Countdown To Extinction

Written by all four band members, Megadeth were encouraged to write this song when they read an article about animals being poached. They felt it was the perfect example of a society going mad and becoming extinct. The song is mainly about animals being hunted until gradually there remains only one of their kind left.

The idea for this song came from a Time magazine story that drummer Nick Menza had read. Dave Mustaine was particularly interested in coverage of hunts held in captive areas where hunters could pay lots of money to kill exotic animals.

The spoken part around the 3-minute mark was done by a friend of Dave Mustaine's who worked at a sushi bar near Enterprise Studios in Burbank, California, where the band was recording the album.