The Mechanix

"Mechanix" redirects here. For other uses, see Mechanix (disambiguation).

"The Mechanix"
Song by Panic from the album No Life 'Till Leather demo
Released	July 1982
Recorded	1982
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	4:28
Label	Self-released
Writer	Dave Mustaine
Producer	Metallica
No Life 'Till Leather demo track listing
Hit the Lights (1) "The Mechanix" (2) Motorbreath (3)

"The Four Horsemen"
Song by Metallica from the album Kill 'Em All
Released	July 1983
Recorded	1983
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	7:11
Label	Megaforce
Writer	James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, & Dave Mustaine
Producer	Metallica
Kill 'Em All track listing
Hit the Lights (1) "The Four Horsemen" (2) Motorbreath (3)

"Mechanix"
Song by Megadeth from the album Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!
Released	June 1985
Recorded	December 1984 & January 1985
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	4:25
Label	Combat Records
Writer	Dave Mustaine
Producer	Dave Mustaine and Karat Faye
Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! track listing
Looking Down The Cross (7) "Mechanix" (8)

"The Mechanix" is a song originally performed by American heavy metal band Metallica. Dave Mustaine originally wrote the song for Panic, and later brought it with him to Megadeth. He was kicked out of Metallica right before the recording of their debut album, Kill 'Em All.

The different versions of the song are as follows:

• "The Mechanix" – Metallica – No Life 'Til Leather – 1982
• "The Four Horsemen" – Metallica – Kill 'Em All – 1983
• "Mechanix" – Megadeth – Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! – 1985 (re-released 2002)

The Four Horsemen

Released as the second track on Kill 'Em All, the remaining members of Metallica changed the lyrics of "The Mechanix" and added a bridge section and a new guitar solo that is played over melodic section, and released it on the album, retitling it "The Four Horsemen". Mustaine was still given credit for the song, although Mustaine claims he asked the band not to use his material, a statement Metallica disputes. [1] The new lyrics refer to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. "The Four Horsemen" is a fan-favorite song of Metallica. The title also served as a source for one of the band's nicknames.

The lyrics, as the title suggests, are about the end of the world and the apocalypse, referring to the Biblical text about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. However, many believe the song is about Metallica themselves as the "horsemen".

The lyrics refer to the horsemen as Time, Famine, Pestilence and Death. This is a revision upon an already non-canonical misinterpretation of the Biblical passages. In the Bible, the four horsemen are actually Conquest, War, Famine and Death. In other popular culture they are known as Pestilence, War, Famine and Death.

During the bridge of the song, bassist Cliff Burton's voice can be heard providing the backing vocals.

The iTunes bonus track of the song can be watched on the Live Shit: Binge & Purge box set. The song was performed in Seattle on August 29, 1989.

An excerpt of "The Four Horsemen" is used in the queue video for the Zombiegeddon house in Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights XX: Twenty Years of Fear.

Mustaine has publicly admitted that the bridge to the song The Four Horsemen is a direct copy of the main riff in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song Sweet Home Alabama.^[1] As of yet, Lynyrd Skynyrd has not sued Metallica and/or Mustaine for plagiarism. Such a case would not be unprecedented, as Joe Satriani sued Coldplay for plagiarism.^[2]

Mechanix

Mustaine formed Megadeth and released the song with its original lyrics a year later on Megadeth's debut album, Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!. When it was released, Mustaine retitled it to just "Mechanix". The original lyrics are about a gas station attendant who is sexually attracted to one of his customers, and uses several different automotive phrases and terms as sexual innuendos. This is the way the song was originally written (as can be heard on the early Metallica demo, No Life 'Til Leather), but has a much faster tempo than the original Metallica incarnation of "The Mechanix", being at approximately 247 beats per minute.

Later, after forming Megadeth, Mustaine would sometimes perform the song in concert, differentiating between "their (Metallica's) way" (referring to "The Four Horsemen") and "our way" on the Rude Awakening CD and DVD: "There are two ways you can hear this next song. There's our way and there's their way. For those of you who think this is their way, the song is called The Mechanix."^[3] In some concerts in 2009, Mustaine changed the line to "If there's one thing I want you to take with you tonight, it is that this song is not "The Four Horsemen", this is "The Mechanix".

In the original version of the song, Mustaine screams "Fuck yeah!" at 3:07; however, on the Greatest Hits: Back to the Start, this was cut out.

Megadeth has started incorporated the song into others such as "Holy Wars...The Punishment Due" and "Peace Sells". The band plays the song to a key section, changes and plays "The Mechanix" and then finishes the original song.^[4]

References

1. ^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=162008
2. ^ http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/theampersand/archive/2008/12/06/216213.aspx
3. ^ Megadeth - The Mechanix
4. ^ "Megadeth - 08 - Holy Wars + Mechanix LIVE @ Download 2007". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=omQl2UT-OFY. 

External links

• Official Metallica website
• Official Megadeth website