In a recent conversation with James LoMenzo on Metal Global, the bassist reflected on the band’s decision to record a new version of “Ride the Lightning” for what became the final studio effort from MEGADETH. The idea, proposed by Dave Mustaine, initially surprised LoMenzo but ultimately resonated with him as a fitting way to close a long chapter of the band’s history.
He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth): “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.”
The bassist also addressed the broader rivalry narrative between MEGADETH and METALLICA, offering a measured perspective. When the interviewer suggested MEGADETH might be superior in terms of riffs and solos, LoMenzo responded diplomatically: “I can’t go on board with you there. I mean, I’m a company guy — sure, I think we’re better, but semantically, I don’t really believe that. It’s all about taste and approach, right? And I think if Dave had stayed there [in METALLICA], it would’ve certainly been a lot more complex, but they would’ve not lost any energy that they had, METALLICA. It comes down to, like, who do you like better — MOTÖRHEAD or the RAMONES? One seems silly, one seems really serious, but I love them both. You know what I mean? And it’s similar kind of driving music.”
Asked whether he knew ahead of recording Megadeth that it would serve as MEGADETH’s final studio release, James responded: “No, no, no. This came about, like, three-quarters through. We were proceeding as if we were just doing another record, and as time went by… After we finished the record was basically when Dave had this meeting with us and said, ‘You know, guys, this is kind of where we’re at right now. And maybe instead of going out with a whimper, maybe we go out with a big, giant victorious thing.’ And I think it was probably easier to make that decision after hearing the music that we had. ‘Cause if we weren’t convinced with the record, who’d wanna say, ‘Oh, this is our last record. Sorry, this is the best we can do.’ No, we were pretty excited with it. So, it was afterward. And looking down the road, I guess with Ozzy [Osbourne] and all these bands [going away or retiring] — I mean, he had such an illustrious career. There’s so many bands that come and go, and they come back and they leave and all that stuff. And Dave‘s not that guy. So when he said that, I heard him loud and clear. It was, like, ‘No, we have to really go out the right way if we’re gonna do this at all.'”
Mustaine previously elaborated on his decision to include a cover of “Ride the Lightning” on the album during an appearance on Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk on SiriusXM.
He said: “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. If we’re gonna honor those guys by doing a new version of the song that I did with James [Hetfield], 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 [Verbeuren, MEGADETH drummer], ‘Have fun there. And you can beef it up if you want’.
The release of Megadeth marked a career milestone for the band, becoming their first No. 1 album in the U.S., debuting at the top of the charts with 73,000 equivalent album units in the week ending January 29, according to Luminate. Pure album sales drove the majority of that total, with 69,000 physical and digital copies sold.
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