This feature from Louder tells the chaotic story behind Megadeth's 1988 album So Far, So Good… So What!, made at a moment when the thrash metal band was teetering on the edge of collapse. Frontman Dave Mustaine, still nursing fury at his 1983 sacking from Metallica, was deep into drug and alcohol abuse during the sessions, and the record's troubled creation involved an intoxicated singer, an unconventional producer and a member with genuine Sex Pistols pedigree, all combining to make the album one of the most turbulent in thrash metal history.

The piece traces Megadeth's trajectory from their independently released 1985 debut Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good, which built the band's reputation and set the stage for their major-label follow-up. Mustaine is quoted reflecting candidly on the contradictions of his addiction at the time, admitting he simultaneously wanted and didn't want to get clean, encapsulating the dysfunction that defined the album's production.