For much of the 1990s, old-school MTV viewers heard one of thrash metal's most iconic riffs nearly every hour — the opening bassline to Megadeth's "Peace Sells."
The snippet played at the close of every MTV News segment, cementing itself as a generational soundtrack for metalheads and mainstream audiences alike. But according to frontman Dave Mustaine, MTV never paid him a dime for its use.
"They didn't give me a penny," Mustaine told Rolling Stone in an interview revisited in Greg Prato's book The World's State-Of-The-Art Speed Metal Band: The Megadeth Story 1983–2002. "They cut it off right before they'd have to pay me, which was very clever. I don't think anybody with a conscience at MTV did that — it was probably somebody in their legal department."
Speaking on the Booked on Rock podcast, Prato explained how MTV took advantage of a legal loophole: "If you play something for four seconds, you don't have to pay for it. That's exactly what they did with 'Peace Sells.'"
While fans have long associated the bassline with then-bassist David Ellefson, Mustaine actually wrote it himself.
"Not too many people know this, but to confirm it: Dave Mustaine wrote that little bass part," Prato noted. "Although, of course, David Ellefson played it. Ellefson talks about how they were at rehearsal one day, and Mustaine picked up his bass and was noodling around, like, 'Hey, what do you think of this?'"
That riff became the backbone of "Peace Sells," released as a single and music video in November 1986 from the album Peace Sells… But Who's Buying?. Decades later, it remains one of Megadeth's defining anthems. In August 2022, the track was officially certified Gold by the RIAA, marking more than 500,000 units sold in the U.S.
Despite MTV's massive cultural impact and the role "Peace Sells" played in shaping its identity, Mustaine's story highlights the murky business of licensing in the pre-digital era. The riff might not have earned him royalties, but for an entire generation of fans, it became one of the most recognizable pieces of music on television — a constant reminder that metal had seeped into the mainstream.
