MEGADETH mastermind Dave Mustaine talked about the band’s latest deluxe reissue of their 1985 debut record “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!”, which came out on June 8.
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When Sakis Fragos, publisher/chief editor of Greece’s Rock Hard magazine, suggested during a recent interview that reissuing “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!” four times is “kind of unfair” for the MEGADETH fans who bought the previous versions of the album, Mustaine said: “I wasn’t the one who decided [to re-release it once again]. These are things that come from the record company, and when a record company wants to do a release, there are a lot of things involved with it that the public doesn’t know. Sometimes in order to enter into a new record deal with a new record company, they’ll say, ‘We wanna sign a record deal with you. We’ll take your new music and we wanna put this one out; we wanna re-release it. That ain’t up to me. And you know what? I’ve gotta tell you — I’m offended that you said that you think it’s unfair that we did that. I never release records to take advantage of the fans. If you know me, you know I don’t do that.”
Mustaine went on to say that part of the reason he wanted to see “Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good!” re-released is to bring the album’s production up to date.
“When I was in the studio [making the original album], two guys walked in that were responsible for burning up half of our recording budget,” he explained. “And David Ellefson[MEGADETH bassist] and I were left looking at each other, like, ‘Can you believe that this just happened?’ So for us to get an opportunity to go back in today and to do the record again with the technology today, for new fans that listen to bands like SLIPKNOT and FIVE FINGER DEATH PUNCH — that’s what they believe thrash and speed metal and hardcore and all that stuff kind of sounds like; not the songs, but the tone of it. So for us to get a chance to go back in and make this record sound good, who wouldn’t wanna do that?”
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Mustaine added that he understands why some people would think it was “unfair” of MEGADETH to re-release an album that has already been made available three other times in different versions. “You saw the way I reacted [to you saying that] — I was hurt, ’cause I don’t want anybody to think that,” Mustane told Fragos. “And that’s exactly what happens when record companies do that. So that’s why we put so many extra songs on there, so that the fans wouldn’t think what you said. So we put numerous live versions on there, from one lineup and from another lineup and from another lineup — just versions and versions and versions — so that people wont’ go, ‘Fuck! I bought three of these, and now I have to buy four.’