Peace Sells


"Peace Sells" is a song by the American thrash metal band Megadeth from their 1986 album Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?, written by Dave Mustaine. It has since been a constant at Megadeth concerts. According to David Ellefson, it became
quickly apparent when playing the song live prior to recording the album that "Peace Sells" would be a hit. In 2006, VH1 ranked "Peace Sells" at number 11 on their list of the "40 Greatest Metal Songs" of all time. The song is also known for the distinctive bass intro played by Ellefson.

Music video

A music video was produced for the song, directed by the artist Robert Longo and edited by artist Gretchen Bender. The video includes a dramatic pause in the middle of the song. The interstitial features a teenage boy, wearing a Slayer T-shirt, watching a montage of live Megadeth performances and war footage on his living room television set. The boy's father, states "What is this garbage you're watching? I want to watch the news!," and changes the television channel to a news station using the remote control. His son, replying with "This is the news!," changes it back to the Megadeth performance using the TV set's channel knob. This part of the video was parodied by comedian Brian Posehn in his Metal by Numbers video. The beginning of the video also showed the explosion of the original low-cost skull used on the cover of the previous album, Killing is My Business... and Business is Good!.
The video is notable for introducing both the dramatic interlude and the rapid-fire editing of images in the closing segment of the song.

Appearances and covers