Megadeth

[Calvin6s]

I enjoyed Dystopia despite the Trumpesque lyrics

I've always found his lyrics more anti-government regardless of the occupant than partisan.  Is he supposed to change his formula because a Democrat is the current occupant?  That would be very un-Megadeth.

Sheesh, the band name itself sets the political message.

[bosk1]

I never really got Dawn patrol. It more than brings down an otherwise fantastic album. I mean, it's still a great album, but man, what were the guys on when they came up with that? 

Absolutely. It's the very definition of filler. Maybe they'd made a real song out of it and the tapes were lost!

Um, no.  Not at all.  "I don't like this song" does not equate to "filler." 

[Hanz Gruber]

I enjoyed Dystopia despite the Trumpesque lyrics

I've always found his lyrics more anti-government regardless of the occupant that partisan.  Is he supposed to change his formula because a Democrat is the current occupant?  That would be very un-Megadeth.

Sheesh, the band name itself sets the political message.

Agreed. Great post.

[Rattlehead]

I'm really impressed with Dystopia, it's awesome to be listening to great new Megadeth music again. Right now my favorite tracks are The Threat Is Real, Dystopia and Poisonous Shadows. Best album since Endgame for sure in my opinion 

I just looked up their last setlist on setlist.fm and it looks like they're playing 3 songs from Dystopia now (The Threat Is Real, Dystopia and Fatal Illusion). Good choices, but it is frustrating that they aren't playing more… I'd make more of an effort to see them if they were.

[wolfking]

At least 3 songs is better than 1!!

[LudwigVan]

Just put my order in for Dystopia and while I'm waiting I figured I'd pick out a few albums from their discography to warm me up. So...

SFSGSW would rate higher for me if the production were a bit better.

The System Has Failed is definitely very good.

And Thirteen = Underrated.

[Kotowboy]

I never really got Dawn patrol. It more than brings down an otherwise fantastic album. I mean, it's still a great album, but man, what were the guys on when they came up with that? 

Absolutely. It's the very definition of filler. Maybe they'd made a real song out of it and the tapes were lost!

Um, no.  Not at all.  "I don't like this song" does not equate to "filler."

Filler means a song you write with the sole intention of filling up an album.

[Nel]

I got Endgame and Risk in the mail two days ago, meaning I finally completed the discography. Marathon ho!

[black_biff_stadler]

Marathon ho!

Been lookin for one of them.

[wolfking]

Marathon ho!

Been lookin for one of them.

I actually loled.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Seeing Havok/Children of Bodom/Suicidal Tendencies/Megadeth in Allentown this Saturday. 

[Hanz Gruber]

Just put my order in for Dystopia and while I'm waiting I figured I'd pick out a few albums from their discography to warm me up. So...

SFSGSW would rate higher for me if the production were a bit better.

The System Has Failed is definitely very good.

And Thirteen = Underrated.

Agreed about Thirteen.  Very underrated.  It had some generic songs that I skip like Drugs Guns and Money but stuff like Sudden Death and Never Dead was killer.

[Scorpion]

Thirteen has quite a few songs that I'm not that fond of, but I really like Sudden Death and the title track.

Also the two reworked tracks are pretty great (Millenium of the Blind, Black Swan), but I prefer their respective original versions.

[black_biff_stadler]

Seeing Havok/Children of Bodom/Suicidal Tendencies/Megadeth in Allentown this Saturday. 

Are you familiar with Bodom? I wasn't (aside from knowing them in name only) when I saw them in 2004 and they blew the fuckin roof off the joint being the first band on a three band bill where Evergrey and then Iced Earth played. Saw 'em again seven months later and the same thing happened except they were second up during a four band show that, in order, went: Throwdown (unknowns and forgettable but okay in spots), Bodom, Fear Factory (surprisingly underwhelming live compared to how visceral their sound is), and Lamb of God (we left before they came out cuz all three of us only knew and gave a shit about CoB and FF at that point in time.)

Ditchin LoG sucked retrospectively cuz I really liked them a good bit in the years that followed after GH2 got me into them for having Laid to Rest on it.

[Scorpion]

Seeing Havok/Children of Bodom/Suicidal Tendencies/Megadeth in Allentown this Saturday. 

Holy shit, that is an awesome line-up.

Though I'm quite surprised that you seem excited about CoB, they don't seem to be up your alley at all, with harsh vox and all that.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I'm excited about ST/MD, but I've never listened to the other two, so I have no frame of reference.

[Scorpion]

Havok do some pretty great thrash, and CoB are melodic death metal. Their later albums have been not so great, but they were one of the first and biggest bands of the genre in the 90s. Their live shows are probably still really good, I can't imagine them not kicking ass.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I will try to remain open minded. I'm sure we'll have a great time.

[bosk1]

Who is even in Suicidal Tendencies now?    Other than Mike Muir, I honestly have no idea.

[Cyclopssss]

Here ya go:

Mike Muir
    Active: 1981–present
    Instruments: lead vocals
    Release contributions: all Suicidal Tendencies releases

Dean Pleasants
    Active: 1996–present
    Instruments: lead guitar
    Release contributions: all Suicidal Tendencies releases since Six the Hard Way (1998)

Nico Santora
    Active: 2012–present
    Instruments: Rhythm guitar
    Release contributions: 13 (2013)

Ra Díaz
    Active: 2016–present
    Instruments: Bass
    Release contributions: None so far

Eric Moore
    Active: 2007-2014, 2014–present
    Instruments: drums, percussion
    Release contributions: all releases since Year of the Cycos (2008)

[bosk1]

Yeah, I don't know ANY of those guys.  I think you just made my point. 

[Calvin6s]

Well, Megadeth has 50% of their band made up of people that just joined.  And for a time, Dave was the only original member.

Should it just be the Cyco Miko band now?

[bosk1]

Not necessarily.  But rightly or wrongly, I associate the band's "signature sound" (if there is such a thing) to the songwriting of Muir, Rocky George, and Mike Clark (and to a lesser extent, Rob Trujillo).  Megadeth has always been the Dave Mustaine show. 

[Calvin6s]

I would to, but I was musically aware (old enough) to be around during that time.

I'm not disagreeing though.  Bands with v4.0 where v1.0 is almost non-existent is usually kind of lame.  Although, we essentially just have Petrucci and Myung for DT.  So it is all up to the fan when all is said and done.  Suicidal Tendencies has been off my radar for so long that I couldn't even tell you what the prevailing opinion is.

Edit.  There is also an unfairness of youth.  By that I mean, when I was younger, I could tell you quite a bit about my favorite bands.  The names of all the members was almost a given.  As I've grown older, but still discovering new bands, I rarely bother to learn even a single member's name.  If I do know it, it is almost by accident because of places like this.  So I'd probably be blissfully unaware of lineup changes unless the band's sound changed dramatically.

[bosk1]

Depends on the band.  With DT, JP and JM were 2/3 of the original core, and James was the vocalist when they really forged their identity close to the beginning.  So it doesn't feel all that odd for me.  Y&T is down to just Dave Meniketti as the only remaining original member.  That borders on not feeling genuine anymore, but for the fact that Dave wrote such a huge portion of the music and lyrics anyway, and the other 3 founding members are either deceased or physically unable to perform. 

But in the case of S/T, I'm not making any judgments.  Just the observation that, like you, I lost track of this band LONG ago and, thus, I have no idea who is even in it other than Muir.

[Calvin6s]

The people that came and left DT were a big part of that eras sound though.  A main songwriter is great, but magic usually happens through collaboration.  Missing both Moore and Sherinian's contributions is only cured by checking out their post-DT work.  On the whole, I probably like OSI more than recent DT.

On the other side of the spectrum, I cringe when I read the original Dokken lineup might ride again.  And not just because Don can't hit the notes anymore.  And not even that I don't like Don's writing.  But even back in 94-96, I knew people close to the reunion then.  George was doing great work with Lynch Mob and a solo album.  Pilson had hooked up with Craig Goldy and working on material that I found insanely good.  Then Craig and my friends at Sunset Custom Guitar (ESP) told me they were rehearsing with comments from Jeff like "George is on fire".  My feeling was NOOOOOOOO.   I wanted that Pilson/Goldy material to see daylight (it didn't).  I wanted more Lynch Mob or at least Lynch solo albums.  The Dokken reunion kinda killed all the good stuff going on in the background and we got some mediocre Dokken reunion stuff.

So the whole "original lineup" thing to me will always be a hit and miss.  I think a Moore/Portnoy reunion with DT might be incredibly disappointing, despite loving both of those guys.

I never looked too heavily into Suicidal Tendencies writing credits, but a few of my zit covered high school friends that were Suicidal for Life or whatever it was they were saying told me Mike Clark was the songwriter I liked for ST.  Rocky George had some incredible solo work, but Clark was the actual composer.  From what I'm told ...

[TAC]

I saw Dokken at that time ('95) and they were incredible. 10 times better than I had ever thought they were in the 80's. (saw them in '86 and '88).

[Calvin6s]

I saw them twice during the reunion.  Lynch and Petrucci were my go to guys at that time.  If they appeared in any form within a 50 mile radius, I was there.

The first time, it was very good.  They seemed into it.  Lynch was able to play I Will Remember which everybody around me agreed was the highlight of the evening.  Pilson had his bass pedals and synths in full effect.  I recall Mick taking lead for a song and Jeff taking another.  And the people at my table were J. Frog (infamous guitar designer) and if I recall correctly Matt Masciandaro, Tetsu and the other ESP guitar guys.  After the show, I went to go meet George and also had the luck of meeting his visiting friend, Warren DeMartini of RATT.  And to top it off, Warren's girlfriend was ridiculously hot and touchy.

The second time, ugh.  My friend described George as George "Hamilton" Lynch wearing sparkly pants that were somehow tight and loose at the same time.  We were right up at the stage and the gig actually had "dinner served".  But we lost our appetite when we all instantaneously realized George couldn't be wearing underwear and either pulled a Spinal Tap cucumber or we were witnessing a floppy dick in our face.  Thankfully, bratwurst was not a dinner option.  When George wasn't soloing in our faces (usually a cool thing), he turned his back to the audience and faced his amps for the rest of the time.  They all seemed to be going through the motions.  And oh yeah, Shadowlife had just come out.

I left saying something my friends never thought they'd hear out of my mouth.  "That's the last Dokken show I pay to see."

[TAC]

I was never a huge Dokken guy. I actually saw them 3 times back in the day and never thought they were that great live. And Don Dokken seemed like such a douche on stage.
When they came for that reunion show, it was in a club and thought it'd be a cool night out. Well, they really blew me away.

[Calvin6s]

I was never a huge Dokken guy. I actually saw them 3 times back in the day and never thought they were that great live. And Don Dokken seemed like such a douche on stage.
When they came for that reunion show, it was in a club and thought it'd be a cool night out. Well, they really blew me away.

My guaranteed George Lynch concert friend (and fellow guitarist friend) loved bagging on Don.  And being young and relatively guitar centric myself, I'd be there cheering him on with my laughs.  Just being stupid and deep down not serious.  Another friend that was a moderate Dokken fan would turn songs like "You Just Got Lucky" into "Don's so Damn Ugly".  I don't know if it was because we grew up in the Weird Al era, but satirizing song lyrics at the drop of hat seemed incredibly common with my circle of friends   

But the original Dokken reunion album was essentially a Don Dokken solo album and it had its moments.  I'm not surprised Lynch could only get so much into it.  He was kind of having a guitar midlife crisis in the mid to late 90s.  He even told everybody at the Musicians Institute at that time something like "I'm 40 something years old.  I've been playing guitar 30 something years.  To be honest, I'm kinda bored of playing.  I refuse to pick it up on my own time unless I'm inspired.  But I probably just need a break so I can miss it again.  I like experimenting with sounds that aren't guitar or at least don't sound like guitar right now."  It is probably even in the Musician Institute video files, but he didn't allow video cameras and the MI guys told me he didn't want people to see that clinic.

[bosk1]

I forgot that this is a Megadeth thread.

[Logain Ablar]

I'm really only a fan of Marty-era Megadeth. I think the solo in Tornado of Souls was the first guitar solo that truly blew my mind.
What I've heard so far from Dystopia is encouraging. Plus, there's NOMACs on the cover! 

[Calvin6s]

I forgot that this is a Megadeth thread.

Children of Suicidal Dokken conversation broke out.  I believe RATT, Y&T are soon to follow.  It isn't over until we reach the Beatles.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

I don't care if this is a metal show. If you participate in a mosh pit, I want to punch you in the face. With a broken beer bottle. Which is as close as you're likely to get to one, since you're obviously still a teenager.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

Dave Lombardo on drums for ST.