This is the one that started it all for me. Simply put, the best metal album of all time.
This album is an absolute masterpiece and classic in every sense of the word. I remember first hearing it back in my teens, 20 something years ago, and it completely blowing my mind.
The iconic riffs, solos, vocals and songwriting all came together to create magic. Which Metallica has somehow done on multiple occasions with other 5/5 albums MOP & AJFA. But I believe RTL stands above them all.
🤘🏼⚡️🤘🏼
4x 12" Vinyl, 6x CD, DVD (deluxe edition)
Ride the Lightning
Album by Metallica
Released 27 July 1984
Tracklist
- 12" Vinyl 1: Ride the Lightning (remastered)
- 1Fight Fire With Fire4:443.7 ★
- 2Ride the Lightning6:364.0 ★
- 3For Whom the Bell Tolls5:104.5 ★
- 4Fade to Black6:564.4 ★
- 5Trapped Under Ice4:033.9 ★
- 6Escape4:233.2 ★
- 7Creeping Death6:364.2 ★
- 8The Call of Ktulu8:524.3 ★
- 12" Vinyl 2: Live at the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA - March 10th, 1985 (disc 1)
- 1The Ecstasy of Gold1:36
- 2Fight Fire With Fire (live)4:39
- 3Ride the Lightning (live)7:08
- 4Phantom Lord (live)5:34
- 5(Anesthesia) ‐ Pulling Teeth (live)3:41
- 6For Whom the Bell Tolls (live)4:29
- 7No Remorse (live)6:24
- 12" Vinyl 3: Live at the Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA - March 10th, 1985 (disc 2)
- 1Fade to Black (live)7:21
- 2Seek & Destroy (live)6:46
- 3Creeping Death (live)6:20
- 4Am I Evil? (live)3:39
- 5Motorbreath (live)3:19
- 12" Vinyl 4: Creeping Death EP
- 1Creeping Death6:364.2 ★
- 2Am I Evil?7:453.8 ★
- 3Blitzkrieg3:353.7 ★
- CD 5: Ride the Lightning (remastered)
- 1Fight Fire With Fire4:443.7 ★
- 2Ride the Lightning6:364.0 ★
- 3For Whom the Bell Tolls5:094.5 ★
- 4Fade to Black6:574.4 ★
- 5Trapped Under Ice4:043.9 ★
- 6Escape4:233.2 ★
- 7Creeping Death6:354.2 ★
- 8The Call of Ktulu8:534.3 ★
- CD 6: Metallica Interviews
- 1Metal Forces Magazine Interview With Lars31:13
- 2WUSC Cleveland Radio Interview With Cliff & Kirk11:48
- 3Metal Madness Interview With Lars20:47
- CD 7: Demos & Rough Mixes From Lars' Vault
- 1Ride the Lightning (studio demo)6:47
- 2When Hell Freezes Over ("The Call of Ktulu") (studio demo)8:41
- 3Creeping Death (studio demo)7:10
- 4Fight Fire With Fire (studio demo)5:01
- 5Ride the Lightning (garage demo)7:33
- 6When Hell Freezes Over ("The Call of Ktulu") (garage demo)9:21
- 7Fight Fire With Fire (garage demo)5:27
- 8Ride the Lightning (boom box demo)7:43
- 9Blitzkrieg (rhythm track rough mix)3:38
- 10Am I Evil? (rhythm track rough mix)8:06
- CD 8: Live at the Kabuki Theatre, San Francisco, CA - March 15th, 1985
- 1Fight Fire With Fire (live)3:44
- 2Ride the Lightning (live)6:48
- 3Phantom Lord (live)4:45
- 4The Four Horsemen (live)6:01
- 5(Anesthesia) ‐ Pulling Teeth (live)1:39
- 6For Whom the Bell Tolls (live)4:15
- 7No Remorse (live)6:14
- 8Fade to Black (live)6:42
- 9Creeping Death (live)5:33
- 10Guitar Solo (live)2:47
- 11Am I Evil? (live)3:34
- 12Motorbreath (live)3:02
- CD 9: Live at the Lyceum Theatre, London, UK - December 20th, 1984
- 1Phantom Lord (live)4:12
- 2The Four Horsemen (live)6:28
- 3(Anesthesia) ‐ Pulling Teeth (live)4:15
- 4For Whom the Bell Tolls (live)4:32
- 5No Remorse (live)6:07
- 6The Call of Ktulu (live)7:47
- 7Seek & Destroy (live)7:03
- 8Whiplash (live)4:35
- 9Creeping Death (live)5:14
- 10Guitar Solo (live)1:22
- 11Metal Militia (live)9:01
- CD 10: Live at Castle Donington, UK - August 17th, 1985
- 1Creeping Death (live)5:52
- 2Ride the Lightning (live)7:07
- 3For Whom the Bell Tolls (live)4:42
- 4The Four Horsemen (live)5:57
- 5Fade to Black (live)7:08
- 6Seek & Destroy (live)6:59
- 7Whiplash (live)4:30
- 8Motorbreath (live)4:03
- DVD 11: Live at Metal Hammer Festival in St. Goarshausen, Germany - September 14th, 1985 / Live at Day on the Green at Oakland Stadium, Oakland, CA - August 31st, 1985 / MTV News Interview with Lars & James / Lars' First Television Interview - DR TV / Lars Interview Segment - DR TV
- 1Creeping Death (live)6:10
- 2Ride the Lightning (live)6:58
- 3Disposable Heroes (live)9:16
- 4No Remorse (live)6:38
- 5(Anesthesia) ‐ Pulling Teeth1:54
- 6For Whom the Bell Tolls (live)4:24
- 7The Four Horsemen (live)5:32
- 8Fade to Black (live)7:18
- 9Seek & Destroy (live)6:52
- 10Whiplash (live)5:10
- 11Fight Fire With Fire (live)4:23
- 12Guitar Solo (live)2:45
- 13Am I Evil? (live)3:43
- 14Motorbreath (live)4:45
- 15Creeping Death (live)4:50
- 16Ride the Lightning (live)7:07
- 17For Whom the Bell Tolls (live)4:53
- 18MTV News Interview With Lars & James8:59
- 19Lars' First Television Interview1:08
- 20Lars Interview Segment0:58
- 21Credits[no artist]1:00
- 22Outro[no artist]0:17
Recent reviews
Ride The Lightning is everything Kill ‘Em All is done better, it’s raw but with better production, it’s angst with even angstier riffs and it’s still somewhat written by Dave Mustaine… a must-listen to any fan of hard rock/metal.
More by Metallica
Release credits
- task
- liner notes
- art direction
- spoken vocals [1]
- task
- mastering
- liner notes
- bass [9.1-9, 9.11, 8.1-7, 8.11-12, 7.1-10, 10.1-8, 11.1-11, 11.13-17], electric bass guitar [1.1-8, 4.1, 5.1-8, 8.8-9], spoken vocals [2]
- electric guitar [1.1-8, 4.1, 5.1-8]
- task
- liner notes
- artists and repertoire
- liner notes
- task
- task
- liner notes, assistant [5.1-8, 4.1, 1.1-8], engineer [1.1-8, 4.1, 5.1-8]
- liner notes
- executive, task, mix [1-3]
- liner notes
- re
- electric guitar [5.1-8, 1.1-8, 8.8-9, 4.1], guitar [7.1-10, 9.1-9, 9.11, 11.1-4, 11.6-11, 11.13-17, 8.1-7, 8.11-12, 10.1-8], lead vocals [8.8, 4.1, 1.1-7, 11.1-4, 11.6-11, 11.13-17, 5.1-7], spoken vocals [18], vocal [7.1-10, 8.1-7, 8.9, 8.11-12, 10.1-8]
- engineer [7.9-10, 4.2-3]
- liner notes
- liner notes
- liner notes
- liner notes
- liner notes
- task, mix [1-3]
- electric guitar [4.1, 5.1-8, 8.8-9, 1.1-8], guitar [8.1-7, 8.10-12, 11.1-4, 11.6-17, 10.1-8, 7.1-10, 9.1-11], spoken vocals [2]
- drums (drum set) [5.1-8, 11.1-4, 11.6-11, 11.13-17, 7.1-10, 8.1-9, 8.11-12, 10.1-8, 4.1, 1.1-8, 9.1-9, 9.11], spoken vocals [11.18-20, 6.1, 6.3]
- task
- art direction
- mastering
- assistant [1.1-8, 4.1, 5.1-8], phonographic copyright [2-3], producer [7.9-10, 4.2-3]
- creative direction, task, phonographic copyright [4.1-3, 1.7, 5.7], producer [7.9-10, 1.1-8, 5.1-8, 4.1-3]
- artists and repertoire, liner notes
- liner notes
- liner notes
- legal representation, liner notes
- mastering, vocal [1-9, 11]
- liner notes
- spoken vocals [3]
- drums (drum set) [5.1-8, 1.1-8, 4.1]
- liner notes
- mastering
- task
Issues
R
R12" Vinyl27 July 1984- R12" VinylJuly 1984
R12" Vinyl19 November 1984
R12" VinylNovember 1984
R12" Vinyl21 December 1984
RCassette1984
RVinyl1984- R12" Vinyl1984
R1986
R12" Vinyl1986
R1987
R1987
R2x 12" Vinyl1987
R21 November 1988
RVinyl13 November 1989
R1989- RCassette1989
RCD (BIEM/STEMRA)1989
R1989
RCD (BIEM/STEMRA; Made in ABCD Music, Israel)1989
RCD (Industria Argentina)1989
RCD (BIEM/STEMRA, Made in France by PRS)1989
R1989
R1989
RCD (made in Australia)1989- R1989
- R1990
R1995
R1995
RCD (manufactured by Olyphant)1998
RCD (DCC Compact Classics)22 February 2000- R6 November 2003
RDigital Media25 July 2006- R9 August 2006
R2006- R2x 12" Vinyl (45 RPM Series)15 April 2008
R2008
RSHM-CD (remastered)22 September 2010- R2 November 2011
R2013
R6x Digital Media (deluxe / remastered, Mastered for iTunes)15 April 2016
RDigital Media (deluxe / remastered)15 April 2016- RCD (remastered 2016)15 April 2016
- R4x 12" Vinyl, 6x CD, DVD (deluxe edition)15 April 2016
R15 April 2016
R6x Digital Media (remastered deluxe edition)15 April 2016
R7x Digital Media (deluxe edition, Metallica store)15 April 2016
RDigital Media (remastered)15 April 2016- R12" Vinyl2016
RDigital Media (remastered)2016- RSHM-CD13 April 2018
RDigital Media13 March 2020- R12" Vinyl, Download Card2022
RCD (BIEM/STEMRA; Made in France by PMDC)
RCD (made in France)- R7x Digital Media (deluxe / remastered)
RCD (Cinram pressing)
RCD (1993 Australasian tour gold edition)1993