“Dave and I were in a position where there was no Plan B. There was no escape hatch”: Megadeth were broke, homeless and way behind Metallica. But this thrash classic inspired by Patti Smith and written on a borrowed bass would change everything

Megadeth posing for a photograph in 1986.

Megadeth’s debut album, 1985’s Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good, was recorded on a budget of $8000, and it sounded like it. That record crackled with energy and spite - it was leader Dave Mustaine’s personal fuck-you to his former bandmates in Metallica, who had kicked him out of the band a couple of years earlier for partying too hard.

Killing Is My Business… had been a decent start, but it would be their second album, Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying?, that elevated Megadeth to thrash metal’s top tier. And in the song Peace Sells itself, they delivered one of the cornerstone songs of the era – one that showed Megadeth were way more than just the band fronted by the guy that got thrown out of Metallica.