When Megadeth decided to cover the Metallica classic “Ride the Lightning” as a B-side for their 2026 self-titled album, bassist James LoMenzo took the task seriously. However, after thoroughly studying the original basslines laid down by the late Cliff Burton, he quickly realized that a direct imitation wasn’t going to work for the modern Megadeth sound.
The original track, featured on Metallica‘s 1984 album Ride the Lightning, credits Dave Mustaine as a co-writer alongside James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Cliff Burton. While Mustaine and Burton played together in Metallica prior to Kirk Hammett stepping in for their debut album Kill ‘Em All, the cover presented a unique opportunity for Megadeth to revisit their shared history.
In a recent interview with “Loud and Proud“, LoMenzo explained his initial dedication to learning the complex parts note-for-note (as transcribed by Ultimate Guitar):
“The thing is, as a professional musician, you want to kind of get it right. So that you don’t want to just go and you don’t want to just kind of slather over that and hope for the best. So I studied it.”
Digging deep into the isolated tracks reminded LoMenzo of exactly what made Burton such a groundbreaking and completely unique musician during the thrash metal explosion of the 1980s.
“There’s a lot of stuff Cliff Burton played, and you got to really dig your ears in to hear it for the most part. But I mean, he was such a visceral player. Even back in the day when I was coming up [with White Lion], and they were doing their thing, he had a wonderful, like, almost a weird rock style. Where it’s just way too distorted and a little looser than the other guys, and he’d push and pull. And I love that about him. And so initially, I learned all that stuff.”
Even though he learned Burton’s loose and heavily distorted style well, LoMenzo realized that using it in the current recording sessions didn’t fit with Megadeth’s modern rhythm section.
“And when we got there and we listened to it in the speakers with the guitars already down, I was like, ‘Nah, man,’ it’s not that I can’t do it, it’s just not sitting right with Megadeth‘s version. Because Megadeth‘s version would certainly be a little more ‘Johnny on the spot’ than that. And so that was an interesting revelation, because I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t wait to play that part that Cliff played!’ It’s like, ‘Eh, it’s not going to work here’.”
During the same interview, he was asked about his initial reaction to the idea of re-recording “Ride the Lightning“.
LoMenzo said he was surprised at first, but in the end he was excited to take it on.
“I was delighted. I was surprised. My eyebrows went up, but I was kind of delighted that he was gonna even go there, because there’s always that subliminal undercurrent tension — you know, ‘Oh, Metallica [versus] Megadeth.’ And I always thought, like, Megadeth, for God’s sake, I always thought Dave won in a way, because he’s built this giant thing all by himself. And it made a lot of sense to me logically. It seemed like if this is the last thing we’re gonna do, then we should go out, end with a bang, but also kind of address the full history of this band. And that’s like step one. So I thought it was great in the end. But yes, my eyebrow went up when I heard him say that. Yeah.”
