In a new interview with Brazil’s “Ibagenscast“, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine opened up about the deep-seated reasons behind recording a new version of “Ride The Lightning” for the final Megadeth studio album, simply titled Megadeth.
Dave Mustaine, who received a co-writing credit on the title track of Metallica‘s 1984 album Ride The Lightning following his departure from the group in 1983, explained that his decision was rooted in showcasing his unique guitar innovations from that era.
”I’ve got a really good explanation for you. That was one of the songs that I wrote with [Metallica frontman] James [Hetfield], and just like the other songs that I wrote, something happened when I left. Parts were changed, credits were assigned to other people, and I thought of all the songs, ‘Ride The Lightning‘ showcased my guitar talents the best: the spider chord that I invented, the grunting chords. Those were things that bands weren’t doing. And it happens in ‘Ride The Lightning‘,” he shared (as transcribed by Blabbermouth).
Approaching a legendary track decades later required a delicate balance of respect and aggressive reinvention. Mustaine detailed how the current Megadeth lineup worked to elevate the classic material.
“I’ve always thought that James was an excellent guitar player, so when we set out to do the song, we figured we needed to do it as good or better than the original. And we figured, how are we gonna do that? Metallica‘s an amazing group. So we sped it up just a little bit, made it a little bit more frantic, and then we kind of spiced up the solo a little bit. And then, at the end, there’s some drum fills that the Metallica guys had played, and I told [Megadeth drummer] Dirk [Verbeuren], I said, ‘Have fun there. Just have fun.’ So he did a drum fill at the end in the four spots that there’s drum fills. And I think that they’re really stunning drum fills. They may be similar to the original stuff, but I’m not sure how similar. And he recorded his parts, and I love it,” he explained.
With Megadeth currently embarking on their farewell tour, fans have been eager to hear the reimagined track live. The band recently debuted their version of “Ride The Lightning“ during headlining concerts on April 26 and April 27 at the Movistar Arena in Bogota, Colombia. However, Dave Mustaine emphasized that the song’s inclusion in the setlist moving forward will be highly calculated.
“Now it’s just a matter of us playing it live and when in the set it would be played and how many times do we wanna play it? I mean, we may not play it down [in South America]; we may only play it once down here. I don’t know. It has to be right, because the first time we play that, people are gonna record it and it’s gonna go around the world. And I don’t want a version of a song that we did that almost everyone says is better than the original, I don’t wanna go out there and play that song and have a little lack of confidence. I wanna go out there and own it. I wanna be the f**king boss.”
Most importantly, the heavy metal icon made it clear that revisiting the track was a gesture of peace and closure, officially putting decades of highly publicized tension with his former bandmates to rest.
“And going back to why we did that song — it’s kind of closing the circle, paying my respects to the band that I was a founding member in. And love me or hate me, they’ll never be able to erase me. And I think that when people can look with acceptance and fondness of the two bands and not try and keep something that I don’t wanna keep going. I don’t wanna have a feud. I’ve put that to sleep so many years ago. So, yeah, I wanted to do something that was — just show some respect, ’cause it doesn’t matter to me if he cares, if he likes it; it matters what I do and that I show respect and close the circle,” he affirmed.
The decision to tackle the iconic 1984 thrash anthem wasn’t made overnight. Over the past year, Dave Mustaine has consistently praised Metallica‘s contributions while explaining the strategic and emotional process of bringing the song into the Megadeth catalog.
During an appearance on SiriusXM‘s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk“ earlier this year, he revealed that the idea initially came from his son, Justis Mustaine, who serves on the band’s management team alongside Danny Nozell and Steve Ross.
“Well, we were past the halfway point in the album. ‘Cause that song ended up being song number 13. And when the time came to do that, we were talking about — what we usually do is a rendition of somebody’s song that we like or something like that, or a remake. And when I was talking with [my son] Justis [who is part of the Megadeth management team], he had said, ‘Why don’t you do ‘Ride The Lightning’?’ And I kind of looked at him like, ‘Hmm.’ And then I thought about it. I said, ‘That’s probably a good idea.’ And I said, ‘Let’s try it.’ We tried it. It was cool. And I said to the band guys, ‘Okay, if we’re gonna do this, let’s make sure that we do it as good as the original or better.’ ‘Cause we gotta do that,” he recalled at the time.
“If we’re gonna honor those guys by doing a new version of the song that I did with James, I think it’s important to make it as good or better. And what we did was we sped it up a little bit, and the drum fills at the very end, I told Dirk, ‘Have fun there. And you can beef it up if you want’. And I talked to Teemu [Mäntysaari, Megadeth guitarist] and I said, ‘The guitar solo that’s in there, try and stay close to it, if you can.’ ‘Cause it really is Kirk [Hammett] doing an improvisation of what I was doing. ‘So, let’s have fun with it.’ And the solo was a little different — close to the original that Kirk did, but it was a little different. And then there was the singing. James and I have instantly identifiable voices, but they’re not at all alike. And I was listening to James sing, and it was fun for me to be able to listen to his vocal parts and break it down and hear how he sings, and then to go back and approach the song and try and sing in my style, which I do believe I put my DNA on that.”
He added that doing a track he had a hand in creating made it a natural fit for the band: “It would’ve been different if I would’ve done a song by a band I was in that I didn’t write. That’s kind of like doing a weird nepotistic cover song. But this is one of my songs. So, yeah, I loved doing this. I loved writing it with James, and I loved playing it with Megadeth.”
Re-recording a 40-year-old track presented unique challenges. In an interview with Spain’s “MariskalRockTV“, Dave Mustaine admitted that memory played a factor in how he and guitarist Teemu Mäntysaari approached the lead sections.
“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, ‘F**k 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,” he detailed.
Other Metallica tracks bearing Dave Mustaine‘s early influence were briefly considered, but ultimately passed over for various historical reasons. As he noted to “Eddie Trunk” in late 2025, returning to the Kill ‘Em All era wasn’t an option, as Megadeth had already repurposed “The Four Horsemen” into the faster, more aggressive “Mechanix” on their 1985 debut, Killing Is My Business…And Business Is Good!. Furthermore, he felt that “The Call Of Ktulu” (originally titled “When Hell Freezes Over“) had been altered too heavily by his former bandmates after his departure.
Ultimately, the choice to cover the title track of Ride The Lightning allowed Dave Mustaine to properly honor the foundational chemistry he shared with James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich (alongside late bassist Cliff Burton).
“The main reason I chose to do this was to close the circle and pay my respects to my partners. I thought this was a really great way to do that,” he told Guitar World. “I wanted to pay my respects to James Hetfield, who I think is an amazing guitar player, and Lars Ulrich, who was an excellent songwriter. I remember when I was there and we were putting these songs together, Lars didn’t just sit there; he was very instrumental in making these songs. Of course, when we got into making demos of these songs, it was fun to do the recordings, but we were never really able to do a full-on produced version of ‘Ride The Lightning‘ [while I was in Metallica], and I would have loved to have heard that. I gotta tell you — listening back to James‘s original vocal performance, it was really tremendous. Anyway, there’s no big strategy; I have respect for the guys, and I just wanted to show that. And it’s a hell of a song.”
