Head Crusher
Encyclopedia
"Head Crusher" is the first single from Megadeth
Megadeth
Megadeth is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California which was formed in 1983 by guitarist/vocalist Dave Mustaine, bassist Dave Ellefson and guitarist Greg Handevidt, following Mustaine's expulsion from Metallica. The band has since released 13 studio albums, three live albums, two...

's twelfth studio album, titled Endgame, which was released on September 15, 2009. The single was released on July 7, 2009. According to Roadrunner Records official website, a download of "Head Crusher" was available for 24-hours on July 7 (the availability of download ended the morning of July 8). The track was previously available for listening by calling Dave Mustaine's number, through the TheLiveLine.com, a service he launched that enables musicians to connect to their audience over the phone. The song was played live for the first time at the "Canadian Carnage Tour" on June 24, 2009. On December 3, 2009, it was announced on the official Megadeth homepage that "Head Crusher" had been nominated for "Best Metal Performance" for the 52nd annual Grammy Awards, the band's first nomination in 13 years, since "Trust
Trust (Megadeth song)
"Trust" is the first song on Megadeth's seventh studio album Cryptic Writings. It was released on May 8, 1997 in both English and Spanish language versions...

".

Song meaning

This song is about a medieval torture device of the same name. Its lyrics portray a person who is taken underground where he is interrogated using the Head crusher
Head crusher
-Use:The metal device featured a plate that sat below the victims' jaw, which was connected by a frame to the head cap. The cap could be screwed down at the whim of the torturer.-Results:...

 device to torture the answers out of him. It explains the effects it would have on one's body.

Music video

Two different versions of the music video were released in September, 2009 in two versions: Extreme and Censored. Both were directed by Patrick Kendall.

To create the video, director Patrick Kendall created a scenario that blended elements of the 1987 film 'The Running Man' with 2000's 'Gladiator' to concoct a violent scenario matching the energy of the high-impact song. The synopsis is simple but effective: Mustaine is playing emcee (like Richard Dawson in 'The Running Man') on a show where hooded criminals in jumpsuits are brought into a ring, unhooded and exposed to a mixed martial arts battle to the death while the band plays on a raised platform.

"I was listening to the song, and I heard the line about 'prisoners,' and I thought about 'The Running Man,'" Kendall tells Noisecreep. "So I went back and watched that and 'Gladiator' again, and then I wrote the treatment, which added in some MMA fighting."

The 'Head Crusher' video features MMA Brazilian jujitsu fighter Jorg Oliveira, as well as other lesser-known grapplers. "All of these guys were either real fighters or they were people who trained and did this for a hobby," Kendall says. "The stunt coordinator wanted to make sure everybody had some skill in fighting to make it look as real as possible."

The video also stars actor Chad Bannon, who played Killer Karl in Rob Zombie's 2003 flick 'House of 1,000 Corpses,' and who also appeared in 2001's 'Planet of the Apes.' "I think he wanted to get out of acting and concentrate on fighting," Kendall says. "He's had a couple of mixed martial arts events and in one of his bouts he knocked a guy out in 20 seconds."

In the video, Bannon fights with a convict who is later unhooded, and who turns out to be female fighter Michelle Waterson
Michelle Waterson
Michelle Waterson is an American female mixed martial artist and model whose nickname is The Karate Hottie.Born in Colorado Springs and raised in Aurora, Waterson is of Thai descent...

. She then defeats Bannon and earns her release.

"She's one of the few female true mixed martial arts fighters that's also beautiful," Kendall says. "She actually does bikini modeling, and the idea was to have a really hot girl who really knew how to fight. Before we got her to come onboard, we were looking at all kinds of girls in L.A., but they were no Michelle Waterson. We flew her up the day before the shoot. She's actually a pretty good fighter and a lot of her fights end up in either TKOs or submissions. It's funny because Michelle actually clocked Chad a couple times during the shoot. Those were real kicks and he came out of there bruised."

The cast and band shot the video with Kendall on July 28 at a studio in Northern Los Angeles. While the shoot was exciting and filled with laughs, at times it was also grueling. Aside from all the rigorous fighting, the platform that Megadeth performed on ascended 20 feet in the air while the band played, and the musicians were tied down so they wouldn't fall off during scenes that were shot repeatedly throughout the day.

"They were up in the rafters where all the heat was, so they were all sweating," Kendall says. "It was probably a very unusual situation to perform in and be on camera, but Dave Mustaine was just great. Every time I'd ask him to do another take he was like, 'Sure, definitely.'"

In addition to being a team player, Mustaine was also a creative force for the video. He offered suggestions to Kendall, including having the state-appointed character look at Waterson with double vision as he's getting his head crushed. And, because of his background in Taekwondo, he corrected the director when there was a technical problem with a fight scene.

"He actually called me out at one point," Kendall says. "Waterson did a 360 kick, and I cut to a close-up and it was a sidekick, not a 360. And Dave pointed that out and made me change the shot. He actually knew the kicks and everything, which was really helpful."

Personnel

Megadeth
  • Dave Mustaine
    Dave Mustaine
    David Scott "Dave" Mustaine is the founder, main songwriter, guitarist, and lead vocalist for the American heavy metal band Megadeth. Prior to Megadeth, Mustaine was the first lead guitarist and a co-songwriter of the heavy metal band Metallica until he was fired from the band in 1983. In 2009, he...

     – Vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

    , lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    , rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

  • Chris Broderick
    Chris Broderick
    Christopher Broderick is the virtuoso guitarist of the American thrash metal band Megadeth. He currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California...

     – Lead and rhythm guitars
  • James LoMenzo
    James Lomenzo
    James "JLo" LoMenzo is a metal bassist known for his roles as a former member of White Lion and Megadeth. He is also known for his work in Black Label Society .-Past bands and other works :...

     – Bass guitar
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

  • Shawn Drover
    Shawn Drover
    Shawn Drover is a Canadian drummer, best-known for his work with the heavy metal band Megadeth....

     – Drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

     and percussion
    Percussion instrument
    A percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...


  • Intro solo – Mustaine
  • Outro solo – Broderick

  • Lyrics - Mustaine
  • Music - Mustaine and Drover

Production
  • Produced
    Record producer
    A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

     by Andy Sneap
    Andy Sneap
    Andy "Undie" Sneap is an English record producer, recording engineer, mixer, guitarist, and songwriter. He is best known for producing and mixing many acclaimed heavy metal albums.-Musician:...

     and Dave Mustaine
  • Engineered
    Audio engineering
    An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...

    , mixed
    Audio mixing (recorded music)
    In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...

    , and mastered
    Audio mastering
    Mastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...

    by Andy Sneap
  • Additional recording by Dave Mustaine
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