Megadeth – The Right to go Insane

Thrash metal and war? It’s a perfect match made in hell. As natural a fit as Pavarotti and super-slow-mo sports footage, or Dwight Yokoam and Nascar racing. If you’re scudding along the Airport Road out of the Green Zone, what better soundtrack than the mayhem of chainsaw guitars and a voice that’s gargling razor blades. I mean, Martha Wainwright is simply not going to cut it when you’re baulking IEDs, and peering our the turret of your APC with your 50 calibre.
Megadeth know full well that war is good for business. Or in their own words, ‘Killing is my business and business is good’ and they’re chugging along with the same sort of nihilistic urgency as their ’80s heyday.
In The Right to go Insane lead singer Dave Mustaine commandeers an army tank (like there’s another kind, I guess) and takes it on a joyride. Of course, ‘joyride’ doesn’t begin describe the sort of devastation Dave’s escapade has on the fire hydrants, lamp posts and Winnebagos of San Diego… it’s carnage.
Megadeth didn’t actually steal a tank for the clip though, that particular accolade goes to some fruitcake that wanted to guarantee himself a lifetime’s worth of footage on Police Chase reality TV. You might recall the episode on the news back in 1995. What could bring a man so low that he’d hijack a tank and wreak untold mayhem? Rumour has it he was listening to waaaaaay too much Megadeth. And if the event’s re-enactment is to believed, Pycho-Dude’s wife didn’t like him listening to Megadeth, turned down the Megadeth tunes on his ghettoblaster and demanded a divorce – citing irreconcilable Megadeth differences. Chicks huh? Can’t live with them.
Needless to say, Pycho-Dude flipped, tossed stuff around his workshop and grabbed the keys to the nearest tank. Who wouldn’t?
Yep, no wonder the armed forces have embraced Megadeth. Megadeth is hard and fast, and when s**t’s going down and hitting the fan, and you’re in the s**t, firing high-calibre s**t at s**t, and your chick’s 10,000 clicks away… well, s**t, you turn to Megadeth.
Trouble is, Megadeth is a bunch of blokes knocking on 50 with long hair, who are protein shake-drinking, charity walk-a-thon-organising, Democrat-voting dads, who just happen to like playing their guitars faster than most people.
Buzz-cut hellraisers these blokes are not.
But they are providing a public service. Following in the footsteps of Edith Piaf, Doris Day, and Little Patsy, Megadeth is keeping up troop morale. And for that, I salute them.