Great Metal Albums of 1985: Megadeth- Killing is My Business And Business is Good

If I follow my normal rules, then I shouldn’t actually post about the debut album from Megadeth until I got to 1986 because that was when I first heard about Megadeth and their album, “Killing Is My Business and Business Is Good.” But rules are made to be broken and I like to, as they say in baseball terms, throw the odd curve ball once in a while. Besides, by the time I heard this album in the following year, I was already so engrossed with speed and thrash metal, this album just fitted right. However, if I had first heard the album in the appropriate year, I would have been blown away by how it somehow remains a little melodic without losing any of its ferocity. In 1985, Megadeth were what I call pioneers into a new frontier along with many others.

While nowadays, starting with a piano intro before blasting away into some serious metal is par for the course, however, when Megadeth did it on the opening track of the album, it was something different back then. When I first heard it, I was a little intrigued as to where this was going but that curiosity was quickly satisfied.

Talking about “Killing is My Business and Business is Good,” well it’s just one big eight song long thrash party. I have always found it hard to rank any of these songs as they were all stand out tracks at the time and still are today. If I had to choose a favorite, it would have to be “These Boots” because of how it destroys the more popular version by Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s. That’s just how my warped mind works.

Instead of breaking down the album by tracks, I am forced, okay not really forced, to look at the playing behind those tracks. When recording this album, Dave Mustaine stated that he wanted something harder and faster in order to out do his rivals Metallica. He was still rather bitter about being fired by them. He got what he wanted in the making of this album. All of the songs are brutal but Dave proves that he can sing, thus silencing critics of thrash who say that thrash songs’ vocals sound like a dog barking. Furthermore, Megadeth also demolish the belief that guitars on thrash songs sound like multiple vacuum cleaners. The guitars are just fine here and the solos are even better. What you get here is an album that is a standard bearer of all things to come both with the band and speed metal in general.

Track Listing:

1. Last Rites/Loved to Deth
2. Killing is My Business and Business is Good
3. The Skull Beneath the Skin
4. These Boots
5. Rattlehead
6. Chosen Ones
7. Looking Down the Cross
8. Mechanix

Megadeth

Dave Mustaine- lead vocals, rhythm and lead guitar, piano

Chris Poland- lead guitar

David Ellefson- bass, backing vocals

Gar Samuelson- drums, timpani

Here’s another case of I wish I knew then what I know now. In 1985, I had never heard of this band nor this great album. Even when I did, little did I know that Megadeth were to go onto achieve great things. Looking back, “Killing is My Business and Business is Good” made for a fine start.

Next post: I think I’ll stick with the theme of thrash bands who I discovered in 1986 but had albums in 1985. Celtic Frost- Emperor’s Return

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