Lyrical Themes
Like its predecessor, many of the songs on the album have political and military undertones. For example, "Symphony of Destruction" is a song about military dictators, "Architecture of Aggression" focuses on the military-industrial complex, and "Ashes in Your Mouth" concentrates on the negative aftermaths of war ("sweet taste of vindication, it turns to ashes in your mouth"). In a similar vein, "Psychotron" details a merciless cyborg killing machine of the same name, and is based on the Marvel comic book character Deathlok. Other political songs include "Captive Honour", a song about prison and the consequences of crime, "Countdown to Extinction", a song about canned hunts (which many believed was a jab at Metallica frontman James Hetfield and his love for hunting), and "Foreclosure of a Dream", a song that looks at rise and fall of political and economic ideologies, which also includes the infamous 1988 "Read my lips" quote by George H. W. Bush (and on a more personal level, about Ellefson's parents who allegedly lost their jobs under the Reagan Administration). The title song "Countdown To Extinction" also won Megadeth the Humane Society of the United States "Genesis Award" for its dealings with issues of animal welfare.
The rest of the songs' undertones are more spread around. "Skin o' My Teeth" is about Mustaine's numerous attempts at suicide but "just couldn't get the fucking job done" as Mustaine said during a 1992 concert. "Sweating Bullets" has been referred to be about schizophrenia. Before the song is performed, Mustaine tells the audience it's about schizophrenia and has described it as a song "about me... and me." "This Was My Life" refers to a failing relationship where that despite wanting to kill your spouse, you'll be sent to the electric chair regardless for your actions. The slow melodic section at the end of "This Was My Life" is the same chord progression as Mustaine's contribution to the breakdown section in the middle of his former band Metallica's "Phantom Lord" from Kill 'Em All. "High Speed Dirt" is about a skydiver falling to his/her death.
Read more about this topic: Countdown To Extinction
Famous quotes containing the word themes:
“I suppose you think that persons who are as old as your father and myself are always thinking about very grave things, but I know that we are meditating the same old themes that we did when we were ten years old, only we go more gravely about it.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)