More details revealed about Megadeth’s version of “Ride the Lightning”

In an interview with Spain’s MariskalRockTV, Dave Mustaine discussed his decision to include his rendition of “Ride The Lightning,” the title track of Metallica’s 1984 album, on the final Megadeth record, titled “Megadeth”, as per Blabbermouth. He explained that he co-wrote the song prior to his departure from METALLICA in 1983.

Mustaine addressed the motivation behind recording “Ride The Lightning” at this stage in his career.

Probably ’cause it was the most emblematic of my guitar influence. The spider chord — you know how I do the spider chord. And then there’s something called grunting, where I’ll hit the chord a half a step below the note I want to go to. I’ll fret it and I’ll slide into it… It’s way heavier. So, to me, I call that grunting. So spider chords and grunting are in ‘Ride The Lightning’. Having written so much of the songs with [Metallica] — people think I wrote a lot, but on that record [‘Ride The Lightning’], it was ‘The Call Of Ktulu’, which used to be called ‘When Hell Freezes Over’, and [the title track] ‘Ride The Lightning’. And the previous album [Metallica’s 1983 debut, ‘Kill ‘Em All’] had four songs on it [that I co-wrote].

When asked whether the guitar solo in Megadeth’s version closely resembles the original, he clarified whether Kirk Hammett, Metallica’s current guitarist, replicated Mustaine’s solo from his original version or if Mustaine aimed to honor Hammett’s work by reproducing the solo from the 1984 album.

I think Kirk — if you listen to [Metallica’s 1982] ‘No Life ‘Til Leather’ demo and then you listen to the ‘Kill ‘Em All’ record, it’s pretty clear that that Kirk had some instruction [about how to approach the guitar leads on that album]. Was it note for note? No. But it was pretty close. So, when the opportunity came to do ‘Ride The Lightning’ [with Megadeth], I didn’t really feel like I knew the song very well anymore, and I don’t remember what I played on for that song, for ‘Ride The Lightning’. I had a hard time finding anything that I played on either. So we just figured, ‘Fuck it. [Current Megadeth guitarist] Teemu [Mäntysaari] and I’ll split the solo up, and half of it’ll be for him and half of it’ll be for me,’ and it turned out so that [Teemu] did a little more than half.

Upcoming shows:

February 15 – Victoria, BC 
February 17 – Abbotsford, BC 
February 18 – Kelowna, BC 
February 20 – Calgary, AB 
February 21 – Edmonton, AB 
February 24 – Saskatoon, SK 
February 25 – Winnipeg, MB 
February 28 – London, ON 
March 01 – Ottawa, ON 
March 03 – Halifax, NS 
March 04 – Moncton, NB 
March 06 – Québec, QC

April 23 – Lima, PER – Costa 21 
April 25 – Bogota, COL – Movistar Arena 
April 27 – Bogota, COL – Movistar Arena 
April 30 – Buenos Aires, ARG 
May 02 – Sao Paulo, BRA – Espaco Unimed 
May 05 – Santiago, CHL – Movistar Arena 
May 06 – Santiago, CHL – Movistar Arena 
May 08 – Monterrey, MEX – Arena Monterrey 
May 10 – Mexico City, MEX – Arena Ciudad de Mexico 
May 13 – Guadalajara, MEX – Arena Guadalajara

June 07 – Gelsenkirchen, Germany 
June 10 – Hradec Kralove, CZE – Rock For People 
June 11 – Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg 
June 14 – Ferrara, ITA – Ferrara Summer Festival 
June 15 – Zurich, Switzerland June 16 – Vienna, Austria 
June 23 – Istanbul, Türkiye 
June 26 – Helsinki, FIN – Tuska Open Air Metal Festival 
June 28 – Almaty, Kazakhstan

With Iron Maiden:

August 29 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena 
August 30 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena 
September 03 – Montréal, QC – Parc Jean-Drapeau (with Anthrax) 
September 05 – Harrison, NJ – Sports Illustrated Stadium (with Anthrax) 
September 09 – Boston, MA – TD Garden 
September 11 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live 
September 12 – Charlotte, NC – PNC Music Pavilion 
September 15 – Hershey, PA – Hersheypark Stadium 
September 19 – Shakopee, MN – Mystic Lake Amphitheater 
September 22 – Chicago, IL – Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre 
September 25 – Los Angeles, CA – BMO Stadium (with Anthrax) 
September 26 – Los Angeles, CA – BMO Stadium (with Anthrax) 
September 29 – San Antonio, TX – Alamodome (with Anthrax)