10 Greatest Tribute Songs In Rock History

3. In My Darkest Hour - Megadeth

Before he founded and fronted Megadeth, Dave Mustaine was part of the original line-up of Metallica alongside James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Cliff Burton.

Though he was booted from the group in 1983, he still had close ties to the other members. Naturally, when Burton was killed in 1986 in a tragic bus accident, it hit Mustaine hard.

What hit even harder was the fact that he only found out about Burton's death through a friend. He was severely annoyed that Metallica hadn't reached out to tell him and channelled his anger into writing this song.

In My Darkest Hour reflects on the despair Mustaine fell into after learning of his friend's passing. Rather than try and write a soulful ballad or a sombre acoustic number, Mustaine stuck to his guns and produced a heavy metal banger about the subject instead.

The song he ended up producing was far more in line with both his own and Burton's musical values. It might not seem like a tribute song at first, but it is actually the most fitting gift to a man who loved nothing more than to rock out and rock out hard.

Contributor
Contributor

Jacob Simmons has a great many passions, including rock music, giving acclaimed films three-and-a-half stars, watching random clips from The Simpsons on YouTube at 3am, and writing about himself in the third person.