The 1986 single, taken from the band's second album Peace Sells… But Who's Buying? is a heavy metal staple, listed by VH1 as the eleventh-best metal song of all time. But mainman Dave Mustaine originally conceived it as an eight-minute piece – and Poland says Samuelson, who died in 1999, was the only man who could have talked him out of it.

The guitarist tells Xtreme Metal Radio: "I think originally it was eight minutes long, and Gar said, 'You know what? This is too good a song to drag it out like this. Let's shorten the arrangement, cut it down to size and make it a single.'