“Ride the Lightning” by Metallica

"Ride the Lightning" is the title track of Metallica's second album, released on Megaforce in July 1984, and the name comes straight out of Stephen King's The Stand, where a character uses the phrase for death in the electric chair. The cover hammers it home: an electric chair hit by lightning shooting out of the band's logo.

The writing credit catches a band mid-change. James Hetfield wrote the words and shares the music with Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine, the former lead guitarist, on the last Metallica album to carry his writing. Kirk Hammett plays guitar alongside Hetfield, who sings, with Burton on bass and Ulrich on drums. The album was cut in three weeks at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, with Flemming Rasmussen behind the desk.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.