Lars Ulrich

Lars makes an easy target because he's not great,but the band is.

I can name lots of bands that are quite successful,with lousy to mediocre drummers.

Charlie Watts and Peter Criss come to mind.

America has a mentality of only the best musicians should be rich or famous(like classical orchestral musicians),but the pop music biz has taught us that ain't so.

Michael McDonald of the Doobies remarked that there were tons of singers out there that were quite superior to himself,but a lot of it is right place ,right time.

Lars is lucky and as the saying goes ,I rather be lucky than...
 
Lars makes an easy target because he's not great,but the band is.

I can name lots of bands that are quite successful,with lousy to mediocre drummers.

Charlie Watts and Peter Criss come to mind.

America has a mentality of only the best musicians should be rich or famous(like classical orchestral musicians),but the pop music biz has taught us that ain't so.

Michael McDonald of the Doobies remarked that there were tons of singers out there that were quite superior to himself,but a lot of it is right place ,right time.

Lars is lucky and as the saying goes ,I rather be lucky than...



uhh you think Charlie Watts is a "lousy to mediocre" drummer? The time feel in Beast of Burden is amazing and I think he's an amazing player with a very unique time feel.
 
Lars is a major influence on all metal drumming. I'd wager 99% of the drummers who put down Lars were directly or indirectly influenced by him.

The issue with Lars is historical context.

It's like a car that was state of the art in the 1930's, but that same car can't keep up with a even a mediocre standard production car of today.


In the 80's, Lars was doing things on drums few to no one was doing in a context where it was reaching people. His influence on young drummers was huge.

But as the 90's went on, millions of kids who grew up on Lars took everything Lars did, leaned how to do it, and then learned how to improve upon it, and took to new heights.

Lars himself went in opposite direction, got lazy, stopped practicing, and got to the point where he struggles to play his own parts.

There was a time that if you could play "One" on double bass, people looked up to you as having reached milestone in double bass drumming. Now double bass has so progressed that kids are born knowing how to play "One" and it's simple by todays standards.

Made worse that Lars so rarely practices (and readily admits it) that in concert, he can barely play "One" without sounding very sloppy.

Kids who weren't around in the 80's to understand the historical context see clips of Lars struggling to get through songs, then compare it to someone like George Kollias, Derek Roddy, or Thomas Haake, and Lars looks silly.

And even more so compared to someone like Dave Lombardo who has not only kept up his drumming over the years, but has actually taken the effort to improve his playing.

This is pretty much spot on with how I feel about the subject. If you're a multi-million-selling artist, at least be bothered to keep in fighting trim, is my opinion.
 
uhh you think Charlie Watts is a "lousy to mediocre" drummer? The time feel in Beast of Burden is amazing and I think he's an amazing player with a very unique time feel.

Charlie knows what he is,and that is lucky.
I would be surprised if he could do a proper roll.

Dick Cavett was interviewing Buddy Rich and made the comment that Charlie could twirl his sticks.
Buddy replied ,yeah,that's nice ,but I can play.

In fact ,with the exception of Ronnie Wood,the Stones are all barely passable as musicians.

You want a great drummer of CW's era ,Dave Clark was the bomb.
 
Lars himself went in opposite direction, got lazy, stopped practicing, and got to the point where he struggles to play his own parts.

This especially. He was never the craziest, fastest, or most creative player but the parts he was coming up with in the 80s had that weird ability to be sung back by drummers and non drummers alike. I cut my teeth on the entire Justice album when I started playing so it's not that I think he has always sucked.

Now he can barely get through Battery without a ventilator and he's been riding the last 23 years on the same thump-whack pattern in EVERY SONG. Looking more and more like Hannibal Lecter to boot.
 
Charlie knows what he is,and that is lucky.
I would be surprised if he could do a proper roll.

Dick Cavett was interviewing Buddy Rich and made the comment that Charlie could twirl his sticks.
Buddy replied ,yeah,that's nice ,but I can play.

In fact ,with the exception of Ronnie Wood,the Stones are all barely passable as musicians.

You want a great drummer of CW's era ,Dave Clark was the bomb.

Yeah, pretty sure the Stones are still going, still filling stadiums on account of how crap they are.
 
Lars' drumming was always quite basic but it suited Metallica's style, a bit like Fabrizio Morretti who plays for The Strokes. A 10 year old can play their drum parts, it's simply true. But at the end of the day it's what the band thinks that matters.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this but if you do a bit of digging and a lot of Recording-To-Live Performance comparisons, you'll find that Lars simplifies his drumming during live performances ALOT. Like ALOT. On many songs that have 16 notes on the bass drum Lars will play 8 notes live. He also simplifies his fills quite often and at times he even continues playing when in the recording, he has stopped or vice versa. He almost-never exactly replicates his fills or a lot of the time leaves them out completely too. A lack of practice and a sign of laziness in my opinion.

Oh, and yes, he is an arrogant **** a lot of the time for how simplistic his drumming is.

- This is only my opinion on based what I have seen, heard and been told.
 
Lars was one of the biggest musical influences for me as a teenager. Kill em all and Ride the Lightning are still two of my favorite albums to this day. At the time there was nothing else like them, and people forget how young they were when that came out. They got no radio air play, and didn't make a music video until One. And if you listen to those albums compared to the other music that was out at the time, you can see things Lars was doing that no one else was. Him and Lombardo, were more known for being so fast and cutting edge.

As for him not keeping up with the times, Metallica's music has gone a different direction, and I do think what he's playing matches the rest of the stripped down vibe they are having now. I like the old stuff better, but whatever. Also 20 years have gone by. Look at the difference between 50's and 70's music. or 90's music and today's music. Today's metal guys have taken what the pioneering bands from the 80's were doing and taken it somewhere else. Hell the Red Hot Chili Peppers keep releasing the same album over and over and no one bats an eye.

I do think the hate comes from the Napster days, and in the end he was right, he just came off like a dick. Hating Lars has become a Meme, even for people who don't know anything about the drums. Hell they play metallica at sporting events now, and on Rock radio. Back when they came out, it was just a few of us in my highschool driving around with the tape in the car cranked. it was just complete noise to the Duran Duran, Culture Club crowd. lol.
 
Okay, here we go internet. How and why is Lars a "terrible" drummer? What could he do differently that would make him better? I just keep reading comments on drum videos, and every top-rated comment is "Betar then thtat **** Ulrich!!!". I am curious on whether he actually deserves so much hate, or if the internet is just being, well, the internet.

1) Actually maintain some level of skill. Your supposed to get better with age, experience and practice. Not worse...

2) Not be a complete tool.
 
I think any hate you hear is an inner reflection of the person doing the hating. Lars has nothing to do with it, he is just a reason to spout hate.

When people hate you, you're doing something right.

I wonder if these haters would spew hate right to Lars face?

I would have to kneel down to do it, but yes...
 
I think it's because he doesn't play like he did on those first three albums. Couldn't get further from it at times. He's become progressively more minimalist over the course of their career.....often to the point of laziness that seems to imply a lack of former ability. It's a point that hasn't been lost on his peers either. When you have a contemporary like Dave Lombardo offering to give him a few lessons to remind him "of how it's done" then I guess it's no surprise that he's being considered a far cry from the levels of excitement, creativity and pioneering that he once was.

The chopping and splicing of his drum parts in the studio doesn't seem to help his "street cred" any either. The Lombardo's and Benante's of the world can still pull off all their old licks.....and then some. I guess the general feeling is why can't Lars?

Still back in the mid eighties, to a young teen growing up in Melbourne Australia, those three guys were considered pioneers of their craft. We absolutely loved 'em. In Lars' case, it's been such a shame to see that reputation diminished to the level it has been. I'm still a fan.....always will be. But I can at least understand where some of the accusations stem from.

This pretty much. He just stopped caring about music it seemed, at least his instrument. Metallica was a huge musical influence but they lost me with the Black album and I haven't bothered buying anything from them since. He just got real lazy. And the way he records his drum parts is far from inspiring. He peaked with ...And Justice for All in my opinion.

What really gets me is when I see him mess up his own songs...bad! I saw him butcher One, and then afterwards, has the nerve to stand up and pump his fist at the crowd like he just nailed it. I get the feeling he doesn't practice, doesn't care, can't remember much of his older stuff and/or didn't maintain his chops over the years.

I don't have the energy to dislike drummers anymore (with perhaps a few exceptions ;P) so I just ignore him. Metallica's albums up to ...And Justice for All will always evoke a lot of good memories, but I'm just done with them.

Here's another way to look at it. Suppose Metallica were to break up, how many people do you think would be knocking on Lars' door? Sure, some would want him just for the name recognition, but Lars' days of inspiring young drummers are over (or should be at least).
 
Lars was one of the biggest musical influences for me as a teenager. Kill em all and Ride the Lightning are still two of my favorite albums to this day. At the time there was nothing else like them, and people forget how young they were when that came out. They got no radio air play, and didn't make a music video until One. And if you listen to those albums compared to the other music that was out at the time, you can see things Lars was doing that no one else was. Him and Lombardo, were more known for being so fast and cutting edge.

As for him not keeping up with the times, Metallica's music has gone a different direction, and I do think what he's playing matches the rest of the stripped down vibe they are having now. I like the old stuff better, but whatever. Also 20 years have gone by. Look at the difference between 50's and 70's music. or 90's music and today's music. Today's metal guys have taken what the pioneering bands from the 80's were doing and taken it somewhere else. Hell the Red Hot Chili Peppers keep releasing the same album over and over and no one bats an eye.

I do think the hate comes from the Napster days, and in the end he was right, he just came off like a dick. Hating Lars has become a Meme, even for people who don't know anything about the drums. Hell they play metallica at sporting events now, and on Rock radio. Back when they came out, it was just a few of us in my highschool driving around with the tape in the car cranked. it was just complete noise to the Duran Duran, Culture Club crowd. lol.

Exactly.. On all points. The major point being "he was right" about the Napster issue and if more people joined the cause maybe original artists would have better control over their music. I'm feeling the pain right now after 80,000 downloads/streams and not a red cent from it.

Haters will be haters...
 
The major point being "he was right" about the Napster issue and if more people joined the cause maybe original artists would have better control over their music.

The only facet that Lars had right is that artists and musicians should be compensated for their work. The mechanism by which this occurs has been under contention for several hundred years..
 
For me, Metallica and Lars was a reason (the main reason I think) I started to play metal-oriented music with my bands in the late 90's. I unfortunately was not old enough to hear them in their prime years (80's). I don't hate the guy, I respect him a lot for what he has accomplished, and their first 4 albums (maybe 5, but it's a stretch) will always stick with me. And as you guys have said, he was sort of a pioneer in making up the thrash metal drumming style, he was really fast back then. For me, the main reason why I don't like him today, is because of his current ability (or in better words, lack off). I don't care so much about the whole Napster thing, or that he sometimes can be a bit of an a** in interviews. To me, it's just the way he plays live (nowadays, not back then), which in my opinion gives you the best impression of how he is as a drummer (you can do anything in the studio, cut and paste for hours and with enough time and money, any drummer will sound good). I stopped going to Metallica shows maybe 10 years ago, after he was well into the decline. It gives me more frustration than happyness to see them play and to me they are nothing more than a novelty act right now... It's just so un-inspiring to listen to, same boring fills (or just basic snare hits instead), no ride cymbal, hi-hats way too open to sound good, timing is all over the place, doublebass sloppyness etc. The list goes on. To me, it's borderline insulting for all those people coming to hear you play, even if most of them don't seem to care. At least when you get that big, you should try to do/be the best you can (in my opinion). That is his main job.

You might say that it's simply because todays music are so much more evolved, that Metallica simply sound outdated compared to other metal acts today, but I will disagree with that. 80's style thrash metal still can sound great, if you maintain/evolve the skillset aquired to play that style. Look at Testament, Slayer, Exodus, Kreator etc. These guys all started at the same time Metallica did, they're the same age, but still has evolved and play this type of music to perfection, some even sounding better than before, to my ears. Metallica just became lazy (in my opinion), and Lars in particular. Sure, they are not playing only thrash metal anymore, but they still play a lot of the old songs that IS thrash metal, and when the skill is lacking to do that, it doesn't sound right at all.

The last show I think Lars did pretty good, was the S&M show right before the year 2000. Seems like he practiced quite a bit at that time, to keep in time with the orchestra, and he looked to me pretty solid during that show. After that, every liveshow I've seen has been a letdown. Sad but true...(no pun intended).
 
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