MEGADETH's DAVE MUSTAINE: 'I Am A Stickler For Grammar'

During a new appearance on "The LA Lloyd Podcast", MEGADETH's Dave Mustaine discussed his songwriting process. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "The songs really never are done until they're done. The lyric is a whole different subject because I am a stickler for grammar. And a lot of times I'll go back and look at my lyrics and think, 'God, what are you? A fourth grader?' Because some of the grammar and the punctuation and stuff will be off. But it helps me a lot to go back and look at what I've written and learn from that because I sometimes will sing the song in a character. So many of the songs are about relationships, so a lot of times if I'm singing it, I can be me or thee. It's whatever."

Asked if there has ever been a situation where a cadence containing perfect grammar might not be flowing with where he is trying to go with the lyrics, Mustaine said: "No. The thing for me is if I'm trying to write a lyric, I've got a pretty good grasp of the King's English, so if I have a word that I wanna use that doesn't fit, I'm pretty safe at saying I know a synonym for the word in question."

According to Billboard, MEGADETH's latest album, "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!", sold 48,000 equivalent album units in the U.S. in its first week of release to land at position No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart. It marks the band's eighth top 10-charting album. Of "The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!"'s 48,000 units earned for the week, album sales comprise 45,000, SEA units comprise 3,000 and TEA units comprise a neglible sum.

MEGADETH's previous top 10 entries on the Billboard 200 were "Countdown to Extinction" (No. 2, 1992),"Youthanasia" (No. 4, 1994),"Cryptic Writings" (No. 10, 1997),"United Abominations" (No. 8, 2007),"Endgame" (No. 9, 2009),"Super Collider" (No. 6, 2013) and "Dystopia" (No. 3, 2016).

"The Sick, The Dying... And The Dead!" arrived on September 2 via UMe.