The Metallica Song They Only Played Live Once: The Story Behind “Escape”

The first four Metallica albums are heavy metal perfection—but that achievement cuts both ways. Those thrash-era records are so immaculately crafted and timeless that they’re still widely regarded as four of the greatest metal albums ever made. The downside is that fans have been arguing their hierarchy for decades, turning comment sections into endless debates over which of four near-flawless albums deserves the crown.

James Hetfield added fuel to that fire in 2017 when he named Ride the Lightning as his favorite Metallica album in an interview with Newsweek. Hetfield pointed to the band’s growing creative autonomy, noting that it was the first time Metallica truly felt in control of its sound. By contrast, their debut Kill ’Em All was shaped heavily by management and label decisions, with the band having far less say in the final mix.

The twist is that Hetfield’s favorite Metallica album also contains his least favorite Metallica song. “Escape,” a track the band has openly disliked for decades, was avoided so completely that it was played live just once in more than 40 years—making it one of the strangest contradictions in Metallica’s otherwise ironclad early catalog.

Ride The Lightning’s “Escape” Holds Significance In Metallica History

Revisionist history is quite popular in this era, but Metallica are in no mood to rewrite their feelings on “Escape.” When a comment on the band’s official TikTok account read: “Is Metallica’s “Escape” better than I remember it?”, the band’s official account simply replied “No, it’s not“. This comment came after “Escape” made history at the band’s short-lived and self-funded festival, Orion.

At Orion in 2012, Metallica included “Escape” in the set as part of playing their Ride The Lightning album in full for the first and only time. Gearing up to play the much-maligned song, Hetfield said to the crowd “This is groundbreaking, right here. This is historical, for those of you who might know what’s coming up next. The song that we never wanted to play live, ever, is now on the setlist“. The significance of being a part of Metallica history made the crowd at Orion’s reaction pretty emphatic, but the jury is still very much out on the song.

Communication Breakdown Causes A Stink On Their Sophomore Album

Spontaneity in the recording studio is responsible for some of rock’s biggest hits, from Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” to Oasis’s “Live Forever,” but to rely on that is risky business. As legend has it, Metallica had seven songs originally written for Ride The Lightning. The band considered the body of work necessary for their second album complete, only the wise men in suits at the record label had a differing opinion.

Recounting the tale, James Hetfield told LoudWire: “[Ride the Lightning] was the first time we wrote a song in the studio. I remember we had all the songs and Lars [Ulrich] said, ‘They want us to record one more, they need one more for the album. I was like, ‘You didn’t tell me that…’ So we had to write and it was really last-minute. So ‘Escape’ was one of those songs that was written in the studio.” Fans and the band consider “Escape” a mistake, but this story isn’t quite as simple as it seems at the surface.

Lars Ulrich Doesn’t Actually Hate “Escape”

The Danish Drummer Is Happy To Set the Record Straight

A formerly fiery and confrontational interviewee, Lars Ulrich has spent the last 15 years being much friendlier and a complimentary commentator on art, music, and Metallica’s place in both worlds. That said, the veil sometimes slips and the Lars of yesteryear delivers with a glint in his eye. On the press cycle for the legendary metal band’s second symphonic foray, S&M 2, Ulrich told Vulture that his least favorite Metallica song is actually “Eye Of The Beholder” from the …And Justice For All album.

Defending his stance on ‘Escape’ to Metal Hammer, Ulrich said “It’s become this folklore that I hate ‘Escape.’ It’s not true!”, he protests. “It was the last song that was written for the Ride The Lightning sessions, and it was purposely kept a little shorter. We thought of it in the spirit of Iron Maiden’s ‘Run To the Hills’ or Judas Priest’s ‘Living After Midnight’ – dare I use the words ‘radio songs’?” It is safe to say “Escape” did not become Metallica’s “Run To The Hills,” as it has still only been played the one time the band had literally no choice, given the circumstances of the show. Metallica have sold enough records and played enough stadiums to dry their tears about “Escape”, but the debate about the song is sure to rage on forever.