"Hangar 18" is a song by American

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and often fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, 2007, . ...

band Megadeth from their 1990 studio album ''

Rust in Peace ''Rust in Peace'' is the fourth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on September 24, 1990 by Capitol Records. It was the first Megadeth album to feature lead guitarist Marty Friedman and drummer Nick Menza. The songs " ...

''. Hangar 18 is located at

Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (WPAFB) is a United States Air Force base and census-designated place just east of Dayton, Ohio, in Greene and Montgomery counties. It includes both Wright and Patterson Fields, which were originally Wilbur Wr ...

near

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

, and it is speculated that an alien aircraft was brought there from Roswell in 1947. The song reached number 25 on the Irish Singles Chart, also reached number 26 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Art

The cover of ''

'', the album on which the song appears, depicts the band's mascot, Vic Rattlehead, and a number of world leaders viewing an alien in a cryogenic chamber, a clear reference to the track. Both the album's cover and single art were designed by the same artist,

Ed Repka Edward J. Repka (born October 22, 1960) is an American graphic artist, best known for creating album covers for metal bands as well as shirt designs, including those featuring Megadeth's mascot Vic Rattlehead. Repka's portfolio also includes Dar ...

Music

A unique feature about the song is that the bass uses a different tuning from the two lead guitars, the bass being in

Drop D Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitch (music), pitches to the open string (music), open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Musical tuning, Tunings are described by the particular pitc ...

while the guitars are in standard tuning. The intro is a rapidly strummed version of the D minor arpeggio that Mustaine wrote for the Metallica instrumental track "The Call of Ktulu", which was the final Metallica song for which he was given writing credit.

Sequel

A sequel to "Hangar 18", called "Return to Hangar" was included on Megadeth's ninth album ''

The World Needs a Hero ''The World Needs a Hero'' is the ninth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on May 15, 2001 by Sanctuary Records. After the critical and commercial failure of the previous album ''Risk'' (1999), ''The World Needs a Hero ...

''. It tells the fictional story of the life-forms said to be contained in Hangar 18 coming back to life and killing those inside the building before escaping.

Recognition

"Hangar 18" was nominated for

Best Metal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality performances in the heavy metal music genre. The Grammy Awards is an annual ceremony, where ...

at the

34th Annual Grammy Awards The 34th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1992, recognizing accomplishments by musicians from the previous year (1991). Natalie Cole won the most awards (three), including Album of the Year. Paul Simon opened the show. Performers ...

. It won a Concrete Foundations Award for Top Radio Cut at the 1991 Foundations Forum.

Accolades

Music video

The "Hangar 18" video is themed after the song's lyrical concept. It depicts the torture of aliens and, at the end, shows all the band members in freezing chambers. The video was shot at the Scattergood Generating Station. It was filmed in one of the main power generating buildings and it was directed and produced by Primetime Emmy Award Winning Visual Effects Supervisor, Paul Stephen Boyington, Some of the performances and the visual effects for the video were created and produced at Boyington's visual effects studio in Culver City CA. Paul S. Boyington also created the visual effects for Tim Burton's film ''Ed Wood''. Coincidentally, the band would film the video for " Crush 'Em" on this same site nine years later. An edited version of "Hangar 18" is typically shown on MTV2 which has the song length cut down drastically. During the intro to the video the song "Dawn Patrol" from the ''Rust in Peace'' album can be heard in the background.

Track listing

* US CD single (C2 15662) # "Hangar 18" ( AOR Edit) – 3:17 # "Hangar 18" (LP Version) – 5:14 # "

The Conjuring ''The Conjuring'' is a 2013 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes and Carey W. Hayes. It is the inaugural film in ''The Conjuring'' Universe franchise. Patrick Wilson and Vera Farmiga star as Ed and ...

" (Live) – 5:06 # "Hook in Mouth" (Live) – 4:28 Live tracks recorded at

Wembley Arena Wembley Arena (originally the Empire Pool, now known as OVO Arena Wembley for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena next to Wembley Stadium in Wembley, London, England, used for music, comedy, family entertainment and sport. The 12,500-s ...

, London, England on October 14, 1990. * UK 12" LP single (12CLG 604) # "Hangar 18" – 5:11 # "Hangar 18" (Live) – 5:14 # "The Conjuring" (Live) – 5:06 # "Hook in Mouth" (Live) – 4:28 Live tracks recorded at

, London, England on October 14, 1990.

Charts

Personnel

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is the co-founder, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter of the thrash metal band Megadeth, as well as their sole consistent member. Mustaine has relea ...

– guitars, vocals *

Marty Friedman Marty Friedman (born December 8, 1962) is an American guitarist, best known for his tenure as the lead guitarist for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1990 to 2000. He is also known for playing alongside Jason Becker in Cacophony from 1986 unti ...

– guitars *

David Ellefson David Warren Ellefson (born November 12, 1964) is an American musician, best known for his long tenure as the bassist for thrash metal band Megadeth. Ellefson initially became an accomplished bassist and honed his songwriting skills while leadi ...

– bass *

Nick Menza Nicholas Menza (July 23, 1964 – May 21, 2016) was an American musician best known as the drummer for thrash metal band Megadeth from 1989 to 1998. He recorded drums on four of Megadeth's albums: ''Rust in Peace'' (1990), ''Countdown to Extin ...

– drums

References

{{authority control Megadeth songs 1990 songs 1991 singles Songs about extraterrestrial life Songs written by Dave Mustaine Albums with cover art by Ed Repka