"Crush 'Em" is a song by American heavy metal band

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

and the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from their eighth studio album, ''

Risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environ ...

''. It first appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

to '' Universal Soldier: The Return'' in July 1999 and debuted as the third most added track on

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

stations on July 5. Intended as a

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

anthem, "Crush 'Em" has become associated with sporting events and was heavily promoted by

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

. The 2004

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed edition of ''Risk'' includes the

bonus track An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track or cassette), or digital. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century a ...

"Crush 'Em" (Jock Mix).

Overview

Like many tracks on ''Risk'', "Crush 'Em" is a prime example of Megadeth's musical experimentation of the 1990s. It begins with an ominous

techno Techno is a genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempos being in the range from 120 to 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central rhythm is typically in common time ( ) and often ...

beat (removed on the remaster) and

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

bass line. This is soon followed by

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

guitar riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

s in between sets of

lyrics Lyrics are words that make up a song, usually consisting of verses and choruses. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist. The words to an extended musical composition such as an opera are, however, usually known as a "libretto" and their writer, ...

. The song eventually culminates into a heavy metal pre-

chorus Chorus may refer to: Music * Chorus (song), the part of a song that is repeated several times, usually after each verse * Chorus effect, the perception of similar sounds from multiple sources as a single, richer sound * Chorus form, song in whic ...

and finally with chants of "Crush! ...Crush 'em!" As track #4 on ''Risk'', it is preluded by "Enter the Arena," which foreshadows the chorus guitar riff and crowd chanting of "Crush 'Em." Regarding the song's style,

frontman The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

Dave Mustaine David Scott Mustaine (born September 13, 1961) is an American musician. He is best known as the co-founder, frontman, primary songwriter and sole consistent member of the thrash metal band Megadeth and for his time as the lead guitarist of Met ...

told

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

, "We're going into an arena we've never been in before." He added, "I think the best part about it is, it's a good ass-whuppin' song. . . It's the kind of song I would imagine wanting to hear while I was beating somebody senseless." "Crush 'Em" appeared on the compilations '' Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years'' and ''

Warchest ''Warchest'' is a box set from the American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Megadeth. ''Warchest'' features five discs (4 CD + DVD) and features studio tracks, demos and live recordings of a number of the band's songs from its Megadeth disco ...

''; however, it was not included on '' Greatest Hits: Back to the Start'', by which the tracks were largely dictated through an online fan poll and is neither included on '' Anthology: Set the World Afire''. However, Mustaine later went on to state that Crush ‘Em was one of the “dumbest songs they had ever wrote.”

WCW, NHL, and other sporting appearances

The producer/director of '' Universal Soldier: The Return'' initially wanted "Crush 'Em" for the film which stars

Jean-Claude Van Damme Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg (, ; born 18 October 1960), known professionally as Jean-Claude Van Damme (, ), is a Belgian martial artist and actor. Born and raised in Brussels, his father enrolled him in a Shotokan karate schoo ...

and

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

Bill Goldberg William Scott Goldberg (born December 27, 1966), often known Mononymous person, mononymously as Goldberg, is an American professional wrestler, actor and former American football defensive tackle. He is signed to WWE. He is best known for his ten ...

. Upon hearing the song, Goldberg, a big Megadeth fan, spoke with officials of his employer,

(WCW), and convinced them to have the band perform it live on the July 5, 1999 edition of ''

Monday Nitro ''WCW Monday Nitro'', also known as ''WCW Nitro'' or simply ''Nitro'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and broadcast weekly every Monday night on TNT in the United ...

''. This also marked the return of Goldberg after a six-month absence; immediately after the song, he appeared out of a cloud of fog and announced "I'm ''baaack!''" After the song, ''Nitro'' went off the air and the band played three more songs with the

Nitro Girls The Nitro Girls were a dance team in World Championship Wrestling introduced in July 1997. Centered around Kimberly Page, the group generally consisted of a roster of seven members, all of whom had some degree of professional dance experience. T ...

dancing on stage with them. A

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

of the ''Nitro'' performance was later released. The song also became Goldberg's temporary entrance theme and was used in a

video montage A montage ( ) is a film editing technique in which a series of short Shot (filmmaking), shots are Sequence (filmmaking), sequenced to condense space, time, and information. Montages enable filmmakers to communicate a large amount of information ...

of his in-ring performances. This shortened version was included on '' WCW Mayhem: The Music'' along with his previous theme, "Invasion." Mustaine, a black belt and fan of the

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

Arizona Coyotes The Arizona Coyotes are an inactive professional ice hockey team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. They competed in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division (1996–1998, 2021–2024) and ...

, has described "Crush 'Em" as Megadeth's official sports and wrestling anthem. He wrote the song primarily as a hockey theme and said that he was "sick of hearing

Gary Glitter Paul Francis Gadd (born 8 May 1944), better known by his stage name Gary Glitter, is an English former singer who achieved fame and success during the 1970s and 1980s. His career ended after he was convicted of downloading child pornography i ...

's '

Rock and Roll Part 2 "Rock and Roll" is a song by the English singer Gary Glitter, released in 1972 from his debut studio album, '' Glitter''. Co-written by Glitter and Mike Leander, the song is in two parts: Part 1 is a vocal track with a "Rock and Roll, Rock" ch ...

' every time someone scored a goal." Mustaine added, "I thought, 'maybe we can do something that is celebratory and inspiring.' So we did 'Crush 'Em,' which we also felt would be good for any sport." After offering the Coyotes several songs that they declined to use, the band decided to give "Crush 'Em" directly to the NHL, which chose to use it on the JumboTron screens the following season. Aside from WCW and NHL appearances, "Crush 'Em" became a favorite in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

and was requested for use by the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

. It appeared on ''NHL 2Toronto: All Star Game Hits!'' in 2000, and the

Tom Leykis Tom Leykis (pronounced: ; born ) is an American former talk radio personality best known for hosting ''The Tom Leykis Show'' from 1994 to 2009 (nationally syndicated), and April 2012 to 2018 (internet streamcast/podcast). The show follows the ho ...

radio show regularly uses portions of the song as transitional music. The song was also used as the theme for the UFC video game released in 2000 for the

Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...

and

PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...

Music video

The "Crush 'Em"

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

was shot in

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

in early June 1999. Directed by Len Wiseman, it was coincidentally filmed in the same Water & Power building as " Hangar 18,"Rosen, Crai
"Megadeth Talks About 'Crush 'Em'; Donates Horse To School"

Yahoo! Music Yahoo Music was a brand under which Yahoo provided music services including Internet radio, a digital music store, music streaming service, media player software, and original programming. Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody in early 2008. Pro ...

(June 15, 1999). Retrieved on April 19, 2008. and the video bears a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction are genres of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; astronom ...

, industrial wasteland setting reminiscent of its predecessor. It is themed around '' Universal Soldier: The Return'' and features both

and

. The latter performer menacingly stands behind

and joins him in the

. "Crush 'Em" also serves as the opener to the ''Universal Soldier''

which was released in July that same year. The video is not featured on the DVD ''

Arsenal of Megadeth ''Arsenal of Megadeth'' is a DVD by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released on March 21, 2006 via Capitol Records. Presented as an anthology of the band's first 20 years, the two-disc DVD set contains music videos, live performances, inter ...

''.

Track listing

# "Crush 'Em" (radio edit) # "Crush 'Em" (album version)

Charts

References

{{authority control 1999 singles Megadeth songs Songs written for films Sporting songs Songs written by Dave Mustaine Songs written by Marty Friedman 1999 songs Capitol Records singles Song recordings produced by Dann Huff Industrial rock songs