> Drummer Shawn Drover stated that Mustaine had saved many riffs over the years and that some recent material is based on those demo recordings.<ref name="Drover">{{cite web|last=Toto|first=Anthony|title=Interview: Megadeth|url=http://pop-break.com/2013/11/29/interview-megadeth/|work=Pop-Break|date=November 29, 2013|access-date=December 7, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210235912/http://pop-break.com/2013/11/29/interview-megadeth/|archive-date=December 10, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> Ellefson stated that the band constantly creates new material, and that making a recording begins with exchanging ideas after which the band enters the studio and discusses the concept, direction, artwork, and song titles.<ref>{{cite web|last=Wise|first=Lauren|title=Megadeth's Dave Ellefson: "All The Best Things In My Life Were Not My Idea"|url=http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2013/10/dave-ellefson-interview-megadeth-book.php?page=3|work=[[Phoenix New Times]]|date=October 28, 2013|access-date=December 16, 2013|archive-date=December 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131215121253/http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/uponsun/2013/10/dave-ellefson-interview-megadeth-book.php?page=3|url-status=dead}}</ref> The lyrics are usually written after the music is arranged.<ref>{{cite web|last=Chamberlain|first=Rich|title=Dave Mustaine on Super Collider, Endgame, Risk and more|url=http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/dave-mustaine-on-super-collider-endgame-risk-and-more-575401/2|publisher=[[MusicRadar]]|date=June 3, 2013|access-date=July 11, 2014|archive-date=December 23, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223162322/http://www.musicradar.com/news/guitars/dave-mustaine-on-super-collider-endgame-risk-and-more-575401/2|url-status=dead}}</ref> Discussing the band's lyrics, Mustaine said that many of the themes are derived from literature, such as the novels of [[George Orwell]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Ruggiero|first=Bob|title=Megadeth's Dave Mustaine Hopes You're Still Buying|url=http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2013/12/_when_megadeth_foundersingergu.php|work=[[Houston Press]]|date=December 11, 2013|access-date=December 15, 2013|archive-date=October 21, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141021135714/http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2013/12/_when_megadeth_foundersingergu.php|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The music of Megadeth and its underground metal contemporaries from the 1980s featured harsh vocals, [[double bass drum]] patterns, [[staccato]] riffing, [[power chords]], [[tremolo picking]], and screeching lead guitar work; albums from this period were produced on low budgets.{{sfn|Purcell|2003|p=53}} After forming Megadeth, Mustaine followed the thrash metal style of his previous band, Metallica, with more emphasis on speed and intensity.<ref>{{cite magazine|title=Megadeth Biography|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/megadeth/biography|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110210231402/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artists/megadeth/biography|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 10, 2011|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]]|year=2001|access-date=November 22, 2013}}</ref> When asked to describe Megadeth's guitar style, Mustaine answered: "When you go to a show and see a guitar player who just stands there, that's a guitar player. A thrash guitar player is a guy who plays like he wants to beat the guitar's guts out."<ref name="Chicago"/> Most of the songs are recorded in standard [[guitar tuning]] as Mustaine believes it to provide a superior melody to alternative methods of tuning.<ref>{{cite web|last=Bienstock|first=Richard|title=Interview: Megadeth Guitarist Dave Mustaine on 2009's 'Endgame'|url=https://www.guitarworld.com/interview-megadeth-guitarist-dave-mustaine-2009s-endgame|work=[[Guitar World]]|date=January 17, 2013|access-date=December 15, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131205082523/http://www.guitarworld.com/interview-megadeth-guitarist-dave-mustaine-2009s-endgame|archive-date=December 5, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2017, David Ellefson talked in an interview about how the band recently started to use a lower tuning saying: "it's just natural with age, for singers it can be a struggle, so rather than quit, than not play, how do you work it around? Well, let's drop the guitars, let's find a way to work around it."<ref>{{cite web|last=Sciaky|first=Davide|title=Interview: Megadeth (David Ellefson)|url=http://www.truemetal.it/news/intervista-megadeth-david-ellefson-91978-p2|work=[[TrueMetal.it]]|date=August 17, 2017|access-date=January 14, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181012014552/http://www.truemetal.it/news/intervista-megadeth-david-ellefson-91978-p2|archive-date=October 12, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref>

During the band's early days, Mustaine was the rhythm guitarist, while Chris Poland played lead. Poland performed only on Megadeth's first two albums at the time of the book's release; (he would go on to play on the 2004 album ''[[The System Has Failed]]''); music journalists Pete Prown and Harvey P. Newquist credit him with making the music more colorful because of his [[jazz]] influences.{{sfn|Prown|Newquist|1997|p=227}} According to former ''[[Metal Maniacs]]'' editor Jeff Wagner, the band's songwriting techniques peaked with the fourth album, ''Rust in Peace'', which he described as a "flurry of precision and fluidity, making good on Megadeth's claim to being the world's state-of-the-art [[speed metal]] band".{{sfn|Wagner|2010|p=43}} Musicologist Glenn Pillsbury stated the guitar work on the album was a mixture of Mustaine's "controlled chaos" and the "technical brilliance" of Marty Friedman.{{sfn|Pillsbury|2006|p=82}} Studio efforts released in the mid- and late 1990s featured songs with compact structures and less complicated riffing.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tQ0EAAAAMBAJ&q=megadeth+cryptic+writings&pg=PA84|access-date=November 22, 2013|last=Michael Moses|first=Dan Kaye|title=What Did You Do In The War, Daddy?|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=12|date=June 5, 1999}}</ref>

Megadeth's lyrics often focus on death, war, politics, and religion.{{sfn|Arnett|1996|p=44}} The lyricism centers on nihilistic themes, but occasionally deals with topics such as alienation and social problems.{{sfn|Joyner|2002|p=301}} The earliest releases featured themes such as occultism, graphic violence, and Satanism.<ref name="Popmatters"/><ref>{{cite journal|last=Powell|first=Mike|title=Diggin' In the Crates For Untold Treasures|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|date=September 2011|volume=27|page=92|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0wtKHa9tu6QC&q=megadeth+poetry+about+satan&pg=PA92|access-date=November 21, 2013}}</ref> [[Nuclear warfare]] and government conspiracy were preoccupations on albums such as ''Rust in Peace'' and ''Countdown to Extinction''.{{sfn|Harrison|2011|p=60}} During Megadeth's commercial peak, Mustaine elaborated on more personal themes such as addiction and intimate relationships. For the lyrics on ''Cryptic Writings'', Mustaine said that he wanted to write songs that had more appeal to a wider audience.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5AkEAAAAMBAJ&q=megadeth+cryptic+writings&pg=PA74|access-date=November 21, 2013|last=Taylor|first=Chuck|title=Metal Mainstay Megadeth Alters Its Lyrics But Not Its Music For The '90s|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|page=74|date=November 29, 1997}}</ref> The title of ''United Abominations'' is a satiric play on the name of the [[United Nations]]; Mustaine criticized the organization's ineffectiveness on a number of songs on that album.{{sfn|Phillips|Cogan|2009|p=157}}