MD.45 was an American heavy metal/ punk rock band formed as a side project by

Megadeth Megadeth is an American thrash metal band formed in Los Angeles in 1983 by vocalist/guitarist Dave Mustaine. Known for their technically complex guitar work and musicianship, Megadeth is one of the "big four" of American thrash metal along wit ...

guitarist/vocalist

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 releas ...

and Fear vocalist Lee Ving. Bassist

Kelly LeMieux Kelly Thomas LeMieux (born April 7, 1967 in Salem, Oregon, United States) is an American bass player. He is known for being the bassist of the band Goldfinger and his work in the Dave Mustaine project MD.45. He was the touring bass player for L ...

(of Fear) and drummer

Jimmy DeGrasso Jimmy DeGrasso (born March 16, 1963) is an American heavy metal drummer. DeGrasso played with Mama's Boys and Lita Ford before eventually working with Y&T and Megadeth and as a session or touring musician for Ozzy Osbourne (1986), White Lion ...

(of Y&T and on a break from Alice Cooper, who later joined

) rounded out the band's lineup.

History

The band's name was derived from Mustaine's initials backwards (MD), combined with 45 which is derived from converting Ving's backwards initials (VL) to their numerical value in Roman numerals which is 45.Megadeth: Scorpion
Megadeth.com, March 3, 2008. The band released only one album, 1996's '' The Craving''.

Remixing controversy

In 2004, while remixing the

catalog, Mustaine omitted all vocals and harmonica parts from Ving. Instead, Mustaine himself recorded the vocals, and played guitar where the harmonica should've been. In this 2011 autobiography, Mustaine said: In 2020, Ving publicly manifested his disapproval, saying in a podcast that he was never consulted about the changes, and Mustaine didn't contact him in any way. The remastered version was released by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

Lineup

* Lee Ving – vocals, harmonica (original issue) *

– guitar (on both issues), vocals (on remastered issue) *

– bass *

– drums ;Other *Michael Kaye – guitar/backline technician *Billy Moss – studio engineer/vintage recorders

Discography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Md 45 Megadeth American heavy metal musical groups