Metallica

Anyway, when I heard the news I stumbled onto a quote in a book I was reading: You're never an ex-addict. Just an addict who hasn't had a fix in a while.

As someone who gained an addiction to pain killers following an extensive shoulder surgery, this is pretty much the case. It's very possible I'll never touch another pain killer as long as I live, and haven't in over three years. But I'll always be an addict because my predisposition to being able to be addicted to pain killers will never go away. On the other hand, I could drink as much alcohol as I want, and then stop cold turkey with no issues, aside from physical withdrawals. And that's because due to my "makeup" for lack of a better term, I've never been or will be an addict for alcohol.

I'm mentioning this because there's tons of people who'd likely take the stance of "oh come on James, you're rich, get your shit together". And that's because they have no idea what it's like to be on the other side of the fence.
 
Dave Mustaine was the only good songwriter Metallica ever had.

You can't be serious. I love Megadeth, but Metallica are better songwriters.

Have you heard the horrible accoustic version of Blackened that they have recorded recently during lockdown?

I actually thought it had some neat ideas, but they cut out too many of the interesting tonalities during the bridge. The verses had a foreboding, creepy sound that felt like they were leading to something that never arrived.
 
Dave Mustaine was the only good songwriter Metallica ever had.

Dave Mustaine still thinks his version of a song that is so fast it cannot establish any sort of catchy groove and includes the lyrics:

"Made my drive shaft crank
Made my pistons bulge
Made my ball bearing melt from the heat"

Is better than a song that includes the lyrics:

"On through the dead of night
With The Four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die"

Mustaine may have written Rust In Peace and Countdown to Extinction, but he loses.
 
Dave Mustaine still thinks his version of a song that is so fast it cannot establish any sort of catchy groove and includes the lyrics:

"Made my drive shaft crank
Made my pistons bulge
Made my ball bearing melt from the heat"

Is better than a song that includes the lyrics:

"On through the dead of night
With The Four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die"

Mustaine may have written Rust In Peace and Countdown to Extinction, but he loses.
I much prefer the perverted sex driven speed metal of Mechanix. That song is dirty as fuck.
 
Dave Mustaine still thinks his version of a song that is so fast it cannot establish any sort of catchy groove and includes the lyrics:

"Made my drive shaft crank
Made my pistons bulge
Made my ball bearing melt from the heat"

Is better than a song that includes the lyrics:

"On through the dead of night
With The Four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die"

Mustaine may have written Rust In Peace and Countdown to Extinction, but he loses.
Have you heard the original (Mustaine) lyrics of Jump In The Fire?

Sitting in my room with my head in my hands
I just can’t seem to move
I gotta get up, get out, get high
Get back in the groove
There’s a job to be done, and I’m the one
You people chose to do it
Now I tighten my belt, I’m sure you all felt
It’s time to get to it

So come on
Jump in the Fire
So come on
Jump in the Fire

Movin’ my hips in a circular way
Push forward a bit
Pull your body to my waist
Feel how good it fits
There’s a job to be done, and I’m the one
You people chose to do it
Now I take off my pants, a second chance to get down
So let’s get down to it


Why? Just... why?
 
Upon revisiting the subject matter, I will modify my thesis. Mustaine was Metallica's best songwriter next to Cliff Burton. I overestimated Mustaine's legacy on Ride the Lightning.

They are credited on the following songs:

The Four Horsemen
Jump in the Fire
(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth
Phantom Lord
Metal Militia
Fight Fire With Fire
Ride the Lightning
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fade to Black
Creeping Death
The Call of Ktulu
Master of Puppets
Orion
Damage Inc.

QED.

Dave Mustaine still thinks his version of a song that is so fast it cannot establish any sort of catchy groove and includes the lyrics:

"Made my drive shaft crank
Made my pistons bulge
Made my ball bearing melt from the heat"

Is better than a song that includes the lyrics:

"On through the dead of night
With The Four Horsemen ride
Or choose your fate and die"

Mustaine may have written Rust In Peace and Countdown to Extinction, but he loses.

Are those really songwriting issues, though? How fast you play it is a matter of arrangement; Metallica don't play it as fast, but the song was still written by Mustaine. Lyrically, I think they're both not exactly Pulitzer-worthy, however we will have to find agreement on how integral part of songwriting the lyrics themselves really are.
 
The Four Horsemen
Jump in the Fire
(Anesthesia)—Pulling Teeth
Phantom Lord
Metal Militia
Fight Fire With Fire
Ride the Lightning
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Fade to Black
Creeping Death
The Call of Ktulu
Master of Puppets
Orion
Damage Inc.
Aren't the vast majority of those songs credited to Burton and not Mustaine?
 
Aren't the vast majority of those songs credited to Burton and not Mustaine?

Upon revisiting the subject matter, I will modify my thesis. Mustaine was Metallica's best songwriter next to Cliff Burton. I overestimated Mustaine's legacy on Ride the Lightning.


Happens all the time. Dave gets credit for Metallica songs he had nothing to do with.

I've read conflicting reports about this over the years. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Mustaine had more input on Ride the Lightning than is apparent from the credits, but I don't remember where, when or in what context that was.
 
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