As a kid, Soulfly singer Max Cavalera found himself in a unique position – a family member of his offered to buy him an important record, which for Cavalera meant getting a hold of a specific Metallica album. However, in order to get this record, Cavalera was pressed into his shaving his hair.
During a recent conversation on the podcast Radioactive With Mike Z, Cavalera talked about this story; he spoke about why he was being pressured to shave his hair off and what Metallica album was worth doing that for. (The following was transcribed by Loudwire):
“I cut my hair for a Ride the Lightning copy when I was a kid in Brazil. I had a cousin that was trying to make me go to the straight and narrow. He was like, ‘You’ve gotta cut that long hair. I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll buy you an imported record.’ And I was, like, ‘The hair will grow back again.’ So, I shaved it. I went [indecipherable]. I shaved my head.”
So, was taking off all his hair really worth it for a copy of Ride the Lighting? Well, per Cavalera:
“That copy of Ride the Lightning was worth it. It’s a record that’s worth shaving your hair for.”
Ride the Lighting was released in 1984 and is the second studio album to come from Metallica.
When we did our ranking of Metallica albums last year, we wrote the following about Ride the Lighting:
The follow-up Metallica album to that of Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning makes for a great boost in quality (in terms of both songwriting and performances). With a plethora of exhilarating thrash cuts, the band really shows off their heavy metal aggression, and it is here where they really began to cement themselves as a band to keep an eye out for.
If you are curious to see where we ranked the album specifically, follow the link below.
Metallica Albums Ranked Worst To Best
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