Leaving the world-famous heavy metal rock group Metallica in 1983, Dave Mustaine had his eyes on something new, but maybe not different. The guitarist/vocalist formed another thrash metal band soon after leaving Metallica, slightly differing from his last. The product was Megadeth, and although the band was not the first in the field of ‘80s heavy metal, it eventually proved to be an important asset of its musical genre, and every album the group released went at least gold.

Megadeth was a combination of old-style Metallica with a more mainstream feel, focusing more on instrumental music than Metallica. Though the members of Megadeth changed quite frequently during the band’s reign in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Mustaine and bassist Dave Ellefson were the group’s two core members from the start. The two other initial members of Megadeth, Kerry King and Lee Rauch, only performed with the band for a year before Chris Poland and Gar Samuelson replaced them. With King and Rauch, Megadeth released their debut album Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! in 1984, which led to the band being signed with Capitol Records. In 1986, the group released its first major label record, Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? The album went platinum, but the group did not.

Problems between Mustaine and other band members ultimately led to Jeff Young and Chuck Behler replacing Poland and Samuelson. This new ensemble released the album So Far, So Good… So What! in 1988, and the album went platinum. After another change in the lineup, Megadeth released the 1991 album Rust in Peace, resulting in another turnaround release, Countdown to Extinction, in 1992. These albums got the ball rolling again for Megadeth, and although the band switched members one more time in 2000, the group’s sound was undeniably consistent, and Megadeth punched out mega hits up until 2007, when the band’s most recent album United Abominations was released.