Symphony Of Destruction.

Band: Megadeth
Song: Symphony Of Destruction
Album: Countdown to Extinction

After being kicked out of Metallica, Dave Mustaine formed Megadeth, a band that is considered as one of the founding fathers of Thrash Metal. Megadeth was the medium in which Mustaine expressed his anger, weather it was a relationship, his life, government or simply rage.

Symphony Of Destruction is one of Megadeth’s most famous singles. In 1992, when it was released, the album achieved double platinum status. Like many Megadeth albums, political critique has always been an undertone to Dave Mustaine’s lyrics.

You take a mortal man
And put him in control
Watch him become a god
Watch people’s heads a’ roll

The first stanza of the song depicts a man who gains total control of a powerful entity. Dave Mustaine has a very clear aversion towards the way governments were run, and deeply believes that powerful men are easily corrupted. The ending line of the stanza reasons the reaction that such power causes, or what had to go down in order for that power to be achieved.

Just like the Pied Piper
Led rats through the streets
We dance like marionettes
Swaying to the symphony of destruction

The chorus uses an allusion to the Pied Piper of Hamelin, a German poem where the Pied Piper used his flute to clean a rat infested city, and after being unpaid for his service, he leads all the children to a mountain where he locks them forever, leaving a city with no children. This allusion refers to how people follow blindly their leaders, to what Mustaine called the Symphony Of Destruction. The question, however, is what is being destroyed? By blindly following leaders, we ‘cause destruction to many sectors of life, such as economy, individualism and even civilization. Again, the allusion to the Pied Piper comes into play as it destroys the future, the children of each generation.

Acting like a robot
Its metal brain corrodes
You try to take its pulse
Before the head explodes

The first line of the 2nd stanza can refer to both the leader and the subjects. To the subjects as they act under a program invented by the leader. To the leader as it represents an automatic response to power, and eventually corroding, or corrupting his mind. As a metal brain, a machine, we can also assume that it stops being about the welfare of the people, but instead it works only with the idea of personal success, completely rational rather than emotional, about achieving power, even at the expense of the people.

Just like the Pied Piper
Led rats through the streets
We dance like marionettes
Swaying to the symphony of destruction

We sway to the Symphony of Destruction as we follow forth and back a leader that only follows his own will. However, the dark tone of the lyrics might induce that it is not a simple slavery or submission, but something magic, in the same way the Pied Piper hypnotized the rats and then the children of Hamelin. Mustaine here offers a different image, as men stop being men, and become droids, mindless machines under the will of an apparent God.

"It's about the masses being led to their own destruction by a leader who's more or less a puppet of a phantom government. Just about every leader we've had that hasn't ended up with a bullet in his head is a political puppet." (Mustaine, 1992)

The earth starts to rumble
World powers fall
A’ warring for the heavens
A peaceful man stands tall

The last stanza changes the course of the whole song. When the “earth starts to rumble” implies that there is a tremor in the way things were. There are two ways of looking at this. One is that the people would rebel, and thus overthrow the governments. When warring for the heavens, or for a utopian future, a man that disagrees with the world order that was set would stand out among the bloodshed. We can also see this as a justification for the actions taken by governments. Many times, it has been said that bloodshed was done for the greater good, to reach some sort of utopia, thus, “warring for the heavens.” However, to be for heaven would in fact contradict Christian ideals, and again, the man who opposes this would shine. This is an allusion to the Bible, since in the time of Jesus many powers were at war with each other to achieve their personal heavens. Jesus came along, and with a message of peace changed the world order.

“Basically what this song is about is, you take a person - a typical stereotype numbskull - and you give him the old shit, shower, and shave, throw him in a monkey suit and he can run the country. As he starts to become more this political puppet, things start to get worse." (Mustaine, 1992)


Here is a link to the poem The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

I am sorry for not posting the video, but it seems like someone in Youtube doesn't like it when people embed such famous things. But do feel free to look up the video. It adds a lot more to the lyrics.