I think the reality isn’t just that Cliff pushed them, but they were just simply better as young men than they are now. I was on board up to and including the Black Album. After that, there are very, very few songs worth anything.
Meanwhile, Dystopia (2016) from Megadeth is amazing, one of their very best. They rise, they fall, they produce OK stuff…then hit a home run here or there.
I also want to point out that Holy Wars…Punishment Due may be one of the very best metal intros of any band at any time. I think unfortunately, the song itself is only decent, but I can listen to just the opening to this over and over.
One I had not gotten around to, but I can very much believe it. It’s on my amazon list now.
I do credit Burton as an explanation, but it is speculation too. I can see And Justice as weaker than the excellent two previous albums but it’s almost like them striving to give a decent tribute to the one song on there part written by Burton, To live and to die, and One defintely seems very much Burtonseque. I don’t rate the Black Album at all. I listened more to Load past that.
But I also see it’s very hard to match two of the best prog metal albums of all time (and yes, Metallica were prog, Megadeth less so, but perhaps a little), and can see how that was just a couple of miracles as well.
One of the greats around the mid period of Megadeth for me was Youthanasia, one which I’d probably should have grabbed at the time but grunge made them unfashionable. I found it in recent years though.
I mostly hate tribute bands in the UK. I regard them as mimics taking money from real talent and original music. There’s a tribute act festival 10 minutes walk from our front door, and we skipped it last year. Only thing I actually really liked was the Megadeth tribute act (along with the Faitn No More and Rage against the machine acts).
I think it’s one of the few times a musician has become a born again christian and their talent has survived. I guess the alternative was overdose so it brought sanity to him without the preaching.
Let me know your thoughts. Dystopia is, I think, up there with Rust in Peace, Youthanasia, Countdown to Extinction, etc.
I’m a Christian as well and I appreciate that he didn’t…well, get weird. I kind of like Dave Mustaine. He’s not the most sociable or engaging guy, but I think you pretty much get what you get with him.
He is an incredible song writer. Truly amazing. Lyrics? It’s more hit and miss. But he seems very genuine.
Seems like your list is a bit rock-heavy, not sure if that’s about taste or what you ended up getting exposed to. But if you’re interested in branching out, Indigo Girls (self-titled) is an album that just does not quit holding up, decade after decade. It’s also a window into a very cool music scene where I played back in the day.
I’ll agree with this, and also that the Black Album is my ending point with them. I know some of my friends felt said album was overly-influenced by emo pop, but it’s still one of my favorites. Everything after… there’s better stuff to listen too. Plus that’s when I got heavily into Manowar, despite their often troublesome songs and symbols.
[ yes, I am the same person upthread with a fondness for individual songs by Chris Cross, I -said- I had eclectic tastes ]
Talent sometimes just fades away. That’s where Dave Mustaine seems to be doing better. He can still write songs nearly as good as he did in the beginning.
I did run through Kanye a few times a few years ago. I thought the early 2-3 albums were good and then he just seemed to fizzle.
I don’t go back to him anymore and of course, he did the Nazi thing for awhile and I lost all interest.
Even at his best, I never understood the “genius of his generation” concept. He was, you know, pretty good.
I tried Kendrick Lamar’s last two albums. I only like the song “They Not Like Us”, which is an iconic track and crowd pleaser no matter your experience with his music.
