| Sweating Bullets | |
| Cover: | Megadeth Sweating Bullets Single.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Megadeth |
| Album: | Countdown to Extinction |
| Released: | February 16, 1993 |
| Recorded: | January–April 1992 |
| Genre: | Heavy metal |
| Length: | 5:03 (original version) 5:28 (2004 remastered version) |
| Label: | Capitol |
| Producer: | Max Norman, Dave Mustaine |
| Prev Title: | Symphony of Destruction |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Next Title: | Skin o' My Teeth |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
"Sweating Bullets" is a song by American heavy metal band Megadeth. It was released in 1993 as the third single from their fifth album, Countdown to Extinction (1992). A music video for the song was made, directed by Wayne Isham.[1] The song charted at No. 27 on the US Mainstream Rock chart and at No. 26 in the UK.
The lyrics, written by frontman Dave Mustaine, are from a first-person perspective of someone suffering from schizophrenia. Mustaine wrote the lyrics to express an idea that everyone suffers from the mental illness in their own ways, stating:
"I wrote that about myself. It was pointed out to me that I'm kind of schizophrenic and that I live inside my head. Which is something I don't subscribe to, but I enjoyed the theory nonetheless. I think all of us are sweating bullets all the time. Society's a joke right now, and people are getting more and more hostile. When you think about having an evil twin or schizophrenia, I think a lot of us are schizo, because we live inside our heads. There's someone we all confer with; it's called our conscience. Some people cannot control their other side; it takes them over. Everybody has that psychotic side. Everyone has a thing that will make them snap."[2]
The music video of this song starts with Dave Mustaine looking at himself in the mirror until a hand touches his shoulder and when he turns around, he notices that it is himself. Then, multiple Mustaines appear everywhere doing weird things. Then, the real Mustaine appears holding his brain sitting on a chair with two other Mustaines singing the song. In the guitar solo section of the song, the camera filming the music video moves backwards showing the other Megadeth members David Ellefson, Nick Menza and Marty Friedman locked in cells as prisoners in a paranoia state with their instruments.
"Sweating Bullets" is featured in the 2009 video game Guitar Hero 5.[3]