| Icon | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | February 25, 2014 | |||
| Recorded | 1986-2000 | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal, thrash metal, hard rock, speed metal | |||
| Length | 51:48 | |||
| Label | Capitol, UME | |||
| Megadeth chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Icon is a greatest hits album by Megadeth, released in 2013 by Capitol Records. It is part of the Icon album series by Universal Music Enterprises, which absorbed Capitol in 2013. [2]
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" | 1990 - Rust in Peace | 6:32 |
| 2. | "Symphony of Destruction" | 1992 - Countdown to Extinction | 4:06 |
| 3. | "Wake Up Dead" | 1986 - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? | 3:38 |
| 4. | "Trust" | 1997 - Cryptic Writings | 5:12 |
| 5. | "Hangar 18" | 1990 - Rust in Peace | 5:12 |
| 6. | "Sweating Bullets" | 1992 - Countdown to Extinction | 5:26 |
| 7. | "A Tout le Monde" | 1994 - Youthanasia | 4:25 |
| 8. | "Skin o' My Teeth" | 1992 - Countdown to Extinction | 3:15 |
| 9. | "In My Darkest Hour" | 1988 - So Far, So Good... So What! | 6:26 |
| 10. | "Kill the King" | 2000 - Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years | 3:42 |
| 11. | "Peace Sells" | 1986 - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? | 4:02 |
| Total length: | 51:48 | ||
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine and bassist David Ellefson. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along with Metallica, Anthrax, and Slayer, responsible for the genre's development and popularization. Their music features complex arrangements and fast rhythm sections, and lyrical themes of death, war, politics, personal relationships, and religion.
Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! is the debut studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on June 12, 1985, by Combat Records. At the beginning of 1985, the band was given $8,000 by Combat to record and produce its debut album. The band was forced to fire their original producer and produce the album by themselves, after spending half of the album's budget on drugs, alcohol, and food. Despite the poor production, the album was a well-received effort that obtained strong reviews in various music publications. Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! played an essential role in establishing thrash metal as an authentic subgenre of heavy metal music. It explores themes of death, occultism, and violence.
Peace Sells... but Who's Buying? is the second studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on September 19, 1986, through Capitol Records. The project was originally handled by Combat Records, resulting in the original mix of the album being co-produced by Randy Burns. Capitol Records then bought the rights to the album and hired another producer named Paul Lani to mix it himself. The recording of the album was difficult for the band, because of the ongoing drug issues the members had at the time. Drummer Gar Samuelson and guitarist Chris Poland were fired shortly after the album's promotional tour for drug abuse, making it the last Megadeth album for Samuelson before his death and the last for Poland until he reappeared as a session musician on The System Has Failed. The title track, noted for its politically conscious lyrics, was released as the album's lead single. The album's cover art, featuring the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead in front of a desolated United Nations Headquarters, was created by Ed Repka.
So Far, So Good... So What! is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on January 19, 1988 by Capitol Records. It was the band's only album recorded with drummer Chuck Behler and guitarist Jeff Young, both of whom were fired from the band in early 1989, several months after the completion of the album's world tour. So Far, So Good... So What! features music performed at fast tempos with technical ability; lyrically, frontman and guitarist Dave Mustaine addresses a variety of topics, including nuclear holocaust and freedom of speech.
Rust in Peace is the fourth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on September 24, 1990 by Capitol Records. It was the first Megadeth album to feature lead guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza. The songs "Hangar 18" and "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" were released as singles. A remixed and remastered version of the album featuring four bonus tracks was released in 2004.
Countdown to Extinction is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on July 14, 1992, through Capitol Records. It was the group's second studio release to feature the "classic" lineup of Dave Mustaine, Marty Friedman, David Ellefson and Nick Menza, with all of them contributing to songwriting on the album. The album features some of the band's best known songs such as "Symphony of Destruction", "Sweating Bullets", and "Skin o' My Teeth", which enjoyed significant chart success and made a great musical impact.
Youthanasia is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on November 1, 1994, through Capitol Records. It is stylistically similar to their previous album, Countdown to Extinction (1992). The title is a play on words, implying that society is euthanizing its youth. The cover art features an elderly woman hanging babies by their feet on a seemingly endless clothes line, a direct reference to a line in the title track.
Hidden Treasures is an EP by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on July 18, 1995, via Capitol Records. The album features songs that originally appeared on film soundtracks and tribute albums. Four of the tracks were released as singles, and three have received Grammy Award nominations for Best Metal Performance. Despite having garnered mediocre or negative reviews, the material on the EP has been credited with helping expand the group's MTV audience in the early 1990s.
Cryptic Writings is the seventh studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth. Released on June 17, 1997 through Capitol Records, it was the band's last studio album to feature drummer Nick Menza. His departure would mark the end of the band's longest lasting lineup to date, having recorded four studio albums. Megadeth decided to produce the record with Dann Huff in Nashville, Tennessee, because they were not satisfied with their previous producer Max Norman. The album features twelve tracks with accessible song structures, specifically aimed for radio airplay. The lyrics were also altered, in order to make the music more inclusive for wider audience. These changes were met with mixed opinions from music critics, who noted the band moving away from their thrash metal roots.
Risk is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on August 31, 1999 by Capitol Records, the band's last album to be released by the label. The first Megadeth album since 1990 to feature a lineup change, Risk marks the studio debut of drummer Jimmy DeGrasso with the band, as well as the final appearance of longtime guitarist Marty Friedman, who announced his departure a year later. Meant to be a breakthrough on alternative rock radio, Risk received a mixed response because of the great deviation from the band's traditional sound. The backlash ultimately resulted with the band returning towards a heavier sound with their next album.
The World Needs a Hero is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on May 15, 2001 by Sanctuary Records. After the critical and commercial failure of the previous album Risk (1999), The World Needs a Hero represented a change back to a heavier musical direction. Subsequently, the album charted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 upon release.
Rude Awakening is the first live album by American heavy metal band Megadeth. The album was released by Sanctuary Records in 2002, and is the last release before the band broke up in 2002. It was released in both CD and DVD formats.
David Scott Mustaine is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the thrash metal band Megadeth, as well as their only consistent member. Mustaine has released fifteen studio albums with Megadeth, sold over 50 million albums worldwide, with six albums platinum-certified, and won a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance in 2017 at the 59th Grammy Awards, for the title track of their fifteenth studio album, Dystopia.
Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note in the United States in 1942 by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, and Glenn E. Wallichs. Capitol was acquired by British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary in 1955. EMI was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012, and was merged with the company a year later, making Capitol and the Capitol Music Group both distributed by UMG. The label's circular headquarters building is a recognized landmark of Hollywood, California. Capitol is well known as the U.S. record label of the Beatles, especially during the years of Beatlemania in America from 1964 to 1967.
Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years is a greatest hits compilation album by heavy metal band Megadeth, released in 2000, through Capitol Records. The album featured the Dave Mustaine/David Ellefson/Jimmy DeGrasso/Al Pitrelli line-up on the new tracks "Kill the King" and "Dread and the Fugitive Mind". The album features a hidden track, "Capitol Punishment", which is a medley of numerous previous Megadeth songs.
American thrash metal band Megadeth has released fifteen studio albums, six live albums, seven compilation albums, one EP, forty-nine singles, ten video albums, and forty-four music videos. After he was fired from Metallica in 1983, guitarist and vocalist Dave Mustaine formed Megadeth along with bassist Dave Ellefson, guitarist Greg Handevidt, and drummer Gar Samuelson. The band toured and gained a following, signing with the independent label Combat Records in late 1984. Megadeth's debut album Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good! (1985), sold very well for an independent release, and the group attracted the attention of major record labels. By the end of the year, the group signed with Capitol Records. Megadeth's first major-label album, Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, was released in 1986.
Jimmy DeGrasso is an American heavy metal drummer.
Greatest Hits: Back to the Start is the second greatest hits album by Megadeth. It was released on June 28, 2005, via Capitol Records. The title "Back to the Start" is a reference to lyrics in "Rust in Peace... Polaris" from Megadeth's 1990 album Rust in Peace: "The day of final conflict/All pay the price/The third World War rapes peace/Takes life back to the start." The cover art is an edited version of the Castle Romeo H-bomb test.
Icon is a series of compilation albums released by Universal Music Enterprises, a division of Universal Music Group, the largest music publisher in the world.
"In My Darkest Hour" is a song by the American heavy metal band Megadeth. It is the sixth track from their third studio album So Far, So Good... So What! which released in 1988 under Capitol Records. The song is frequently preformed live by the band. The song was featured in the documentary The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years, where it received a music video as well as featuring on the films official soundtrack released under Capitol. Dave Mustaine has said that the song has one his favorite solos that he has written.
