Megadeth leader Dave Mustaine talked about his decision to include his version of “Ride the Lightning,” the title track of Metallica’s 1984 album for which he received a co-writing credit following his 1983 departure from the band, on Megadeth’s final album. He also revealed that his former Metallica bandmates James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich have not responded to Megadeth’s version.
Dave Mustaine: “Well, it was kind of closing the circle, I guess, knowing that this is gonna be the end. When we made the decision to add that song, we were about two-thirds of the way done with the record, and we’ve always tried to add a cool cover song to our records. And this wasn’t a cover — it was a version of a song that I wrote done by one of the other writers.”
“So it was interesting to do that. And I wanted to make it as good or better than the Metallica version. So how do you do that? You gotta play it as good. You gotta sing it as good. You gotta make it as exciting or better. So we sped it up. We spiced up the solo. We spiced up the drums, and I think the song has gotten really good response from the fans.”
“We haven’t heard from anybody from [the Metallica] camp, whether they like it or not, and that’s not why I did it. I did it to close the circle with us. We’ve done a lot of great things together, the three of us [James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Dave], and if this is the narrowing of the aperture on my career, I wanna go out on top.”
Mustaine’s decision gives the recording added weight because “Ride the Lightning” is tied directly to his brief time in Metallica and the songwriting history that followed his departure.
Mustaine received a co-writing credit on “Ride the Lightning,” alongside James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Cliff Burton. The song appeared on Metallica’s second studio album in 1984.
Metallica fired Mustaine on April 11, 1983, before the band recorded its debut album. Tensions within the group, including clashes linked to Mustaine’s alcohol and drug use, contributed to the split.
Mustaine later formed Megadeth, turning the fallout into the starting point for another influential metal career. Mustaine has described the anger surrounding his departure from Metallica as a driving force behind the formation of Megadeth.
Megadeth’s version of “Ride the Lightning” appears on the band’s self-titled final studio album, which was released on January 23. The track closes the album and marks a full-circle moment in Mustaine’s career.
“As I come full circle on the career of a lifetime, the decision to include ‘Ride The Lightning,’ a song I co-wrote with James, Lars, and Cliff, was to pay my respects to where my career first started,” Mustaine said.
