Nah, you're entitled. But a smidge of an explanation to support your opinion might help others to understand it.

I'm a fan of Youthanasia personally. Of course Hangar 18 and Holy Wars are classics, but I thought Youthanasia was a good mix of what Megadeth was and what they were going to become. That strand of Rust in Peace, Countdown to Extinction, and Youthanasia were epic.

I've always preferred Megadeth more. I think their first song that ever struck me was the remake they did of Anarchy in the UK, I remember hearing it on Headbangers Ball. Up till tht point my musical taste was on the lighter side of the hard rock genre. Symophany of Destruction might be the single best FPS game soundtrack ever invented.

I stopped listening to Megadeth at Sweating Bullets.

I never said it did.

Musically, nothing Trujillo has done is better than Metallica or Megadeth. Suicidal Tendencies was close. BLS is good but not Megadeth good.

And Trujillo's stint in Ozzy's band didn't even produce a studio album that I know of.

I didn't forget Infectious Grooves but there's enough crossover in membership that mentioning them separately from ST is a waste of time. Even then, ST is better than Infectious Grooves (IMO) and ST is not better than either Metallica or Megadeth (again IMO) so I didn't feel like typing it out. :)

I too was a skater. But I was also a guitar player. That's most of it, I'm sure. I loved ST, Bad Brains, Mr. Bungle, Voivod, and lots of other stuff. But for me Megadeth, specifically "Rust in Peace" was the perfect combination of the thrash metal I loved as a skater and the guitar driven neoclassical fusion (Vinnie Moore/Tony MacAlpine) that I was listening to at the time as a guitar player.

It's easy to understand when you hear or read about it now. Critics called "Rust in Piece" a masterpiece, an album for the ages...and it peaked at #2 on the charts right behind?

Metallica's Black album

Dave became consumed with the competition (and heroin) and commercial success. You start to hear it on "Countdown" and it's really prevalent on "Youthanasia". By "Cryptic Writings", Friedman (and a lot of fans) were ready to quit the band.

Same here. I ultimately became much more interested in Metallica's influences (NWOBHM bands like Motorhead and Diamond Head) than Metallica themselves.

Black Album < dog shit

I thought people stopped listening to both Metallica and Megadeth after age 15.

To me, those 3 albums are all Marty Friedman. If you have any of the re-issues, you can hear some of the demos Dave cut by himself and they're absolutely not the same.

That's not to say that Marty was the sole creative force because in reality Dave was the only real creative force. It was the effect Marty had on Dave that made those albums special. He brought a polish and musicianship that was really unparalleled at the time, IMO. The thing is, Friedman wasn't a typical thrash guitar player but he also wasn't a traditional neoclassical player, either. Sure, since Malmsteen and Rhoads broke on the scene in the early 80's, all kinds of guys were playing sweeping arpeggios and harmonic minor scales. Friedman took it to a whole new level. He wasn't afraid to mix it up in mixolydian or pull out some exotic Arabian scale. Combine that with some very unconventional phrasing and he was just uber-unique.

Again, you should listen to "Dragon's Kiss". Friedman's solo album is one of the best albums I've ever heard.

Exactly. Newsted wasn't mixed out because he sucked, he was mixed out because Lars and James are assholes.

Well, for his role in Ozzy's 2011 re-issue scam, Trujillo is a dipshit.

Oooh, a Tony MacAlpine reference... htis knows his guitar players.

Funnily enough, I was listening to an interview with Marty last night on Sirius. Guess he has a new album getting ready to drop. I knew he had disappeared to Japan, but I didn't know that he's mostly known over there for his TV work rather than his music. Odd considering the Japanese' love for that era of metal.

You're pretty knowledgable about this era, so I assume you're familiar with the Jason Becker story. If not, he was partners with Marty in the band Cacophony when they were still high schoolers. After they split, he went on to replace Vai in David Lee Roth's band. He recorded one album before being diagnosed with ALS. He was told he didn't have long to live but he's still around and he composes music with his eyes, the only part of his body that still works. There's a great documentary called Not Dead Yet about him that I highly recommend. It was on netflix, but apparently isn't anymore. It's worth finding if you can.

Both bands hold a special place in my heart. Metallica was my first concert in 91 on the black album tour (first show in the US in lovely Peoria, IL). I saw Megadeth a year later on the Countdown tour (with STP opening up and getting booed off the stage).

I am definitely more of a Megadeth guy now. They did go through a real rough patch with the roster turnover but have settled into a nice groove now with Chris Broderick on guitar. I saw them with Slayer on the 20th anniversary show of Seasons/Rust in Peace, and with Testament opening, it was almost too much metal for one evening.

Did you know Tony played piano/keyboards on Vinnie Moore's first album? :)

What's even more odd is that the music he has produced since moving to Japan is the furthest thing from metal or neoclassical fusion. It's Japanese music, by and large.

I watched it a couple of weeks ago on Pivot. They gave him 3-5 and he's still alive 22 years later. Amazing!

I was really amazed with his recording methodology. Having his dad play each note slowly on the acoustic and recording it into the computer. Then he arranges it with his eyes and played back, it sounds just like some of the stuff from his Shrapnel days. He can still SHRED!

I was actually waiting for an opportune moment to bring it up but you beat me to it.