Caught in a Mosh

Ian wrote the lyric after one of the band's techs was pulled into a mosh pit against his will. It was written in the band's New York practice space. The structure borrows from AC/DC's Whole Lotta Rosie, with many rhythm changes, and many metalheads consider it a classic thrash anthem. Critics read it as a glorification of the slam pit and a metaphor for life's struggles. Rolling Stone's J.D. Considine wrote that songs like it articulated "the generational rage" that made slam-dancing "a necessary form of release".

Louder's Dom Lawson wrote in 2017 that anyone who was a metal fan in 1987 owned the album and knew all the words to it. VH1 ranked it number 29 on its list of the 40 greatest metal songs. A cover version was in the 2007 video game Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s, and the original recording in Guitar Hero: Smash Hits and Rock Band 3.