Capitol Punishment: The Megadeth Years

The title of the album is an allusion to the band's persistent difficulties with their record label, Capitol Records. Megadeth ultimately left Capitol and signed with Sanctuary Records, but were contractually obliged to release one further album with Capitol, hence the greatest hits compilation. With the exception of material from the band's debut album, Killing Is My Business... and Business Is Good!, which was released on Combat Records rather than Capitol, the compilation contains songs from all Megadeth's previously released albums at the time, in reverse-chronological order. In addition to the new track "Kill the King", Capitol insisted on the inclusion of "Dread and the Fugitive Mind", a track recorded for the album The World Needs a Hero, then in the production stage. The band agreed simply to release themselves from their obligations to Capitol,{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} but the enmity between band and label was memorialized in the title of the album, intended to demonstrate that working with Capitol was a form of punishment.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} It is out of print.{{citation needed|date=November 2015}} As of December 2005, Capitol Punishment had sold 200,000 copies in the U.S.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=45667|title = MEGADETH: Album Sales Update|date = December 16, 2005}}

{{Album reviews

| rev1 = AllMusic

|rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/capitol-punishment-the-megadeth-years-mw0000104229|title=Year - Megadeth|publisher=AllMusic|access-date=December 2, 2006}}

| rev2 = Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal

| rev2score = 7/10{{cite book |last1=Popoff |first1=Martin |last2=Perri|first2=David|author-link1=Martin Popoff |title=The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 4: The '00s |publisher=Collector's Guide Publishing |year=2011 |location=Burlington, Ontario, Canada |isbn=9781-926592-20-6 |page=313}}

| rev3 = Drowned in Sound

|rev3score = 8/10{{Cite web |url=http://drownedinsound.com/releases/2481/reviews/342- |title=Drowned in Sound Review |publisher=Drowned in Sound |access-date=November 11, 2012 |archive-date=June 25, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120625094448/http://drownedinsound.com/releases/2481/reviews/342- |url-status=dead }}

| rev4 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide

|rev4score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{Cite book | last = Brackett | first = Nathan | author2 = Christian Hoard | title = The Rolling Stone Album Guide | publisher = Simon and Schuster | year = 2004 | location = New York City, New York | page = [https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/534 534] | isbn = 0-7432-0169-8 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/newrollingstonea00brac/page/534 }}

}}

Nick Lancaster of Drowned in Sound criticized the compilation for including too many tracks from albums like Cryptic Writings and Risk instead of earlier, heavier material. Lancaster took particular aim at the inclusion of the "ludicrously moronic" "Crush 'Em". Despite that, he did give praise to the two then-new songs "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" and "Kill the King", citing them as a "return to form".

Similarly, Steve Huey of AllMusic also criticized the album for focusing more on commercial material at the expense of the band's earlier thrash material, as well as the exclusion of soundtrack songs like "Go to Hell", "Angry Again" and "99 Ways to Die". Huey summed up the compilation as "more of a sampler for casual fans", finding the release "too incomplete" and "too scattershot" otherwise.

{{tracklist

| extra_column = Album

| title1 = Kill the King

| extra1 = New song

| length1 = 3:46

| title2 = Dread and the Fugitive Mind

| extra2 = New song (later included on The World Needs a Hero)

| length2 = 4:26

| title3 = Crush 'Em

| extra3 = 1999 - Risk

| length3 = 4:59

| title4 = Use the Man

| extra4 = 1997 - Cryptic Writings

| length4 = 4:37

| title5 = Almost Honest

| extra5 = 1997 - Cryptic Writings

| length5 = 4:04

| title6 = Trust

| extra6 = 1997 - Cryptic Writings

| length6 = 5:12

| title7 = A Tout le Monde

| extra7 = 1994 - Youthanasia

| length7 = 4:31

| title8 = Train of Consequences

| extra8 = 1994 - Youthanasia

| length8 = 3:28

| title9 = Sweating Bullets

| extra9 = 1992 - Countdown to Extinction

| length9 = 5:04

| title10 = Symphony of Destruction

| extra10 = 1992 - Countdown to Extinction

| length10 = 4:03

| title11 = Hangar 18

| extra11 = 1990 - Rust in Peace

| length11 = 5:13

| title12 = Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

| extra12 = 1990 - Rust in Peace

| length12 = 6:35

| title13 = In My Darkest Hour

| extra13 = 1988 - So Far, So Good... So What!

| length13 = 6:19

| title14 = Peace Sells

| extra14 = 1986 - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?

| length14 = 4:04

|total_length = 1:06:21

}}

{{tracklist

| extra_column = Album

| title15 = Capitol Punishment

| note15 = hidden track

| extra15 = New song (US release only)

| length15 = 4:47

}}

{{tracklist

| extra_column = Album

| title15 = Wake Up Dead

| extra15 = 1986 - Peace Sells... but Who's Buying?

| length15 = 3:40

}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Megadeth}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:Megadeth compilation albums

Category:2000 greatest hits albums

Category:Capitol Records compilation albums

Category:Heavy metal compilation albums