The World Needs a Hero

The World Needs a Hero is the ninth studio album by American thrash metal band Megadeth, released on May 15, 2001, by Sanctuary Records. After the critical and commercial failure of the previous album Risk (1999), The World Needs a Hero represented a change back to a heavier musical direction. Subsequently, the album charted at number 16 on the Billboard 200 upon release.

After parting with former label Capitol Records, the album was the first of two Megadeth studio albums to be released by Sanctuary. It was the last of two studio albums to feature drummer Jimmy DeGrasso, the last to feature bassist David Ellefson until Thirteen (2011), the only one to feature guitarist Al Pitrelli, and the last one before Megadeth's brief disbandment in 2002. It is also the first album to feature the band's mascot Vic Rattlehead on the cover since Rust in Peace (1990), and the first to utilize Megadeth's classic logo since Youthanasia (1994).

At 57 minutes and 49 seconds, The World Needs a Hero was Megadeth's longest album until The Sick, the Dying... and the Dead! (2022). It also contains Megadeth's longest song, "When", clocking in at 9 minutes and 14 seconds.

In 1999, Megadeth released their eighth studio album, Risk. The album was noteworthy for being a drastic musical departure for the band, and the culmination of the band's increasing attempts for mainstream success throughout the 1990s, a trend starting with Countdown to Extinction (1992). The World Needs a Hero marks a stylistic transition towards the band's thrash metal roots. Furthermore, the album had been touted by the band as an "antidote" to Risk in a press release. However, the album has been noted by several music critics as still retaining some commercial feel from previous albums.

According to frontman Dave Mustaine, the album title refers to stereotypical rock stars. When asked about the matter, and an earlier comment about Axl Rose having killed the traditional rock star image, Mustaine explained that "People want heroes. Most bands look like average Joes, wearing gas-station shirts, have funky hair-dos and I think people wanna be able to go 'they may not be popular, but they're MY band.'" Mustaine went on to say that many of contemporary rock music groups looked and sounded the same, and that the music industry needed a hero. He then proceeded to contrast a perceived lack of image of then current music scenes with the image of 1980s metal bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.

In another interview, Mustaine offered a more straightforward interpretation of the album title. Commenting on negative stories in the news, such as wars and natural disasters, Mustaine inferred that the world at that time was in need of a hero to solve various problems around the planet.

The album cover by Hugh Syme shows Megadeth's mascot Vic Rattlehead bursting out of Mustaine's chest, reminiscent of the 1979 film Alien.

The album's lead single was "Moto Psycho", and a video was also made for this song. The song is about people who commute every day to work, spending a lot of time on the road. "Dread and the Fugitive Mind" was released on the Capitol Punishment compilation a year earlier, at the insistence of Megadeth's former label, Capitol Records. The album's opener, "Disconnect", is explained by Mustaine as being about living a double life and "the person I want you to think that I am and the person inside that I really know I am." "Coming Home" was only available on the Japanese pressing as a bonus track, but has since been released on the Warchest box set and the 2019 reissue of the album. Mustaine has stated that concept for "Promises" is "prejudiced relationships," such as those between a Catholic and a Protestant in Ireland, interracial and same-sex relationships, "it could be about a guy and a sheep for all I care. It just means that if we can't be together in this life, maybe we'll make it in the next."