On This Day in Rock 2017: Dave Mustaine Claimed Credit For Classic Metallica Song

01-15-2024

Promo photo courtesy Prime PR

() Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine topped the Day in Rock in 2017 with a story where he said that he heard himself in the title track to his former band Metallica's classic sophomore album "Ride The Lightning".

Mustaine, who was the original guitarist for the thrash giants, made the revelation for a special series for Rolling Stone called "My Life In 15 Songs" and he picked "Ride The Lightning" as one of them.

He said of the track, "There's certain riffs that you hear, and you just know who the songwriter is. And I'm not talking about just when I write. So there are certain parts of 'Ride The Lightning' and 'Leper Messiah' and the first album, all that stuff, you can tell little things that are similar with Megadeth's guitar playing 'cause you know there's so much you can do with an instrument. I think they did great with it.

"I didn't write all of the music in 'Ride The Lightning'. Lars wrote the melodic intro, and then the next part I wrote and then the next part I wrote and then the next part and then it went back to his part and then it went back to my next three parts and then at that point... who's keeping score?

"I got over them using my songs a long time ago. You can obsess on sh*t like that or you can let it go, and nothing is gonna change it. You've got two great bands. We're friends. Stuff happened. F***, I forgave Ellefson after suing me for 18-and-a-half-million dollars, I can forgive those guys for using my songs. And honestly if it hadn't have been for that vehicle, what we started - and I mean we with a capital f***ing W-E - you know, I think they did great. I'm really proud of them.

"By the time we put out Killing (Is My Business... And Business Is Good!) in 1985, I had moved on. But I had all this stuff in my mind, in my catalog that I didn't get a chance to show those guys. We were progressing down a very simplistic road with that band. I can't remember who said it, but someone very prominent, very smart said, 'Metallica is like to the Ramones what Megadeth are to the Clash.' And I thought that's probably one of the best things I've ever heard. I saw another comparison 'Metallica is Iron Maiden to Megadeth is Led Zeppelin' and I thought, "Hey that's really a good way to look at it, too." Because we are a little bit more twisty and turny."