In a current interview with the Shawn Ryan Present, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine – who was Metallica’s guitarist from 1981 to 1983 – recalled auditioning for James Hetfield and co.
Whereas remembering when he first met Lars Ulrich within the days earlier than the audition, Mustaine defined that the drummer had performed him one in every of Metallica’s first songs, “Hit the Lights.” Based on Mustaine, nonetheless, the monitor was not initially written by Metallica.
“So I went into his place and began speaking to him, and he performed this track referred to as ‘Hit the Lights,’ that was written by a man named Lloyd Grant,” he stated. “Metallica didn’t write that track. Lloyd Grant wrote it. After which he was buddies with Lars, after which Lars launched him to James, after which they began enjoying ‘Hit the Lights.’ That’s the track that I heard from them first.”
Shortly after this interview aired, nonetheless, former Metallica bassist Ron McGovney took to Twitter/X to attempt to set the document straight with reference to Mustaine’s claims about “Hit the Lights.”
“In Dave’s protection, he wasn’t there when ‘Hit the Lights’ was written. He’s mistaken,” McGovney wrote. “Lloyd Grant wasn’t there when ‘Hit the Lights’ was written. As a matter of truth, Lars wasn’t there both. ‘Hit the Lights’ was a track from Leather-based Allure. James, Troy James, Jim Mulligan and I.”
