100 on the Billboard chart, That ultimately attracted the interest of Elektra Records, who signed Metallica to a new deal and reissued the album later in the year. Ride the Lightning was a sales success for the previously underground outfit, peaking at No. "Thrash metal to me is just open E riffing for five minutes as fast as you can go." This evolution was wholeheartedly deliberate, as evidenced by Ulrich's remarks in a 1984 interview with Kerrang! in which he shared his reasons for shying away from thrash: "It implies lack of arrangement, lack of ability, lack of songwriting, lack of any form of intelligence," he argued back then. They just came from a different school, especially Cliff, who came from a much more melodic approach."
" Ride the Lightning," Ulrich added, "was the first time that both Cliff and Kirk got a chance to add what they were doing. But we were realizing you had to be careful that it didn't become too limiting or one-dimensional. "Listening to songs like 'Fight Fire' and 'Trapped Under Ice,' we were obviously still into the thrash type of stuff. I don't think it was a conscious effort to break away from anything musically," Ulrich told Rolling Stone. "It was the first time that the four of us wrote together and we got a chance to broaden our horizons. Listen to Metallica Perform 'Fade to Black' Drummer Lars Ulrich said that gave Metallica an opportunity to bring in new creative voices. The creative changes found on Ride the Lightning were also integral to moving forward after founding member Dave Mustaine was fired. My mentor was really into jazz, and he pulled me aside one day and said, 'What's going on with these guys? They can't play." And I'm like, 'Who cares? Listen to the energy.'" The studio I worked at, Sweet Silence, was renowned in Denmark. Rasmussen admitted in the Rolling Stone interview that he'd "never heard" of Metallica, "but I really liked them as people. We were experiencing culture shock a little bit."Īdding that they "didn't really have anything else to do besides work on music and drink Carlsberg beer," Hammett admitted, "we totally destroyed our friend's house where we were staying.
It was easy for the Danish guy to fit in, but it wasn't so easy for the three American guys to fit in. "It was three American guys and a Danish guy. "It was great when we started there, but we were homesick after three or four weeks," guitarist Kirk Hammett later told Rolling Stone, with a laugh. Dave Mustaine (at this point, tangentionally related by Megadeth and NOT even in the band anymore!!) co-wrote 2 of the 8 songs.The four dirt-poor metalheads descended upon Ride the Lightning producer Flemming Rasmussen's studio in Copenhagen in the winter of 1984 with plenty of momentum. Iommi would be proud).Ĭliff Burton co-wrote 6 of the album’s 8 tracks.
Analog.įirst time they created songs in the studio.Įscape: consensus is “this is why record label executives don’t write songs” and “this is why James likes this song the least (even though, it’s STILL Metallica, and it’s STILL got the War Pigs nod with the siren, so that gets the condiments I think Mr. Remember kids this was also pre-intergooglewebz too…tape trading and mailing lists. Peaked at #100 on Billboard 200 with ZERO radio exposure. The title for the album was derived from the above passage of Stephen King’s “ The Stand”.Ĭliff Burton (Bass, R.I.P.) introduced music theory to the band (no doubt contributing to their quantum leap forward in song-craft and sheer quality of musicianship from Kill ‘em All). So prepare your favorite relaxer and JOIN US as we go back to the Days of Yore (let’s call it Pre-Puppets-Thrash-Core) and discuss some of the trivia associated with the album, go through some of the tracks, and address how hilarious “misheard lyrics” can be. Back to 1984 and the badassness of Ride The Lightning It won't belong.”Īny metalhead who hears the phrase “80’s era Metallica” will IMMEDIATELY conjure visions of James, Lars, Kirk and Cliff (R.I.P.) and be transported back to the days of yore, back before Metallica was a household name, back before they were part of The Big Four of Thrash Metal Royalty, back before Master of Puppets was even a “thought”. “Why, then you go on to Death Row at state prison and just enjoy all that good food until it's time to ride the lightning. Fun factoids tangentionally related to RTL:
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