Lars Ulrich

I am not a big metal or Metallica fan so from a personal standpoint I am not to keen on Lars. But it does seem as though their early music was inspirational. Personally I am not a big fan of bass blast beats. And I find the bass drum in Metallica to be too much for the music. I am sure Metallica fans would disagree, and that's cool. I just see bass parts from people like Bonham to be creative and helping to make the music. But Lars bass pars were just too much 1/16ths or an overpowering harsh sound. That said I do not hate him nor do I think he is talentless. He would not make a top 20 drummer list for me for sure though.
 
I am not a big metal or Metallica fan so from a personal standpoint I am not to keen on Lars. But it does seem as though their early music was inspirational. Personally I am not a big fan of bass blast beats. And I find the bass drum in Metallica to be too much for the music. I am sure Metallica fans would disagree, and that's cool. I just see bass parts from people like Bonham to be creative and helping to make the music. But Lars bass pars were just too much 1/16ths or an overpowering harsh sound. That said I do not hate him nor do I think he is talentless. He would not make a top 20 drummer list for me for sure though.

Of the drummers Lars gets thrown into the peer tank with (Charlie Benante, Dave Lombardo, Nick Menza), I'd say his parts typically involve the least double bass runs.
 
Of the drummers Lars gets thrown into the peer tank with (Charlie Benante, Dave Lombardo, Nick Menza), I'd say his parts typically involve the least double bass runs.

True - which points that he is a much different type of drummer.... I think it was our own Derek Roddy who said on these forums that Lars is a great metal drummer, but not really a great thrash drummer.

Lars' strengths lie more in his ability to groove, and be involved in the song writing and production end of things. I think if you look at his role within Metallica more holistically, a case could be made that he is as "great" a drummer as the biggest of chops monsters. Lars has some signature parts in some of the most popular Metallica songs (Enter Sandman, One, etc.).

Incidentally, I recall an old Modern Drummer magazine article which had a list of the 25 greatest double bass moments. And Justice For All was in there. We need to remember that the bar for what comprises great double bass drumming has accelerated greatly in recent years. But it wasn't too long ago when Lars' playing was seen as the highwater mark and he influenced a whole generation in the approach to double bass.
 
True - which points that he is a much different type of drummer.... I think it was our own Derek Roddy who said on these forums that Lars is a great metal drummer, but not really a great thrash drummer.

Lars' strengths lie more in his ability to groove, and be involved in the song writing and production end of things. I think if you look at his role within Metallica more holistically, a case could be made that he is as "great" a drummer as the biggest of chops monsters. Lars has some signature parts in some of the most popular Metallica songs (Enter Sandman, One, etc.).

Incidentally, I recall an old Modern Drummer magazine article which had a list of the 25 greatest double bass moments. And Justice For All was in there. We need to remember that the bar for what comprises great double bass drumming has accelerated greatly in recent years. But it wasn't too long ago when Lars' playing was seen as the highwater mark and he influenced a whole generation in the approach to double bass.


I was 10 years old and just starting to play drum kit when ...And Justice for All was released. A couple years later, when I developed a tiny bit of skill, being able to play One or Blackened, even half-assed for my friends was like an elevation to god status.

I was more of a Megadeth fan, but And Justice is the first full song I ever learned on the drums, for a reason. People can say what they want about Lars and his skill now, and I agree 100%. Those first four albums though, and Puppets and Justice in particular don't have drum parts...they're hooks that non-drummers remember and sing along to.

I think the best comparison is to say if Lombardo was the Peart of thrash, then Lars was the Grohl.
 
I think it is fairly obvious Lars made his millions and could not give a rats ass about being a great drummer. He does not practice and I think his skill as a drummer is continuously getting worse. He does the shows now adequately, but does not put in the effort to impress his fellow band mates or any potential new drumming fans.
If we had his money, I think many of us would prioritize things to do, and maybe drumming would not enter the picture at all either.
 
There's not much I can add that hasn't been said before. Stagnating, never practicing, letting the grass grow underneath his bass drum pedal. And he definitely pushes time, as in Blackened. Back then, it was exciting to hear him speed up a bit. Now, not so much.

One of the things that was controversial, and apologies if it has been mentioned, was his Tama ad that had lots of bad language in it, albeit censored. OK Lars, we get it, you like Tama and Zildjian, and why not? They make great products.

Then we see studio footage where he is obviously using Gretsch, Sabian, and a Black Beauty snare. What?

Anyway, I do understand that the studio dictates the necessity of a certain sound. And, Lars is far from the first drummer to need punched-in or comped takes.

My take is that Lars took a series of hits to his cred:
1. Being seen using other brands after the ones he religiously endorsed;
2. Perceived as not being serious about improving or playing difficult parts live;
3. Blamed for mixing Jason Newsted out of AJFA;
4. Having to do 50+ takes of a slow 4/4 song to get a decent groove;
5. Napster

Dan
 
My take is that Lars took a series of hits to his cred:
5. Napster

Dan

I'm not a Metallica fan, I mean I liked some of their stuff back in the day because friends were fans and they were good songs, but I have never bought an album or song. But I don't get the Napster thing. Yes he was a colossal d-bag about it, but wasn't he right? Napster was a big theft ring.
 
But I don't get the Napster thing. Yes he was a colossal d-bag about it, but wasn't he right? Napster was a big theft ring.

Really? Someone took something from Lars? He must be broke and feel so violated that people are listening to his music! The horror!

Lars was being a shill for the record industry, who is actually the entity that stands to lose real money from people not buying physical media or paying their dollar per song fees.
 
Acted like a front man, was the drummer.

To be fair to him, he very much is a front man though.

Granted, he doesn't stand at the front of the stage and sing, but there's only two guys who call the shots in that band.........and Lars is one of them. Nothing gets done with respect to the juggernaut that is Metallica unless Lars signs off on it.

I'd protect my business interest just as vehemently if people could just download my work and not pay me for it.
 
I'm sure The Beatles feel a great deal of shame.........when they're not too busy counting their billions that is.

Haven't listened much to the Beatles. What i meant was, as a drummer, if you can't physically play piece, don't doctor a recording so that it seems you can because it will be a big disappointment in a live setting.
 
I started listening to Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold at the same time during highschool and Lars sounded very bland compared to the Rev, so from the start I wasn't very impressed. I had bought City of Evil and Master of Puppets to listen to and there was no competition as to who was the better drummer. I could never love Lars' style of drumming like I did with the Rev's.

It's quirky, sloppy, forced and a bit simple for the level of music that James, Kirk and Cliff were coming up with. The guitar work on MOP, RTL and AJFA is what I like the most about Metallica and is by far more inspirational in my guitar playing than Lars' drumming.

Maybe it's jealousy, maybe it's just plain old frustration? I don't like Lars because he was the weakest link in the band, that limited them to playing simplier tracks. I can hear the potential for something much greater when I listen to their older albums, if only the drumming wasn't so lack luster.

The end result is I followed the Rev as my inspiration for drumming rather than Lars because it feels like he really put effort into improving with every album.
 
I started listening to Metallica and Avenged Sevenfold at the same time during highschool and Lars sounded very bland compared to the Rev, so from the start I wasn't very impressed. I had bought City of Evil and Master of Puppets to listen to and there was no competition as to who was the better drummer. I could never love Lars' style of drumming like I did with the Rev's.

It's quirky, sloppy, forced and a bit simple for the level of music that James, Kirk and Cliff were coming up with. The guitar work on MOP, RTL and AJFA is what I like the most about Metallica and is by far more inspirational in my guitar playing than Lars' drumming.

Maybe it's jealousy, maybe it's just plain old frustration? I don't like Lars because he was the weakest link in the band, that limited them to playing simplier tracks. I can hear the potential for something much greater when I listen to their older albums, if only the drumming wasn't so lack luster.

The end result is I followed the Rev as my inspiration for drumming rather than Lars because it feels like he really put effort into improving with every album.

This goes to my earlier point.

You can't just compare them side by side without look at the historical context.

Lars set the precedence, and put his better works before the Rev ever owned a drum set.

City of Evil is a great album, but it also came out 19 years after Master of Puppets.

The Rev, like many others, took was Lars did and improved upon it.

So while Lars went backwards, he should still get some credit for laying the groundwork that allowed The Rev and AX7 to build upon.
 
Haven't listened much to the Beatles. What i meant was, as a drummer, if you can't physically play piece, don't doctor a recording so that it seems you can because it will be a big disappointment in a live setting.

Seriously?

Pretty much every musical act on the planet simplifies aspects of their recorded works when they perform them live. A recording and a live performance are miles apart, and have been for an awfully long time.

You prolly won't know "Heart of Glass" by Blondie. It's a disco-y track from the late 70's. The drumming on it is nothing remarkable. But I read that it took days of tracking the toms individually to get it sounding right. I am confident that this is not an isolated example.
 
Seriously?

Pretty much every musical act on the planet simplifies aspects of their recorded works when they perform them live. A recording and a live performance are miles apart, and have been for an awfully long time.

You prolly won't know "Heart of Glass" by Blondie. It's a disco-y track from the late 70's. The drumming on it is nothing remarkable. But I read that it took days of tracking the toms individually to get it sounding right. I am confident that this is not an isolated example.

I know heart of glass. You missed my point. I wasn't talking about getting the sound right.

Take Dyers Eve from Metallica's Justice album. It is rumored that the 16th note double bass played through out the whole song is either looped or played by someone else. Add to this the fact that when played live, Lars never plays the double bass.

My point is, if Lars could not physically play the 16th note double bass at the time Dyers Eve was recorded, then 16th note double bass should not be in the song. On the flip side, if Lars did play those parts when the song was recorded, then he should play them like that live.

This is all my opinion anyhow.
 
This goes to my earlier point.

You can't just compare them side by side without look at the historical context.

Lars set the precedence, and put his better works before the Rev ever owned a drum set.

City of Evil is a great album, but it also came out 19 years after Master of Puppets.

The Rev, like many others, took was Lars did and improved upon it.

So while Lars went backwards, he should still get some credit for laying the groundwork that allowed The Rev and AX7 to build upon.

I'm not comparing them from a complexity or method stand point. I was being critical of how much they improved over the course of three albums. While I hear Lars improving a bit over those first three albums, I see marked progress from the Rev.

If I were to compare them as to who's more famous or older, sure Lars is going to win. Thing is that that says nothing about their level of musicianship nor does it take into account progress over time.

Who's to say who you can compare and can't compare? This is the drummers section in a discussion forum after all.
 
I know heart of glass. You missed my point. I wasn't talking about getting the sound right.

Take Dyers Eve from Metallica's Justice album. It is rumored that the 16th note double bass played through out the whole song is either looped or played by someone else. Add to this the fact that when played live, Lars never plays the double bass.

My point is, if Lars could not physically play the 16th note double bass at the time Dyers Eve was recorded, then 16th note double bass should not be in the song. On the flip side, if Lars did play those parts when the song was recorded, then he should play them like that live.

This is all my opinion anyhow.

You could make this same argument about Kirk Hammet. He cant play shit live. Honestly his playing live is awful. The solos sound nothing like they do on the album. He uses a wah pedal as a safety net for parts where he cant play the correct notes, which just so happens to be the entire solo. He is a hack.

The only person who can still actually play their part correctly is James. If you listen to him play with a clean tone, he hits every note. He doesnt need to hide his lack of skill behind a distortion pedal.

So what does this say about Lars? Not much. He's just a guy who is in a band that only has one good musician in it. And he's not it. He was influential in his day, but now people look to other drummers for inspiration. So what.
 
Really? Someone took something from Lars? He must be broke and feel so violated that people are listening to his music! The horror!

Lars was being a shill for the record industry, who is actually the entity that stands to lose real money from people not buying physical media or paying their dollar per song fees.

So if nobody is paying for music, you think only the record companies suffer?

Just because someone says "stealing as wrong" doesn't mean they're saying "record companies rule". The industry is corrupt and terrible, but stealing the music doesn't seem to have hurt them much. Artists, on the other hand ...
 
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