Synopsis

Megadeth perform "In My Darkest Hour" in a stark, studio-based video assembled from live performance footage, recording-session images, and interview material. The band is shown in a stripped-down setting that emphasizes the song's mournful mood rather than presenting a conventional storyline. Dave Mustaine's intense delivery and the band's aggressive playing are contrasted with quieter documentary-style moments, giving the clip the feel of both a performance piece and a portrait of Megadeth during the late 1980s.

Factoids & Trivia

• The video is closely associated with Penelope Spheeris' 1988 documentary *The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years*, which included Megadeth among its featured performers.

• The clip uses a shortened edit of the song. The original album version runs about 6 minutes and 16 seconds, while the video edit is approximately 5 minutes and 12 seconds.

• MTV reportedly refused to air the video because the lyrics were interpreted as promoting suicide. The controversy helped give the song a lasting reputation as one of Megadeth's darkest and most emotionally charged recordings.

• Dave Mustaine wrote the music after learning of the 1986 death of his former Metallica bandmate Cliff Burton. The lyrics, written with David Ellefson, also draw on Mustaine's personal feelings about loneliness and a painful relationship.

• The song appeared on the soundtrack to *The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years* and was released as a promotional single in 1988.

• Unlike many later Megadeth videos, the clip does not rely on an elaborate fictional concept or special-effects narrative. Its documentary footage preserves the band's early lineup and captures the raw presentation associated with the *So Far, So Good... So What!* era.