Dystopia

The name of Megadeth's 15th studio album references a society where there's been a cataclysmic decline. Frontman Dave Mustaine told Australia's Heavy magazine about the inspiration behind the title. "I've had this outlook for a long time that the world is a really good place with some bad people in it," he said. "Others might think the opposite. But I think if you were to take a consensus of people, they know the difference between right and wrong. People have manners and morals but lately there's been a decline in how people treat one another." "That's where 'Dystopia' comes in," Mustaine continued. "And if people don't start loving each other and helping those in need then when that becomes more important than power, fame or money then I think we're going to be okay."

The word Dystopia referencing an undesirable, dysfunctional society is the opposite of the term Utopia, which is applied to any place or society considered perfect or ideal. It was first coined as the antonym of Utopia during a speech given before the British House of Commons by John Stuart Mill in 1868. Dystopian societies appear in many works of literature, particularly in stories set in a future. Some of the most famous examples are 1984, Brave New World and The Hunger Games trilogy.

The song's post-apocalyptic video follows on from the band's "The Threat Is Real" clip. It features a high-speed chase and a bloody fight in the futuristic war zone envisioned by Megadeth. Dave Mustaine told Mashable.com: "We had met with a guy in England, and I basically talked to him about this dystopian city that I had kind of visualized. You see all these movies like Armageddon, Independence Day, 12 Monkeys, Planet of the Apes and stuff, and there's always a moral at the end of the story: If you stand up for what's right, you won't have to give in to a dystopian world. It's just one of those things we grew up in. Explaining that concept to the artist - I thought he got what I was saying pretty clearly."