Dave Mustaine brought this song to the band and worked on it with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. At the time, they called it "The Mechanix," and included it on their 1992 demo cassette No Life 'Til Leather.
After Mustaine was fired from the band in 1983, Metallica released Kill 'Em All with a re-worked version of this song renamed "The Four Horsemen." Mustaine's new group, Megadeth, released it as "Mechanix" as the last track on their first album, Killing Is My Business.... Mustaine's version has completely different lyrics, but the music is very similar. Since the Metallica song had been out for a while, Mustaine would often introduce "Mechanix" in concert by explaining that it was a track he wrote with Metallica. (thanks, Terry - Belleville, Canada)
"The Four Horsemen" is a biblical reference. In The New Testament, "The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse" go in different directions to spread the word of the end of the world. The concept of The Four Horsemen is not limited to The Bible. In 1924, a sportswriter referred to The Notre Dame football team's backfield as "The Four Horsemen," and the school had the players pose on horses with their uniforms on to publicize the team, which was coached by the legendary Knute Rockne. The photo became famous when it was picked up by wire services and the nickname stuck. For Metallica, The Four Horsemen could refer to the four members of the band.
Dave Mustaine claims credit for the title. A group called Gamma (led by Ronnie Montrose) has a song called "Four Horsemen" that Mustaine played in his pre-Metallica band, Panic. He would refer to Metallica as "The Four Horsemen" and suggested they cover the Gamma song. The band never did the cover, but they did appropriate the title.
The bit of "Sweet Home Alabama" in the middle of the song came about after Dave Mustaine had been listening to some Lynryd Skynyrd. When the band was working on the song, Mustaine played played some of "Alabama" because, as he says, he was "being a jerk." His little joke worked, however, and the final product ended up including the bit of the Skynyrd classic.
James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich and Dave Mustaine are the credited writers on this track. Mustaine also got credits on the Kill 'Em All tracks "Jump in the Fire," "Phantom Lord" and "Metal Militia."
Bruce Dickinson, lead singer of Iron Maiden, has called Metallica "the f--king bane of my life." In the Iron Maiden computer game Ed Hunter, there is a level set in Hell in which you can kill the "four horsemen." (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)
Metallica has a habit of cutting the song in half by skipping the jam-like solo on the bridge of the song. It wasn't until December 7, 2011, on their 30th anniversary, that they played "The Four Horsemen" from beginning to end, including the bridge solo. (thanks, Cristian - Bellflower, CA)
The original album title was "Metal Up Yer Ass," with artwork of an arm holding a knife coming out of a toilet bowl. They thought it might cause problems, so they toned it down to Kill 'Em All, with a bloody hammer as artwork.
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