'Vic Rattlehead'
Vic Rattlehead is the mascot of the thrash metal band Megadeth.
Vic is a skeletal figure who embodies the phrase, "See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil." His eyes are covered by a riveted-on visor, his mouth is clamped shut, and his ears are closed with metal caps.
Vic appears on several Megadeth album covers. For example: "Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good!", "Peace sells... But who's Buying?", "Rust in Peace", "So Far, So Good... So What!"
The mythic creation of Vic Rattlehead is addressed in the song "Skull Beneath the Skin" from the Killing is My Business... and Business is Good! album:
-
To peel away
Metal caps his ears
He'll hear not what we say
Solid steel visor
Riveted across his eyes
Iron staples close his jaws
So no one hears his cries
-Skull Beneath the Skin
In reality, Dave Mustaine sketched the original drawing of Vic for the cover art, but Combat Records lost the artwork and improvised a completely different result.
The original artwork was supposed to be recovered and placed on the re-issue of Killing Is My Business...and Business is Good!; however, this never came to pass. The name of Vic stands for victim and Rattlehead comes from what Mustaine's mother used to say to him when he was headbanging. "Don't do that or you'll rattle something up in there!" This then led to the expression "to rattle one's head" meaning head-bang.
