The Worst of the Best Podcast

Brothers Ryan and Jason (born ’75 & ’77) go full nostalgia mode on Metallica’s 1984 masterpiece Ride the Lightning, the album that turned two Canadian kids into lifelong thrash addicts. From discovering it on cassette after …And Justice for All, to getting crushed front-row in a 1992 mosh-pit tsunami (broken benches, Jason Newsted’s sweat flying in their faces, almost snapping a leg), they relive every riff.

Track-by-track breakdown of all eight songs, stories behind the lyrics (nuclear war, the electric chair, Egyptian plagues, stolen amps that inspired suicidal thoughts), Cliff Burton’s genius bass lines, Kirk’s blistering solos, and why this 37-year-old album still sounds like it was recorded yesterday.

After three decades of debating, the brothers shockingly agree on the ONE song that is the clear “worst of the best” on this near-perfect record (and it’s the one the band literally wrote last-minute because the label demanded an eighth track).

If you’ve ever screamed “DIE! DIE! DIE!” with 20,000 people or think Fade to Black hits harder with age, this love-letter to Ride the Lightning is for you!