The World Needs a Hero

Untitled

The World Needs A Hero is an album by American heavy metal band Megadeth, released in 2001. It was marked as a return to Megadeth's heavy metal roots, after the commercial rock style of their previous 3 releases. However, it still retained a bit of the commercial feel from previous albums, as Mustaine claims the album was like "a ship lost at sea trying to return to its course".

"Return to Hangar" is a sequel to the song "Hangar 18", which was found on the Rust in Peace album.

Mustaine also dedicated the song "When" to all the nay-sayers on Megadeth's internet message board who spoke ill of him and the band after their recent attempts at commercial success (or, a "big fuck you to all the wishy-washy fans out there".) The main riff and structure of "When" is reminiscent of "Am I Evil?" by Diamond Head, which Mustaine has said was intentional, as an homage to Diamond Head and the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement.

Edited versions of the album put a black bar over the innards of Dave Mustaine which Vic Rattlehead is seen emerging from to edit the violence.

Track listing

All songs written by Dave Mustaine, except where noted.

1. "Disconnect" – 5:20
2. "The World Needs A Hero" – 3:52
3. "Moto Psycho" – 3:06 ()
4. "1000 Times Goodbye" – 6:25
5. "Burning Bridges" – 5:20
6. "Promises" (Mustaine, Al Pitrelli) – 4:28
7. "Recipe for Hate... Warhorse" – 5:18
8. "Losing My Senses" – 4:40
9. "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" – 4:25 (Originally appeared on Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years, later appeared on Greatest Hits: Back to the Start)
10. "Silent Scorn" – 1:42
11. "Return to Hangar" – 3:59
12. "When" – 9:14

The Japanese release also featured an additional track, called "Coming Home," between "The World Needs a Hero" and "Moto Psycho".

Personnel

• Dave Mustaine – guitar, lead vocals
• Al Pitrelli – guitar, backing vocals
• David Ellefson – bass guitar
• Jimmy DeGrasso – drums

Trivia

• "The World Needs a Hero" and "1000 Times Goodbye" feature the voice of Heather Keckler (Miss Arizona 2000 and Megadeth.com's "She-Wolf")

• The song "Moto Psycho" is used as the main theme song for the Sega Dreamcast game Heavy Metal: Geomatrix.

• Such songs like "Promises" and "1000 Times Goodbye" deal with failing relationships, "The World Needs A Hero" is a throwback to Megadeth's themes of revolution, "Return to Hangar" is the "sequel" to Rust in Peace's "Hangar 18", "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" and "Losing My Senses" are about introspection and looking within one's self for true and proper meaning, and "Moto Psycho" is about people who commute every day to and from work, ending up spending a long time on the road.

Charts

Album

Year	Chart	Position
2001	The Billboard 200	16

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
2001	"Moto Psycho"	Mainstream Rock Tracks	22