Comparison and Contrast of Megadeth and Metallica - Essay Example

Metallica vs. Megadeth Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that was formerly capitalized in the United Kingdom and United States. It is characterized by intensity, loud music and aggressiveness in terms of beats and vocal singing. The musical instruments used mostly comprise of electric guitars and the lead guitarist mostly implements an aggressive singing that can sometimes be related to screaming (Bowar, “Heavy Metal Artists, Styles and Genres”). Metallica is an American band that was formed in 1981 by Ulrich Lars. By then its members included Cliff Burton, Kirk Hammett, Jason Newsted and James Hetfield. Cliff Burton was not around for long as in 1986 he passed on in a bus crash on the way to Copenhagen. This was just three years after they had released their first album titled “Kill Em All”. Currently the band members include; James Hetfield who is the lead vocals and rhythm guitarist, Lars Ulrich does the drums, Jason Newsted does the Bass guitar and Kirk Hammett does the lead guitar (Metallica, “Kill Em All”). Their first album being was “Metal up Your Ass” that was later renamed to “Kill Em All” in 1983. It was followed by “Ride the Lightning” that was released in 1984. In 1986 they released their third album that was named “Master of Puppets”. In 1988, they released “…And Justice for All”. The next year they had their debut of the album “Metallica”. 1996 saw the release of “Load” that was not wholly completed thus “Reload” was produced the following year and it sought to complete the album “Load”. Their eighth album was “Garage Inc.” that was released in 1998. The following years saw the release of “S&M” and in 2003; they hit their tenth album that was called “St. Anger”. It was followed by “Death Magnetic” that was released in 2008 and their concluding album was “Lulu” that was released in 2011 (Metallica, “Albums”). Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California that was formed in 1983 by Dave Mustaine after his departure from Metallica due to reasons of excessive drinking. Their members include; Dave Mustaine who is the lead vocalist and guitarist, Chris Broderick who does the guitar and backing vocals, David Ellefson who does bass and Shawn Drover who does the drums and percussion. Their first album was “Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good” which was released in 1985 and it was the album that catapulted their career into the heavy metal music industry. In 1986 they released their second studio album by the name “Peace Sell…But Who’s Buying”. Two years down the line, they released their third album “So Far, So Good…So What?” which was released in 1988. This album saw the addition of several tracks and this led to the album being re-issued in 2004. The album was preceded by “Rust In Peace” that was released in 1990. In 1992, they released their fifth studio album “Countdown to Extinction”. This was their album that managed to acquire the prestigious double platinum status. In 1994, they released “Youthanasia” which was later re-issued in 2004 in the form of a remixed edition of the tracks that it had. Their seventh album was “Hidden Treasures” in 1995 and “Cryptic Writings” in 1997. “Risk” was later released in 1999. This album happened to be the last one that they were producing in conjunction with Capitol records and it saw the debut of Jimmy DeGrasso who became their drummer as well as the departure of Marty Friedman their guitarist. Their tenth album was “Capitol Punishment” that was released in 2000 and the following year, they released “The World Needs a Hero”. Their twelfth albums were “Rude Awakening” and “Still Alive and Well” that were released in 2002. In 2004 “The System Has Failed” in 2004 and “Greatest Hits: Back to the Start” in 2005 were produced and released and later on 2007 “United Abominations” was released. “Endgame” came in 2009 and it was one of those albums that were released by Dave Mustaine and Andy Sneap. Their last album was “TH1RT3EN” that was released in 2011 (Megadeth, “Discography”). Comparison and contrast of Megadeth and Metallica songs and album releases Megadeth have had a total of 43 good songs that have sprung to the charts as compared to Metallica whose songs are always in top charts. Megadeth have produced a total of 32 music videos as compared to Metallica who have produced a total of only 22 music videos. Megadeth have a total of 3 compiled releases as compared to Metallica who have a total of only one compiled releases. Megadeth have produced more than 11 studio albums as compared to Metallica who have a total of 9 complete studio albums. When it comes to singles released, Megadeth have a total of 30 songs as compared to Metallica who have a total of 44. Megadeth have 6 live albums released as compared to Metallica who have only 2. Their similarities come in the fact that each have a total of 2 EP released (Diffen, “Megadeth vs Metallica: Comparison Chart”). Metallica vs. Megadeth album sales Metallica’s songs have been written by James Hetfield and Ulrich Lars while Megadeth songs have been written by Dave Mustaine after his departure from Metallica. Metallica have been around the music block from 1981 as compared to Megadeth who came into the music scene from 1983 just after Dave Mustaine departure. This did not stop Megadeth from producing and releasing more albums as compared to Metallica. According to record sales that date from 1991, Metallica have sold a total of 52,271,000copies while Megadeth have a record sales count of 25,000,000 copies. With regard to album sales, although Megadeth tried to catch up with material works from Metallica, they did not hit the mark that Metallica had already set and this was portrayed in the album sales (Giovanni, “The Great Debate”). Metallica vs. Megadeth released album comparisons “Peace Sells…but Whos Buying” was Megadeth first album to be released. Dave Mustaine had to do a good job on this album because he believed that Metallica did not value him. He went ahead to comment that, “For years Metallica said I wasn’t important to them; that I was a temporary guitar player or they never said anything about me”. What motivated him to put more effort into his works was the fact that he believed that songs such as “Jump in the Fire”, “The Four Horsemen” and “Call of Kthulu” and some parts of “Leper Messiah” belonged to him and that Metallica did not credit him for the use of his artistic works. He added that, “James Hetfield didnt want to give me credit because hes jealous of me” (Webcitation, “Dave Mustaine: James Hetfield is jealous of me”). “Master of Puppets” was released in 1986. It managed to become number 29 on The Billboard 200. Megadeth “So Far, So Good...So What!” became number 28 on The Billboard 200 and “...And Justice for All” beat the Album to becoming number 6. In 1989, the album was given the award of being the best metal performance with regard to the track, “One”. Lastly, according to the Top Pop Catalog in 2011, it became number 3. This was by far what Megadeth could handle as Metallica beat them by far by the release of “...And Justice for All”. “Cryptic Writings” and “ReLoad”. “Cryptic writings” was written in a format that was less equal as compared to the genre of thrash metal that Megadeth record. As a result of this shift, it caused the album not to perform as expected. “ReLoad” which was a continuation of “Load” that was previously produced by Metallica. When ranked in The Billboard 200, “Cryptic Writings” was number 10 (Allmusic, “Megadeth”), while “ReLoad” became number 1 (Allmusic, “Metallica”). According to the Top Canadian Albums chart, “Cryptic Writings” was number 17 (Allmusic, “Megadeth”), while “ReLoad” became number 2 and it also managed to win a Grammy award for the Best Metal Performance, with their song “Better than You” (Allmusic, “Metallica”). “Risk” and “S&M” were released in the same year, 1999. With Risk” by Megadeth, they did not perform as expected and their results were not as their fans had expected. This is because they shifted their music again and started doing rock like tunes which was quite a deflection from thrash metal. This landed them at spot 16 on The Billboard 200. They also landed at spot 14 on Top Canadian Albums and on the Top Internet Albums that landed at spot 8 (Allmusic, “Megadeth”). As for Metallica the “S&M” album was quite a twist with the introduction of other musical instruments such as violins and guitar strings. The song "Call of the Ktulu” however was a good song as it managed to win a Grammy award in 2000. This landed them at spot 2 and 182 on The Billboard 200 in the years 1999 and 2000 consecutively. They also landed at spot 4 on Top Canadian Albums and on the Top Internet Albums that landed at spot 1 and 3 in the years 1999 and 2000 consecutively (Allmusic, “Metallica”). “Th1rt3en” was the 13th album by Megadeth and it managed to take spot 1 in the Top Hard Rock Albums in 2011 and 2012. In The Billboard 200, it managed to get spot 11 and in The Top Rock albums it was number 3. The album brought massive success to Megadeth (Allmusic, “Megadeth”). As for Metallica, “Lulu” did not bring much success as it managed to become number 4 and 10 in the Top Hard Rock Albums and Top Rock Albums charts respectively in the same year (Allmusic, “Metallica”). Metallica vs. Megadeth Concert/Show Success According to Last.Fm counter of the most played 692 shows since 1982, Metallica has played more shows every year and has entertained up to an estimated 500,000 people in Moscow, 1991. Megadeth, on the other hand has played up to an estimated 593 shows since 1985. As a result, the comparison leans to Metallica who have had success in shows and concert success numbers (Giovanni, “The Great Debate”). Metallica vs. Megadeth Consistency Band member’s consistency is attributed to albums and tours. Metallica have had a stable band number of up to 8 members and they have had more tours and the results is what attributed to more shows according to the survey by Last.Fm. As for Megadeth, they have had a surge in member numbers every now and then, where they have ever hit a number of twenty band members, where Dave Mustaine was the only consistent member. As a result of that, Metallica have a better band consistency as compared to Megadeth. In addition to that, in album consistency, Megadeth have been consistent in their releases as compared to Metallica although the latter have had more success on their albums as compared to Megadeth. Conclusion It can be said that both bands are equally good. They have had their ups and downs that saw Metallica and Megadeth pick up the leads. Metallica have had more radio play than Megadeth although the latter have been the greatest challenge that Metallica ever needed and they deserve thumbs up for that. Their only challenges have been attributed to the number of band members. Bibliography Allmusic. Megadeth. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/megadeth-mn0000406294 Allmusic. Metallica. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/metallica-mn0000446509 Bowar, Chad. Heavy Metal Artists, Styles and Genres. Web. Retrieved from: http://heavymetal.about.com/od/heavymetalartists/u/heavymetalartistsandstyles.htm Diffen. Megadeth vs Metallica: Comparison Chart. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Megadeth_vs_Metallica Giovanni, Nick. Ultimateguitar. Metallica Vs. Megadeth: The Great Debate. 2010. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/columns/artists_discussions/metallica_vs_megadeth_the_great_debate.html Metallica. Kill Em All. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.metallica.com/releases/kill-em-all.asp Metallica. Albums. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.metallica.com/release_list.asp?ss=searchexact~media_type~album&t=Albums Megadeth. Discography. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.megadeth.com/discography.php Webcitation. Dave Mustaine: James Hetfield is jealous of me. 2009, May. Web. Retrieved from: http://www.webcitation.org/5hBun2sKu Read More