{"id":261256,"date":"2025-10-30T18:11:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/261256\/"},"modified":"2025-10-30T18:11:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T18:11:07","slug":"metallica-songs-co-written-by-dave-mustaine-ranked-worst-to-best","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/261256\/","title":{"rendered":"Metallica Songs Co-Written by Dave Mustaine Ranked Worst to Best"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are all six Metallica<\/a> songs co-written by Dave Mustaine<\/a>, ranked worst to best.<\/p>\n

Mustaine played a crucial role in the early development of Metallica. Between 1982 and early 1983, the future Megadeth<\/a> leader\u00a0cooked up\u00a0a smorgasbord of riffs that would eventually find their way onto Metallica’s first two albums,\u00a0Kill ‘Em All<\/a> and\u00a0Ride the Lightning<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“When we got out to New York [to try to get a record deal], I had a reel of tape, this quarter-inch tape, that had probably two days’ worth of guitar riffs on it, just me playing and playing and playing,” Mustaine told the Shawn Ryan Show<\/a> in 2025. “And we took that tape player and the reel of tape with us out to New York.”<\/p>\n

When Metallica famously fired Mustaine<\/a> and sent him packing on a Greyhound bus back to San Francisco, Mustaine left them with an order. “I told them when I left, ‘Do not use my music,'”\u00a0he\u00a0recalled. “And of course they used it.”<\/p>\n

Mustaine’s frustration is understandable, considering his ideas helped spawn some of Metallica’s best and most enduring songs.<\/p>\n

Read on to see\u00a0all six Metallica songs co-written by Dave Mustaine ranked worst to best.<\/p>\n

6. “Jump in the Fire” (Kill ‘Em All, 1983)<\/p>\n

“Jump in the Fire” isn’t a\u00a0bad song, per se, but it’s the most primitive track on\u00a0Kill ‘Em All \u2014 unsurprising considering it was the first song Mustaine ever wrote.\u00a0Its\u00a0chunky, chromatic\u00a0riffs and simplistic\u00a0grooves\u00a0hew closer to vintage punk or classic rock than the full-throttle thrash Metallica were busy pioneering.<\/p>\n

It gets by on sheer charisma, but it’s far from essential.<\/p>\n

5. “Phantom Lord” (Kill ‘Em All)<\/p>\n

With its high-speed riffs, blistering solos and throttling tempo, “Phantom Lord” found Metallica bridging the gap between NWOBHM and thrash to\u00a0exhilarating results. The synthesized bass intro and sinister, mid-tempo bridge hinted at the more ambitious compositions the band would pursue on future albums as well.<\/p>\n

4. “Metal Militia” (Kill ‘Em All)<\/p>\n

You wanna talk about “full speed or nothing”? Look no further than\u00a0Kill ‘Em All’s breakneck closing track, “Metal Militia.” Jam-packed with diabolically fast, tremolo-picked riffs and James Hetfield<\/a>‘s charred-to-a-crisp vocals, it’s a lightning-fast ode to the power of heavy metal.<\/p>\n

Mustaine might not have played on “Metal Militia,” but\u00a0the relentless composition is proof that nobody could match his untamed aggression when he was feeling inspired.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Megadeth Albums Ranked Worst to Best<\/a><\/p>\n

3. “The Call of Ktulu” (Ride the Lightning, 1984)<\/p>\n

Metallica made a quantum songwriting leap\u00a0between\u00a0Kill ‘Em All\u00a0and\u00a0Ride the Lightning, as evidenced by the latter’s epic instrumental “The Call of Ktulu.” Clocking in at nearly nine minutes, the album-closing track boasts some of\u00a0Metallica’s most impressive dynamics to date.\u00a0And if the sinister, arpeggiated chord progression that opens the song sounds familiar, there’s a good reason for that \u2014 it’s the one Mustaine wrote and later repurposed for “Hangar 18.”<\/p>\n

2. “The Four Horsemen” (Kill ‘Em All)<\/p>\n

“The Four Horsemen” remains one of Metallica’s most popular songs and enduring setlist staples and for good reason. With its jagged riffs, galloping drums, shout-along choruses and swaggering half-time bridge, it’s got all the makings of a metal classic.<\/p>\n

It had to sting Mustaine to hear Metallica use these riffs, hence why he recorded\u00a0a faster version of the song under the name “Mechanix” for Megadeth’s debut album,\u00a0Killing Is My Business … And Business Is Good!<\/a><\/p>\n

1. “Ride the Lightning” (Ride the Lightning)<\/p>\n

The crown jewel of the MetalliDave catalog, “Ride the Lightning”\u00a0remains\u00a0one of thrash metal’s fiercest, catchiest and most ambitious anthems.\u00a0The bridge utilizes Mustaine’s classic “spider chord” technique\u00a0and, according to the Megadeth leader, he’s responsible for\u00a0the bulk of the song’s epic, metallic grandeur.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t write all of the music in ‘Ride the Lightning,'” Mustaine told\u00a0Rolling Stone<\/a> in 2017. “Lars [Ulrich]<\/a>\u00a0wrote the melodic intro, and then the next part I wrote and then the next part I wrote and then the next part and then it went back to his part and then it went back to my next three parts and then at that point … who’s keeping score?”<\/p>\n

Every Thrash Metal ‘Big 4’ Album Ranked <\/p>\n

Every album by Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax get ranked worst to best.<\/p>\n

Contributions by Philip Trapp, Ed Rivadavia, Jordan Blum, Ayron Rutan and Joe DiVita.<\/p>\n

Gallery Credit: Loudwire Staff<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Here are all six Metallica songs co-written by Dave Mustaine, ranked worst to best. Mustaine played a crucial…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261257,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,1739,216,3,1740],"class_list":{"0":"post-261256","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-metal","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-rock"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261256"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261256\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}