Megadeth" slated to Perform at Artpark Next Week, Decadent band to be subsidized by Lewiston, State

Death and destruction, murder and mayhem, be visited upon you next week, Lewiston. Prepare ye the way, devotees of destruction, for Megadeth!

Next Tuesday (July 15), Artpark & Company, Inc., and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation are proud to bring to Lewiston the premiere American thrash metal band of the past three decades, Megadeth.

The Town of Lewiston subsidizes Artpark & Company to the tune of $145,000 per year. State Parks gives Artpark & Company $200,000 a year.

To get an idea of what Artpark & Company thinks is a good use of Lewiston's money, allow us to tell you a little about the concert being served up at taxpayer expense.

The Niagara Falls Reporter is not advocating censorship. We are advocating not confiscating people’s money (taxes) to stage Megadeth concerts.

Thrash metal, in case you didn't know, refers to the guitar-playing style characteristic of thrash metal bands, so named because it appears that the performers are "thrashing" their instruments.

Thrash metal is considered a direct precursor of the rock subgenre "death metal" music. Megadeth debuted in 1983 with the album "Killing is my Business... and Business is Good!"

Subsequent Megadeth album titles included "Countdown to Extinction," "Youthanasia" and "United Abominations" (a play on "United Nations").

Megadeth's first North American tour was in 1985, named the "Killing for a Living Tour." Their 2010 North American tour was named "American Carnage."

Megadeth has been around for 30 years and sold 50 million records. So why does the public have to subsidize their concert?

In 1988 MTV determined that the song "In My Darkest Hour" encouraged teen suicide and banned the video. The cable TV music video station, not exactly known as a paragon of good taste and restraint, also banned "À Tout le Monde" for the same reason. Additionally, MTV considered the videos for "Skin o' My Teeth" ("I won't feel the hurt - I'm not trash any longer... I need a ride to the morgue, that's what 911 is for. So, tag my toe and don't forget, Ooh to close the drawer") and "Symphony of Destruction" "too harsh" and refused to play them as well.

Megadeth is generally considered one of the archetypical thrash metal bands, responsible for popularizing thrash along with the bands "Anthrax" and "Slayer." They've headlined with "Suicidal Tendencies" and were once scheduled to play a gig with a band named "Rotting Christ."

The derivation of the band's name, Megadeth, came as a revelation to founder and lead guitarist Dave Mustaine while on a bus in Los Angeles, where he lived at the time. To hear him tell it, he spied a discarded political pamphlet on the floor of the bus warning of the dangers of nuclear attack and the megaton hydrogen bombs that are capable of incinerating and blowing to bits one million men, women and children in an instant. Hence, Megadeth.

Megadeth Album called euthanasia.

Last month, an individual named Justin Bourque allegedly shot dead three Royal Canadian Mounted Police near Moncton, New Brunswick. The day of the shooting spree, Bourque posted the lyrics to the Megadeth song "Hook in Mouth," from the 1988 Megadeth album "So Far, So Good... So What!" to his Facebook page. Earlier this year, Matt de Grood, arrested in Calgary, Alberta for allegedly stabbing five people to death, posted on his Facebook page lyrics to the Megadeth song "Dread and the Fugitive Mind," from the 2001 album "The World Needs A Hero."

On September 13, 2006, Kimveer Gill shot 20 people at Dawson College in Montreal. One died. On the day of the shooting, Gill referenced the Megadeth song "A Tout Le Monde" on his blog. In a subsequent interview on CBC, lead singer Mustaine said, ""I was so angry that this guy would use my song, and that he would try and turn that beautiful song into something ugly and nasty. It's for those who lost their lives, and it's a gift to those who are in the process of healing..."

According to the Huffington Post, "Megadeth lead singer Dave Mustaine... once accused President Obama of staging mass shootings, including a movie theatre shooting in Aurora, Colorado, in order to pass gun control. 'Back in my country, my president is trying to pass a gun ban so he's staging all of these murders,' Mustaine said at a 2012 concert in Singapore... 'The Fast and Furious thing down at the border. And Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there. And now, the beautiful people at the Sikh temple... it looks like it's turning into Nazi America.'"

Lewiston subsidizes an Artpark & Company’s concert featuring Megadeth.

We believe that it's important for our readership to know who is most responsible for bringing this appalling spectacle to our community. First and foremost, look to the CEO and board of directors of Artpark & Company. A measure of blame also lies with State Parks, given that so many of its other decisions over the past year have proven ill-advised and contentious. Finally, one must question the motivations of the Lewiston councilmember Ron Winkley who has advocated for the town's funding of Artpark concerts and the subsidization with taxpayer dollars of this particular musical act that is so offensive to the sensibilities of decent people and has the potential for inciting violence.