Released: September 24, 1990

Songwriter: Dave Mustaine

Producer: Dave Mustaine Mike Clink

[Verse 1]
Got one chance, (infiltrate them)
Get it right, (terminate them)
The Panzers will (permeate them)
Break their pride (denigrate them)
And their people (retrograde them)
Typhus, (deteriorate them)
Epidemic (devastate them)
Take no prisoners, (cremate them)
Burn!

[Verse 2]
Going to war, give them hell
D-Day, next stop Normandy
Beginning of the end
We know how to and sure as shit, we'll win
War is peace, sure man
A retreat for the damned
A playground for the demented
A haven for those who walk this world bereft of heart and soul

[Verse 3]
Love and war, they say all is fair
Take his life, but won't take his hair
Your body parts your country spares
By the way son, here's your wheelchair
He once had to be all he could be
Now he's nothing for no one, nowhere to see
Funny thing, he's like you and me
It's a funny thing, funny thing
Tears streak his solemn stare
Abandoned for wreckage, nobody cares
No one knew what would happen there
No one spoke, no one even dared
Don't ask what you can do for your country
Ask what your country can do for you

[Outro]
Take no prisoners, take no shit
Take no prisoners, take no shit
Take no prisoners, take no shit
Take no prisoners, take no... shit!

Megadeth

After being kicked out of Metallica, Dave Mustaine decided to form a Thrash Metal band that not only rivaled his former band, but played faster, more technical Metal. Along with bassist David ‘Junior’ Ellefson and a revolving door of guitarists and drummers, Mustaine set the world afire as Megadeth became known as the world’s state-of-the-art Speed Metal band throughout the 80s and the early 90s. One of the Big Four of Thrash Metal, Megadeth remains one of Metal’s most popular acts today.

However, Dave Mustaine’s fledgling band got off to a shaky start. Initially unable to find like-minded individuals, it was not until an altercation with his (underage) downstairs neighbours Dave Ellefson and Greg Handevidt, that led to him buying them beer and forming the first incarnation of the band with drummer Dijon Carruthers in 1983.

The band was named after a political pamphlet that referred to a “megadeath” (one million deaths by nuclear explosion):