Lars Ulrich

to me they are a solid tie...RIB is the foundation for punky-thrash, and all out speed...but nothing beets PS's for groove+thrashy feel...and the whole album is just bombastic...Gar Sammuelson was owning it...all metal afterwards would not have been the same without those 2 albums
Yup exactly.
 
I always thought the Napster thing was crazy unfair to Lars. I distinctly remember at the time that he was very clear that he wasn't complaining about live recordings being shared, or even really official studio stuff, talking about how taping albums for friends was part of the culture when they were young. He was objecting to the sharing of unreleased stuff, and arguing that the artist and only the artist gets to decide when their stuff is ready to be released, and I agreed with him at the time, and agree with him now.

 
It’s just a meme people don’t really hate him- hopefully else they are far worse than Lars.
 
As a bass player, I've played with a few drummers who were almost eager to slag Lars. Some of them were actually pretty good.

As a learning drummer, I've got plenty of others to learn from, his playing is good but not as impressive or seemingly as instructional as others.

As a music listener, Metallica was never appealing to me.
 
It’s just a meme people don’t really hate him- hopefully else they are far worse than Lars.

If only that were true. Check in on this thread in a few days and see if your meme theory pans out. 😄

Every time a thread with Lars opens up I feel like I’m one of the few who is a big supporter. The majority are very vocal in that they don’t like him and/or his band and/or his technical ability and/or .... It’s really quite exhausting
 
I always thought the Napster thing was crazy unfair to Lars. I distinctly remember at the time that he was very clear that he wasn't complaining about live recordings being shared, or even really official studio stuff, talking about how taping albums for friends was part of the culture when they were young. He was objecting to the sharing of unreleased stuff, and arguing that the artist and only the artist gets to decide when their stuff is ready to be released, and I agreed with him at the time, and agree with him now.

All they knew was that one of their unreleased tracks ("I Disappear") was suddenly making the rounds on the interwebs. Understandably, the band said "WTF is happening here??"

Easy to see now with hindsight what a massive waste of time and money it was for the band (and Lars in particular) to try and hold back the tide of file-sharing (and what would become streaming) but at the time they thought they were doing the right thing.
 
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.
To find out why you have to go to the beginning.
Back in the days of Napster Mr Ulrich was very vocal about them (Napster) stealing from the artists in particular from Metallica. Of course that earned him the hate of EVERYONE at the time. He was right but nonetheless people had already made up their minds... so if he had kept his mouth shut he would've moved on in music history as a quirky but very successful drummer, instead everybody took it upon themselves to bash his playing and persona...and yes his tempo keeping abilities suck from the very beginning, he manages to get back on but that is why people hate his drumming because it's hard to replicate because in order to do so you must play stuff wrong...
 
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).
watch Metallica Battery on the Colbert show. I was impressed at how well Lars actually played it.. I think he can still do it if he actually cares to.
 
What kills it for me is that when he plays Dyers Eve live, he never does the double bass part. Never record what you can't play live.

Also, his drumming improved from kill em' all to justice, and has since diminished whereas drummers like Dave Lombardo, Jon Dette, and Gene Hoglan have only gotten better.
I have seen him play it live... I was about 20 ft away ...
 
I'm going to see Metallica in October, 2 nights! I'm stoked, I haven't seen them in over 20 years.
 
One word: Oversell.
 
I have seen him play it live... I was about 20 ft away ...
Well you're a very lucky man but did he play the double bass part? The answer is noooo 😁

He admitted to being a "studio cheat" even on the album version (ie he would get through a few bars of double bass, run out of steam, then punch in the next bit).
 
We hate all drummers on DW-he's just lucky he's not female there would be no end to it. Showing too much skin like he does his cranium now would get remarks of showing too much skin. He was the perfect mediocre drummer for a hack band that people were just hard up for entertainment so they became famous-all the good musicians have been dropping like flies so they won by attrition. Yeah we hate Mentallica because all talentless hacks that make crap music. Like many bands of past that really suck but took years before people realized the Emperor had no clothes. But every band has to have a fall guy that everyone hates with just a lil more passion and that's Lars. He's the Dick Cully of Metal so a pariah. If they are in RockNRoll hall of fame he should be booted out-the rest can stay. Dang people tough crowd. I bet when I'm dead you all will trash me like Lars. Which I guess is good cause at least you'll remember me.
 
I don't hate Lars in general; I hate that he gets put on a pedestal of being a great drummer because of album sales and notoriety...but that is how it goes in a society where bigger/richer/more subscriptions etc equate talent. I will end that rant here....

honestly, back in the day, I could not get past Charlie Benante, Gar Samulesson and Dave Lombardo to notice Lars...I loved the first 4 Metallica albums, but Lars was always just adequate compared to many of the other guys at the time...
 
Well you're a very lucky man but did he play the double bass part? The answer is noooo 😁

He admitted to being a "studio cheat" even on the album version (ie he would get through a few bars of double bass, run out of steam, then punch in the next bit).

Well you're a very lucky man but did he play the double bass part? The answer is noooo 😁

He admitted to being a "studio cheat" even on the album version (ie he would get through a few bars of double bass, run out of steam, then punch in the next bit).
He did play it, not perfect but pretty damn close, it was actually a tad bit faster than recorded, I could tell because James just gave him the "slow down" look....
 
For one thing he seems to be an arrogant man that likes to run his mouth. Buddy Rich didn't like most people anyways. Dave Grohl can play circles around Lars. Hell, Karen Carpenter could play circles around him too. While I think being mechanically good is part of what makes a great drummer, there are exceptions. Dave Grohl for one. He says Taylor Hawkins is a better drummer mechanically than he is. I think generally speaking, it's about your approach and your ability to take whatever drum kit you have in front of you and make it "sing" if you will. It doesn't matter if you have a Neal Peart kit or a Charlie Watts kit, if you can make the most out of whatever kit you're playing, diversity is what I think sets a drummer apart.
 
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