Rust in Peace - Legacy

Legacy

The tracks "Holy Wars... The Punishment Due" and "Hangar 18" have become almost permanent additions to Megadeth's live set, and are fan favorites. In early 2010, the band announced a North American tour to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Rust in Peace, with Testament and Exodus as openers. The tour took place from March 1 to March 31, 2010 and included 22 shows. At every show, the band performed the album in its entirety and in order. The first concert on the tour was also the first occasion on which "Five Magics," "Poison Was the Cure" and "Rust In Peace... Polaris" were ever played live. Due to the overwhelmingly positive response, the band announced that it would carry on performing the entire album in the South and Central American tour dates which were to follow. Coincidentally, former long-time bassist and founding band member Dave Ellefson, who left the band in 2002, rejoined the band a short time before the tour began. He replaced James Lomenzo, sparking even more interest in the tour. Ellefson stated in an interview for Classic Rock magazine that Megadeth drummer Shawn Drover contacted him and stated that bassist James LoMenzo was leaving the band, and that "if ever there was a time for you and Dave to talk, now is it."

In 2010 Shout! Factory released a live recording filmed on the Hollywood Palladium stop of the tour. The release, titled Rust in Peace Live is the first Megadeth release since 2002's Rude Awakening to feature Dave Ellefson. The live album was released on September 7, 2010 in Blu-ray, DVD, and CD formats. The album debuted at 161 on the Billboard 200 and number two on the Billboard DVD charts.

Rust in Peace in its entirety was released as purchasable downloadable content in the rhythm game Rock Band, a part of the their "Rust in Peace Download Package". It was released a little more than a year after the release of Peace Sells...But Who's Buying? on the game's download store. A cover version of "Holy Wars" by Steve Ouimette was featured in Rock Revolution. "Holy Wars" was also featured in Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock, while "Hangar 18" was featured in Guitar Hero II and as downloadable content for Guitar Hero 5. Both songs have been described as amongst the most difficult songs in the series' history. In further pop culture, a reference to the ending of the "Hangar 18" music video was made in an episode of Duck Dodgers, an animated television series. In the episode entitled In Space, No One Can Hear You Rock, the title character resurrects Dave Mustaine from a cryopreservation to play loud enough to overload an evil alien device. Dave voices himself in the episode; the song "Back in the Day" from The System Has Failed album is featured.

A sequel to "Hangar 18" titled "Return to Hangar" was featured on Megadeth's ninth studio album, The World Needs a Hero. It concludes the fictional narrative begun in "Hangar 18", where the life-forms said to be contained in Hangar 18 come back to life and kill those inside the building before escaping. Both "Hangar 18" and "Return to Hangar" were played live consecutively on the live CD and DVD Rude Awakening, and That One Night: Live in Buenos Aires,. Also "Holy Wars" and "Hangar 18" were the two opening songs during Megadeth's performance at The Big 4 Live from Sofia, Bulgaria. Marty Friedman, who recorded on Rust in Peace, covered the song "Tornado of Souls" on his solo album Future Addict in 2008. Megadeth tribute band Primitivity performed an instrumental cover of "Hangar 18" on their debut cello rock album Plays Megadeth For Cello in 2010. Russian thrash metal band DeadXheaD covered the same song on their debut album Regressive by Default in 2006. "Hangar 18" was covered by Fairlight and "Holy Wars" was covered by Mind-Ashes on the Megadeth tribute album Megaded - A Tribute To Megadeth released in 1999. Both "Hangar 18" and "Holy Wars" were also featured on the 2005 compilation album Greatest Hits: Back to the Start, where fans voted on the track listing.