Lyrical Themes

As Megadeth's primary lyricist, Mustaine is known for his often controversial, political, and more recently, personal lyrics. War and nuclear war are common topics, including the military-industrial complex ("Architecture of Aggression", "Hangar 18", "Return to Hangar" "Take No Prisoners"), and the aftermath of war ("Dawn Patrol" "Ashes In Your Mouth"). The name Megadeth is a deliberate misspelling of the word megadeath, a term coined in 1953 by RAND military strategist Herman Kahn to describe one million deaths, popularized in his 1960 book On Thermonuclear War. Politics are also a common theme to many Megadeth songs, such as Mustaine's scathing assessment of Tipper Gore, the PMRC, and music censorship in the song "Hook In Mouth". Mustaine takes an environmentalist stance in "Countdown to Extinction" and "Dawn Patrol", and shuns dictators in songs like "Symphony of Destruction". The UN is criticized for its ineffectiveness in "United Abominations" and "Peace Sells". Mustaine's general cynicism regarding politics shines through on tracks like "Peace Sells",^[11] "The World Needs A Hero" and "Blackmail the Universe".

Controversial and misunderstood lyrics have also caused problems for the band, as the music video for "In My Darkest Hour" was banned from MTV in 1988 when the music channel deemed the song to be pro-suicide. The music video for "À Tout le Monde" was later banned by MTV, again wrongly interpreted as being pro-suicide, when in fact it was written from the perspective of a dying man, saying his last words to his loved ones.

Addiction is also a common theme, as in "Use the Man", "Burnt Ice", and "Addicted to Chaos", about a former substance abuse counselor who died of a drug overdose. Recently, some lyrics have taken on religious themes, such as "Never Walk Alone... A Call to Arms", which supposedly is about Mustaine's relationship with God, and "Shadow of Deth", with spoken lyrics taken directly from Psalm 23 of the King James Bible. "My Kingdom" and "Of Mice And Men" also feature Christian lyrics.

Dave dabbled in black magic in his teenage years, which became the theme for the song off the Peace Sells album, The Conjuring. Mustaine stated that it was emotionally difficult to play because of his rebirth into Christianity. "I put two hexes on people, and they both worked and the result was just what I was asking for," he explained. "Now, it took forever to get that Satanic depression off of me because it's just like playing with a Ouija board. You open the doorway to the dark side, and spirits come through. It took almost 20 years to get rid of that Satanic depression. I did it when I was 15, and I don't think I got free of it until I was in my mid-30s.You ask yourself, 'How is it possible that this is happening to me?' Well, because you flirted with the devil and you put a hex on somebody and you put another hex on somebody, and, well, you owe him. And that's why I have a problem playing 'The Conjuring' today."^[