THE VIDEO Megadeth, "Peace Sells," Peace Sells ...But Who's Buying?, 1986, Capitol
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SAMPLE LYRIC "What do you mean I could be the president / of the United States of America / tell me something / it's still We, the People, right? / If there's a new wave / I'll be the first in line / It better work this time"
EXCESSIVELY DETAILED DESCRIPTION The video opens with Megadeth's weird logo thing, Vic Rattlehead (who can best be described as a skull wearing what can only be described as welded-on metal BluBlockers with more weird metal things wiring its jaw shut -- again, another band that could have taken mascot lessons from Iron Maiden) exploding, and Dave Mustaine showing off not the world's best dental work beneath a cascade of guitar.
Continued close-ups of Mustaine's mouth are interposed with rapid, back-and-forth footage that follows the content of the lyrics -- e.g., "What do you mean I don't believe in god? / I talk to him every day" shows us artworks of various world religion's central figures (Buddha, Shiva, J.C., etc.) along with an enormous crowd of people saying the Pledge of Allegiance.
I absolutely love this because it reminds me of the old Headbanger's Ball bumpers -- you know, they would say like "Work" and show old black and white footage of prisoners breaking up rocks, stuff like that. Those were so frickin' awesome! Why, oh why can't their be an MTV Classic channel where they just show the old shows, intact? I would love to see those damn bumpers, I would love to see all Riki Rachtman's barbecues again, I would love -- okay, okay, sorry. I digress.
As we hit the chorus, we see that we're at a totally badass Megadeth concert! Band footage (as well as footage of fans going nuts) is now added to the mix. Sometimes we're now also getting a split screen, with concert on the bottom, other stuff on top (it could also be noted that the news-style footage used here is very similar to the stuff jaded, L.A. Axl watches in "Welcome to the Jungle.")
When Mustaine intones, "Can we put a price on peace?" suddenly we pull out, and the video becomes the TV screen in a living room (shot in black and white). A long-haired youth sits cross-legged on the floor directly in front of the TV nodding along as the father enters the room. The father brusquely puts his newspaper beneath his arm, grabs the remote and, changing the channel, says, "What is this garbage you're watching? I want to watch the news" [emphasis in original]. The kid pauses, turns (showing us his Slayer t-shirt) and says, "This is the news," changing the channel back using the TV knob.
This brings me to one of my main (and only) points -- I swear up and down (and no one believes me) that this kid is played by Jason Lively, who reprises Anthony Michael Hall's role as 'Rusty' in National Lampoon's European Vacation. I have no proof of this, save for a physical resemblance and a telltale lisp, but now the rumor's on the internet (so there!).
At this point, the video's basically all Dave Mustaine going "peace sells, but who's buying?" a jillion times, mad guitars, and Megadeth fans just losing it. All of the images are going even faster at this point too, and besides the usual heavily armed police running, planes, maps, bombed-out buildings, world flags, and people wearing skull masks, we also start seeing an alternating peace sign/dollar sign in front of it all. It basically goes on like this, until everything sort of blends together.
THE VERDICT Wow, wow, and wow. This is like, Dave Mustaine and the boys could have really just thrown in the towel and gone home happy after this one. This song is amazing and I never, ever tire of it. It's the one time that Mustaine's liberal politics and amazing guitar skills come together just almost miraculously (unlike in later songs like "Foreclosure of a Dream" and "Symphony of Destruction," which I kind of consider to be also-rans compared to this one).
Obviously, this song's a favorite of mine, particularly first thing in the morning (you know, you're not feeling like going to work, you are feeling like asking many questions of The Man). And as slogans go, it's not bad either. My interpretation (and I may be wrong, but whatever), is that it's like yes, peace is very appealing as an idea, but look what governments are really spending their money on (police, arms, wars, etc). A brilliant job of encapsulating this in five words (and a ton of pictures being flashed at once A Clockwork Orange style).
Which is why it's included even though the video's not amazing (well, it is amazing, but since not a lot happens in it, I don't have as much to talk about -- save for the Jason Lively cameo). Still, my only complaint here is that we really don't get a good look at Dave Mustaine at any point. I mean, any look at Dave Mustaine's a good look, but, you know, I'm just saying I could have dealt with seeing a little bit more of him. (Or a lot, heh heh).