10 Rock Songs That Artists Didn't Want To Record

At the dawn of the '80s, there seemed to be nothing slowing Metallica down. After practically forming the foundation for what would become thrash metal on Kill Em All, these metal gods went on a run of albums for the ages, climaxing with the classic Master of Puppets. Though Ride the Lightning is another flawless installment in their hard rock canon, there is one track that pretty much everyone likes to ignore.

Though all of the tracks were coming together nicely for the album, the label stepped in at the 11th hour saying that the boys were actually one song short. Instead of just sticking to their guns and releasing their record as is, James Hetfield went home and came back to the studio with Escape, which he wrote as a deliberate attempt at a poppier single. From the word go, this song sounds really out of place with the rest of the album, with the anthem-like chorus not hitting nearly as hard as the other epics like Creeping Death and Fade to Black that surround it.

Even though James has stood by Ride the Lightning as his favorite Metallica record, he is also quick to single out Escape as his least favorite Metallica song, only performing it once when touring in 2012. While the track does have its fair share of highlights like the Thin Lizzy guitar leads, it's safe to say that this is the one Metallica track every fan just pretends doesn't exist.