MEGADETH has released an official live music video for its rendition of “Ride the Lightning,” following the track’s recent onstage debut in Bogotá, Colombia.
The newly unveiled clip captures footage from two back-to-back performances at Movistar Arena, filmed during the band’s shows on April 26 and April 27.
Originally released by METALLICA in 1984, “Ride The Lightning” holds a unique place in Dave Mustaine’s legacy. Mustaine co-wrote the song alongside James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and the late Cliff Burton before his departure from the band in 1983. Decades later, he revisited the track with MEGADETH on the group’s latest self-titled album, effectively bringing the song full circle.
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’.
In a separate interview with Metal Hammer, Mustaine reflected on the deeper meaning behind revisiting the track: “I think it was the right time to record it and close the circle. I think it was the right time to record it and close the circle. It’s back to where I came from, and honestly, it’s a good song, we played it really well. We sped it up a little bit, but I personally think when you’re going to do a version of a song then you have to make it just as good or if not better. I really think that we’ve done it just as good the original.”
“I’ve always respected James’ playing and so this is a tip of a hat to him and to METALLICA for everything that they’ve done, and everything that we’ve done,” he added. “That legacy that really happened in that teeny little garage in Norwalk, California.”
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