Dave Mustaine knows a thing or two about writing thrash classics. The man is responsible for Megadeth's entire catalog and even some early Metallica songs (more or less, depending on who you ask). So what's the key to writing a solid thrash tune? Simplicity!
According to Mustaine in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Saturday Live, he got the idea for a good thrash song recipe from legendary producer Quincy Jones at a party. And who better to get songwriting advice from than the dude responsible for producing a bunch of Michael Jackson hits?
"For me, what I'd like to leave for future generations is to know that melody is so critical to songs," said Mustaine as transcribed by Blabbermouth. "Quincy Jones is a very famous producer here in America. We were making the Rust In Peace record at the time and had gone to this party, and Quincy was there. And he had said to our engineer/producer that the key to successful songs was beat, melody and 10 simple words."
"So I guess the most important thing I would like to leave to future generations is to echo what Quincy had said, but to make it my own, I would say in order to be successful in thrash, you need to have a heavy beat, melody and I'd say probably 20 simple words because we sing so much faster."
Megadeth will play Louder Than Life on September 23 and running up to that show with a whole mini-tour featuring the recently-reunited Biohazard. Check out those dates below and you can get your tickets here.
9/15 Grantville, PA – Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course
9/16 Mashantucket, CT – Premier Theater at Foxwoods Resorts Casino
9/17 Atlantic City, NJ – Hard Rock Live at Etess Arena
9/21 Windsor, ON – The Colosseum
9/23 Plymouth, IN – Plymouth Motor Speedway
