Metallica has hardly ever made a mistake in their 40-year career. Throughout this period, they have led the heavy metal movement and helped it achieve unprecedented commercial heights without sacrificing their morals.
Although the metal icons have spent decades performing in huge stadiums worldwide, they’ve never attempted to appease the mainstream. Instead, Metallica has stayed true to its principles and rose to the top in its own unique fashion, making it the biggest underground band on the planet.
Their 1991 release was no accident, even if their self-titled album is the most well-known from their back catalog. They regularly produced albums that were as brilliant throughout several decades, including Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning. But Metallica was still getting used to the studio when they released the aforementioned record. James Hetfield, the band’s singer, claims that despite the fact that it was only their second album and contributed to the growth of heavy metal’s reputation, there is one serious mistake on the record.
Metallica fans could spend all day arguing about the band’s best record and never reach a consensus, but Ride The Lightning would certainly be involved in the conversation.
When the aforementioned song was written, Metallica was certain that they had finished recording Ride The Lightning and that they had done so to the best of their creative skills. However, their label had different plans and unexpectedly insisted on one more song, much to their annoyance. They quickly came up with a new song in the studio, which ended up being “Escape.” Metallica had little say in the situation, even though they didn’t want it to be on Ride the Lightning.
Even without “Escape,” the album would have only included seven tracks, even though it ran for more over 40 minutes. Therefore, it seems sense that the label wanted to include one more song from Ride The Lightning. Later, Hetfield told Ultimate Guitar about their rushed approach to “Escape,” saying, “It was the first time we wrote a song in the studio.” Lars remarked, “They want us to record one more, they need one more for the album,” after we had all the songs.
The lead singer went on: “I thought, ‘You didn’t tell me that.'” As a result, we had to write at the last minute. Consequently, “Escape” was one of those songs that was composed in a recording studio.
Metallica steadfastly denied the existence of “Escape” for many years. However, the heavy metal giants unexpectedly performed the song live at the Orion Festival in 2012, more than 10,000 days after it was first released. Hetfield revealed his genuine feelings about “Escape” to the audience during the song’s introduction, saying, “The song that we never wanted to play live, ever, is now on the setlist.”
This turned out to be an isolated incident, and Metallica hasn’t played “Escape” since. “When we played ‘Escape’ at the Orion Fest, we all agreed why we never play that song: It’s not really a great song to play live,” guitarist Kirk Hammett later told Rolling Stone.