We didn't have a theme for this one. It was just get it out. We worked with Mike Clink on the production. He's the best producer I've ever worked with, and I'm looking forward to working with him again. The record was mixed by Max Norman. It ha s over 40 minutes of original material, more than any other Megadeth album.
Dave Mustaine / Megadeth interview, Music Connection, 1990
MEGADETH released their fourth album, Rust in Peace, on this day in 1990.
I was driving home from Elsanon... um, Lake Elsanon. I was tailgating somebody, racing down the freeway, and I saw this bumper sticker on their car and it said... you know, this tongue in cheek stuff like, "One nuclear bomb could ruin your whole day," and then I looked on the other side and it said, "May all your nuclear weapons rust in peace," and I'm goin', "'Rust in Peace.' Damn, that's a good title." And I'm thinkin' like, "What do they mean, rust in peace?" I could just see it now - all these warheads sittin' there, stockpiled somewhere like seal beach, you know, all covered with rust 'n' stuff with kids out there spray-painting the stuff, you know. And um, I just felt that that was one of the most profound statements that we could make at this time because of "Holy Wars" being such a statement, "Rust in Peace..." is also a statement. It's like my ideal vision is for all nuclear weapons to be eliminated and have the actual warhead itself... to have someone deactivate it... cause ya know you're still going to have the Uranium and the Plutonium to deal with but, I mean, we have that already.
Dave Mustaine / Megadeth interview, September 1990
This is the first time where we've used the same producer from beginning to end and for me that's amazing. I think Mike Clink did a fabulous job although there was a lot of times he had other commitments - he was running in and out - he still showed a real genuine loyalty to this project. There were times when I thought things were good enough, and he pointed out that it wasn't, and what was wrong with it, and I beat it... and that's why this record is so good... because his forte for being critical with nuances in the studio that just embellish a record's final actual finished product. For me, this record's definitely satisfying, and I'm 100% happy with it.
Dave Mustaine / Megadeth interview, September 1990