Dave Mustaine doesn't rule out playing Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" on Megadeth's upcoming tour: "I put my DNA in it"

One of the most controversial topics about Megadeth's new (and already successful) album, announced as the band's final record, is Dave Mustaine's decision to include his new version of "Ride The Lightning", the song that gave its name to Metallica's second album, being one of those that counted on Dave's work in its composition while he was still part of the band. "I put my DNA in it," comments Megadeth's leader about a version he doesn't rule out performing live on the farewell tour. It was during Mustaine's participation in SiriusXM's "Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk" program where the possibility of "Ride The Lightning" being part of the final repertoire in a tour that already has confirmed concerts in Spain was put on the table: "Oh, shit, Eddie. You don't have to ask me that. (Laughs) Maybe. Maybe. We play 'Mechanix'". The nod to another song that Mustaine gestated in his Metallica days and that would end up being "The Four Horsemen" for Hetfield and Ulrich's crew joins Megadeth's leader's words about how the idea of making this version came about more than four decades after he helped plant its seed: "Well, we had already passed the halfway point of the album. Because that song ended up being number 13. And when it came time to do it, we were talking about... What we usually do is cover a song by someone we like or something like that, or do a remake. And when I was talking to Justis (his son, who is on Megadeth's team), he said: 'Why don't you do Ride The Lightning?' And I looked at him like, 'Hmm.' And then I thought about it. I said: 'That's probably a good idea. Let's try it.' We tried it. It was great." Mustaine was clear that this version couldn't fail: "I told the guys: 'Okay, if we're going to do this, let's make sure we do it as good as the original or better.' Because we have to. If we're going to honor those guys by doing a new version of the song I made with James (Hetfield), I think it's important that it's just as good or better. What we did was speed it up a bit and, as for the drum fills at the end, I told Dirk (Verbeuren): 'Have fun there. And you can intensify it if you want.' And I talked to Teemu (Mäntysaari) and said: 'The guitar solo that's there, try to stay true to it, if you can.' Because it's actually Kirk (Hammett) improvising on what I had done. 'So, let's have fun with it.'" Dave doesn't forget his own challenge as a vocalist: "And the solo was a bit different, similar to the original that Kirk did, but with some variations. And then there was the voice. James and I have easily identifiable voices, but they don't sound alike at all. And I was listening to James sing, and it was fun being able to hear his vocal parts and break them down and hear how he sings, and then go back and approach the song and try to sing it in my style. I think I put my DNA in it." Megadeth's leader wraps up the response celebrating the result: "It would have been different if I had performed a song from a band I was in that I didn't compose. That would be like doing a strange nepotism cover. But this is one of my songs. So yeah, I loved doing it. I loved writing it with James and I loved playing it with Megadeth."

Mustaine doesn't rule out performing Megadeth's version of Ride the Lightning live