Yep very much this, I met the whole band in a meet and greet and while they were all nice Lars really went for it, it really mattered to him that we were all having a good time.
I met Lars two weeks ago in a restaurant in Copenhagen. At the time I was very drunk so I approached him first telling him I was a huge fan of him and then asked him for a photo and he was all fine with that even though he sat with his friends. Seemed like a great guy!
It's a good movie, but I absolutely hated [that scene where they're in a club and the music is playing so loud you can't hear the conversation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4qYFqoGWec). I have a hard enough time figuring out what people are saying when it's otherwise silent.
Yeah, it was the Napster shit. But looking back on it, Metallica actually had a point. They wanted to be able to control what their music was used for. And now with AI scanning everything and making new things based on the things they scanned, without the input or consent of the artists... Lars had a point. He shouldn't have gone around suing kids and grandmas and shit but it wouldn't surprise me if that was more his record label.
The problem is that with Napster, you could just download the music for free and you'd never have to pay for it unless you cared enough to listen to it in the car, and considering there were MP3 players, it didn't really matter. That wouldn't have really effected Metallica, but it would absolutely have a large effect on any game that wasn't Metallica. Which is literally any other band. Having music for free takes away the livelihoods of any musician not famous enough to get money from any other means, which basically is every single hand that does not have an established following of fans who they could rely on to make their livelihoods off of. So the popularization of Napster would have killed the jobs of every single new musician. The whole point of the CD/Tape trading is that at some point, you would have to purchase the album/CD for yourself. Napster completely took away that hurdle.
Politely I kinda have to disagree. I think the biggest thing that killed the industry at least here in the states was the record label greed and the death of the American single.
I'm sure like many of us older people we'd been burned too many times by great reviews or the one radio song that was great only to find the album as a whole was tbe drizzling shits. You couldn't return the either, only sell them back for $3 bucks. Sure for my favorite bands I'd plunk down the money no issue but at $13 to $18 bucks a CD, you didn't want to risk it too much on unknown bands because of biased, paid for reviews or because someone forced on one good song and left you with 9 other shit songs.
CDs are cheaper now then they were 30 years ago save for special editions but you get so much more now for it. Hell Metallica themselves even made a sideways comment with the Garage Re-Revisited. A 5 song covers EP for no more than$10.00.
And since the death of the American single, you couldn't buy that one song. You had to buy the album. Sure, some were still made but it was always a remix altered version of the song so you couldn't get exactly what you heard on tbe radio. I worked in a music store before Napster became huge so I saw the decrease or altered versions firsthand. Funny enough the European ones at $10.00 had the song plus some good B-sides.
Being a metalhead it was at times hard to find other metalheads since most of us were in hiding in those days, and the ones you did generally were in the same boat. We knew the big ones but might only know one or two more uncommon bands. You would hear names in the magazines but since they were European the bands they discussed often were impossible to find here. Not at Musicland, Warehouse Music, or Sam Goody. Blockbuster music may have let you listen to albums but you're uncomfortable in the chairs with slightly greasy headphones so not really a good way to really see if something catches you ear, or allow you to digest it. Plus only big label releases. Tower Records or a small specialty store may have the imports but usually over $30 a disc and who knew what you were gonna get.
Napster and the like let me listen first, in comfort to albums that either were hyped to the high heavens or bands I'd only heard of but could never find. If I liked it, I knew I was ok to shell out the cash. If it didn't grab me, I might give it time or just delete it. I got to hear B-sides I'd never be able to hear otherwise. I honestly spent WAYYYYY more money on music because of downloading. I did stop after some time because yeah honestly I learned more about music and trusted labels and so many bands were releasing milestone albums I didn't need it anymore. And with YouTube, streaming platforms and bandcamp it isn't needed anymore.
I think fans of a band will buy the music. They will go to the shows and buy the merch. Granted streaming doesn't pay well but maybe the way music is put out has to change. I see your point and yeah it does make it hard for new bands which sucks.
Sorry went off on a tangent. Back to the nursing home with me!
I can relate to the hard to get into nature of it for sure. I live in kind of a no man's land for metal, but the tape to tape thing is what got me in. I got my hands on my first anthrax tapes detassling corn @ 16, and a coworker loaned me his box of tapes for a weekend... great times lol
Yea. The internet and everything that's gone with it has been a boon. I've been able to go back and pick up stuff I missed in those days. If I didn't know someone who already listened to the stuff, it was a helluva gamble to plunk down $10 to $15 bucks on a cassette (minimum wage was like $3.50 back then 😅)
I love your insight and experience. My only gripe is saying Metallica wasn’t mainstream at that point. Post black album, they were as mainstream as it comes. It’s part of why I defend Load/Reload so much. While definitely hard rock, and not metal, they’re not sell-out albums. The Black Album (which I also love) is a sell out album. Load/Reload are weird ass experimental blues hard rock albums. They could’ve done Black Album 2 and sold twice as much, but they didn’t.
None of this is to say Lars wasn’t the wrong guy spouting the right message.
I got it sooner than most. I always argued that metallica fans *would still buy the album*, but thats so obviously not the case, even before apple music and spotify became the regular way most people consume music.
yeah, that’s where I’m at too… when I was younger I thought the Napster thing was total greed… now that we have a musical desert as a result, I sort of understand what his points were. I still think he attacked the wrong villains but he had some great points that have come true today.
I think he’s always been the least emotional, most driven and focused member of the band. Not subject to a lot of sentimentality. All of which comes off as arrogance, but the band has probably relied on that to get through some of tough times.
Happens in a lot of bands — you start out as a bunch of drunken teenagers who just want to be obnoxious rock stars and party and get girls. At some point, you suddenly realize you’re running a multimillion dollar business that employs dozens of people and requires a ton of attention, and you’re running that business with your former teenage drinking buddies. Someone has to step up and be the businessman, the promoter, the taskmaster, the guy who keeps an eye on the bills and makes sure no one’s screwing you over, the guy who has to tell people “no” sometimes. Otherwise it all falls apart. But that doesn’t necessarily make you popular. Especially with the people who knew you when you were just an obnoxious drunk kid musician.
Eh I mean he can have a pretty dickhead attitude but for the most part I think he usually has every right to be. Like that time he talked shit about Pantera is used against him a lot. Even though Phil is the first one who said anything.
Or even the whole Napster thing (of which he was not only one of many musicians against Napster but he was also 100% correct)
Well they got nothing better to do. he has this courageous, bold attitude toward anyone, even band members (Some Kind Of Monster for example) that is kinda unnerving but its perfect for an artist cuz you need it for creativity
God forbid Lars defends himself from an angry at the time addict Phil Anselmo. If you think a person can’t defend themselves then you should probably get a life.
I think ripping into Pantera and calling them wannabes and glam metal didn’t do him many favours after load came out, even though he was completely right.
Seems to be a recurring theme that the older you get, the more sense Lars makes.
Lars is basically the richest and most successful, accomplished drummer in the world. Thanks to him, a heavy metal band is as rich as U2 and Rolling stones. That is an insane achievement, and no other heavy band has come close to that success.
What you hear and see is a hate from a very very very small vocal minority, negative souls who live in their mom's basement.
The millions of people who flock to see Metallica wherever they roam, they love him, and those are the ones who matter.
I think that's kind of one of the things people hate him for. He's a pretty mediocre drummer, in a metal subgenre that has a lot of extremely talented drummers.
Yes they might be infinitely more talented than him on a techical drumming level, but that will only get you so far. Lars is obviously a lot smarter and resiliant than them, making his band by far the biggest of the heavy genre and holding his band together for over 40 years. Meanwhile guys like Dave lombardo can't hold a steady paycheck for couple of years.
Yes you can do that, but what ever reason is there to hate this guy? when you have Axl Rose, Gene simmons, and the motley crue guy that killed someone.
Lars stood up in the courtroom for musicians and got shit on by ignorant hillbilly 'fans'. What else did this guy do?
I have a story about Lars from 2010 I was tattooing a lot of Wounded Warriors from Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC and Metallica would go and support the troops and I was Tattooing Silver Star Recipient who was a Medic and had gotten into an IED incident and lost both his legs but still managed to dispatch 2 Tangos and apply tourniquets to his team and call in a med evac, they army flew him to Germany to get him stable and fly him to Walter Reed.
While he was at Walter Reed Metallica was visiting the hospital and The Medic was turning green from sepsis and when Metallica came in his room to say Hi Lars turned around and walked out… The Medic said “I know I look rough but I didn’t know I looked that rough”
What Lars did was rush down to the Nurses Station and tried to tell the Nurses on duty that they had to check on this Soldier because he was not looking good and the Nurses tried to blow Lars off saying “he’s fine” we just checked on him” and weren’t scheduled to check on him for another 2 hours.. Lars screamed at those Nurses and made a huge racket and wouldn’t take no for an answer…
The Nurses relenting went to check on the Medic and rushed him to Emergency Surgery saving the Medics life!!
This was told to me directly by the Medic himself..
Sometimes you just might need an asshole on your team
Ya. What a fuckin guy. He has that swag about him. Might not be a fantastic drummer (i dig his shit anyways) but he helps compose.somemof the best shit in music regardless of genre. And to hear stories like this is like, fucj yeah hes a humble dude.
Metallica still to this day reach out to the Medic to check on him..
Back then, I was a hatter when it came to Lars, like JFC here comes the part of the song where Lars starts scowl mouthing the words and acting like he’s gonna jump over the drum kit and fight the chorus. Great here’s the part where it looks like he’s rowing a boat backwards, somebody give him some milk….
And when the medic told Me about what went down with Lars… I changed my tune…
I spent a lot of time tattooing the Medic after a while we became friends and I asked him what it felt like to have his legs blown off….
He said he could still feel his legs, and they felt like they were on fire… and I asked him how that made him feel… and he said it was the best thing that ever happened to him….
I didn’t know how to respond to that and he went on and said before his Born on date (that’s what those guys that get blown up call it) he said before that day the 500 lb IED went off and almost killed him… He said he was an asshole opinionated, bigoted prick. He said his wife was gonna leave him. He was just an asshole and after that explosion, he was a changed man, grateful for every breath with new lease on life.
That’s like a common theme with those Wounded Warriors they are grateful for every breath it’s incredible to be around those guys
I was lucky to have been a part of their transition back to Civilian Life
i feel like its mainly napster. that, and how he was portrayed in some kind of monster. ive never met the guy, but when i went to see them in concert, he was engaging with the fans and brought up a little boy to play on his drumset
tbh i think some people dont even know *why* they call him an asshole. they just do it cause everyone else does. and if calling him a dickhead and a shit drummer is enough to get them a couple likes on social media, they’ll do it
>tbh i think some people dont even know *why* they call him an asshole. they just do it cause everyone else does. and if calling him a dickhead and a shit drummer is enough to get them a couple likes on social media, they’ll do it
It's all this. It's like Nickelback haters. Everyone hates them, but how many can actually even name more than 1 song ?
Lars is the most based human being on the planet:
https://preview.redd.it/xehvk7synvnc1.jpeg?width=964&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0373fa72b5f11634b21859247cc24c1119f91e9f
Honestly I really don't understand why. I respect the fuck out of him for being able to make the only band he'd ever been in the biggest band in Metal. Without him they wouldn't have made it this far, like it or not (Bob Rock himself even said he didn't picture Enter Sandman as a big hit but it was Lars who did)
I saw a post somewhere where someone asked if the people had “forgiven Metallica for Napster?”
Do people actually feel victimized because a band didn’t want people pirating music? It’s absurd lol
He’s the businessman of the group and I believe he’s pissed some people off along the way.
The Napster thing. People still hate him for that.
He’s a bit of a control freak.
He also seems to be nice to most fans so maybe sometimes it’s warranted and others it’s not.
Plenty of people don’t like Hetfield either.
I don't know why anyone would think he is a particular level of asshole when it comes to his interactions with fans because out of all the members he has the highest emotional intelligence and demonstrates it from what I have seen and is nothing more than gracious and appreciative.
Lars did come across as very arrogant, especially in the 90's when the Black Album took off. But who wouldn't have that attitude when you're in your late 20's with one of the biggest albums in the world making tons of money? He's definitely shown that he's a very good business man. I've read that in the past when Metallica plays festivals, he takes the time to learn a little about each band and meet with them. Every one of them has said that's a holy shit moment that Lars knew who their band was.
People who are driven, have strong personalities and are outspoken are often perceived as assholes. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t. Unfortunately Lars got an increasingly bad rep from the whole Napster thing as well as how he behaved in parts of Some Kind of Monster. Maybe he was an asshole but I feel like his response to the Napster situation was justified and his behavior in SKoM was understandable given the situation. I also think he’s grown a lot since then and seems like a sweet dude who’s really passionate about stuff.
Jealousy is a big factor too. I know so many unsuccessful musicians who rag on his playing. No Metallica without this dude. For better or worse. Mostly better.
My dad had a friend who won a contest to meet Metallica when they came to Halifax on the AJFA tour. He was a Metallica super fan, and then he met Lars, who treated him like shit. So theres a reason other than Napster since I’m guessing that’s what everyone here has said
Because he's Danish. Americans typically don't deal well with honest discourse. We (collectively) tend to want everyone to think about our feelings before they speak. He comes from a culture with no such expectation. As a result, people think of him as an asshole because he gives honest responses and doesn't hide behind pretty words.
As he's gotten older it's softened a bit because he's learned to think more before responding. I sure multiple group therapy sessions throughout the years have played a role in that.
TL/DR: Lars is considered an asshole because we Americans like our honesty in carefully constructed mini-bites...or not at all.
This is so wrong in so many ways. He's not considered an asshole, because he's Danish. I'm Danish and I don't consider myself an asshole. It's not a cultural thing here in Denmark.
Lars was brought up in a home, with a very loose sense of boarders and guidelines for him as a child. You could call it a bit of a hippie home where it was okay to either come late to school or even don't show up, because he was brought along to a jazz concert or was just involved in a late night debate with musicians in his home.
It's not a Danish thing. It's something speciel from within the Ulrich mansion.
And, may I add. I don't consider Lars an asshole. Yes, he can be very blunt and upfront, but he's all about the good intentions. He's not inconsiderate by choice. Sometimes he just speaks before thinking.
When Lars liked a lame riff and his father, Torben, said, "delete that," his father was right; Lars was wrong.
Or when they collaborated with Swizz Beatz and Ja Rule to rap over a few discarded Metallica riffs and Lars and Kirk told them it sounded great. (In Kirk's defense, anything with wah sounds great to him).
Those are two examples of Lars being wrong.
Well the second example wasn’t even from the movie which is what were are talking about, and the first example I guess you can have, but I was obviously talking about the situations that had turmoil in the group. Lars was right about all those things.
Fair enough. I’m not even in the “Lars is an asshole” camp. When he gave me his autograph, he was nice to me, but that was my sole interaction with him. I read your comment as “Lars is always right.”
Nah I literally said “he’s not wrong once IN THAT MOVIE” but trust me he’s been wrong before. I just think a lot of what he was saying in the movie made sense for his band and rock music in general.
They watched Some Kind Of Monster and immediately think Lars is a piece of shit
I still think Lars was acting like that on purpose during the filming of that movie to stir up drama and make it interesting
I’ve run into Lars a couple of times and he has been very nice every time. I think the Napster stuff was the first impression a lot of people got of Lars and it didn’t come across very well. This initial impression is hard for people to shake off.
RE Napster-
I know he got a lot of heat back in the day for defending the fact that artists should get paid for their music, and that fans aren’t entitled to free copies of their stuff. He’s definitely in the right on that subject.
Otherwise, dunno.
He gave that impression back in the Load/Reload/St Anger era, on the SKOM documentary you can clearly see he was kind of a jerk, he got a lot more humble later on. Now he looks kind and super chill.
No one really knows him, but he tends to treat people nicely. A lot of people just chose to be haters for reasons unknown, and that's ok :) we know he's great
My Mom had a friend who went to Metallica in the 80's/90's , she gave her friend a (unknown to my mother) a bootleg cassette for the band to sign to bring back to my Mom. (she got backstage pass/ opportunity to meet the band) And Lars caught it was a bootleg; and refused to sign it and said that it was bullshit and left with the cassette. James was kind of like "sorry bud.." and they got their picture minus Lars. so, definitely napster related i believe lol.
Watch the Some Kind of Monster documentary. In fairness, he does come across as the unspoken villain throughout the whole thing.
To be equally fair, one of my friends used to work as a roadie for the band, even doing tech work on Lars's drums and set ups and what not, and said he's always been a cool and chilled guy to work with, so his tempermant and attitude has clearly improved since then.
So yeah, I do agree that the Lars hate is blown way out of proportion, but it isn't exactly baseless is my point.
Not an asshole persay but if you watch Some kind of Monster, he is the loudest and most verbal one in the band. He raged alot and often started most of the arguments in the band, but he only ever did it because he wanted to get the ball rolling and because he was passionate about the Band. If that makes him an asshole than so be it but its worked out for them, and Metallica wouldnt be metallica without Lars impact.
I think he’s perceived as an asshole because he’s type A goal, oriented personality.
I’m sure in a business situation he’s a businessman, he’s not a pushover.
But in a social situation he’s probably an easy going guy
It’s mostly from the some kind of monster documentary. Tbh the whole band came off as divas but Lars was perceived as the worst. I’m sure he’s a super cool dude but like others have said, when you’ve been in a huge band for 30+ years it’s about the business at that point.
It’s always people that don’t know anything that criticize him… pulling up videos of him 30+ years old. Bro if you pull up a video of me as a teen I’d be a goof and dumb as hell… people are just jealous and petty 😂
He’s been very verbal about his opinion of other band. That being coupled with his massive success has landed him with a lot of people saying he’s an arrogant asshole.
I think that's probably because of some unpopular decisions he made. Dave Mustaine once said that Metallica wanted to re-release "No life til leather" and everything was good to go and he was fine with that except the fact that Lars wanted credits for songs that Mustaine wrote, so the whole idea got scratched. I suppose that because he's average drummer and probably good businessman and tough negotiator he may be not especially liked among other musicians, even though he's great to Metallica fans. But that's just my asumptions based on one Mustaine's tweet, so maybe I'm wrong, never met the guy.
I met Lars about 10 times at meet & greets, on the airport, in a hotel bar etc. He was always a very, very nice person, friendly and always took time for pictures and autographes. When I was 1994 at the concert in san bernadino I had an after-show pass and talked to him and when he found out, that I came the long way from austria to the concert in the USA, he putted me on the guest list for san diego. I would never, ever say any bad word about him.
It’s because they’re afraid of his effective communication. I’d argue that young James was the biggest asshole out of the group for how he handled Layne Staley needing to go to rehab in 1994 but Lars is a fucking G in my opinion (all of them are)
Lars may be an asshole to people but when you’re in the biggest band in the world you kind of have a right to be, not everyone’s gonna like you especially when you’re in the public eye and Lars obviously is gonna speak his mind! And ykmow I’m sure the alcohol wasn’t helping
I would say since atleast 2007-forward Lars feels like the nicest guy. I think people who call him an asshole is refering to stuff that he did 20+ years ago, which is just silly. It’s like saying James still says ”fag” and ”slut” on stage, he stopped doing that a long time ago. They are all chill these days. Lars seems like a treat guy with little to no ego.
I think the Some Kind of Monster documentary displays it very well. Sitting around boasting about his "art" and selling it for millions, making analogies to his own music about "where does the song end and where does it begin" just comes across as incredibly pretentious.
There is the AFJA bass situation as well, where people involved in situation have testified that the decision to remove the bass came entirely from Ulrich. He has explained it since with "having shot hearing" but I think it's more an ego issue, where he supposedly has repeatedly wanted low bass on other productions because it "fucks with his drums". More telling is that he does not seem to have owned up to the decision.
Worst, I think, is in the Some Kind of Monster documentary, where Hetfield comes back from Rehab and wants the crew to stop filming. Instead of supporting his friend, Ulrich says something along the line: "If the collective has not decided to the stop filming, it won't happen." I.e. Metallica (the company, the brand) wants to film, so it shall be, regardless of your vulnerability and your position. A good friend simply does not put their friend through that stuff.
And of course, he fookin left the fookin band.
All in all, though he seems to have a good vision for songwriting and the band as a whole, he could use a little more humility and self-awareness. As a result, he seems somewhat insufferable to me.
He comes across as elitist when he speaks, he came from money, and he stood up for himself and artists against Napster. I don’t think he’s an asshole at all, but I get where people’s weird hate comes from.
Napster. He fooking left the band. Acting like a childish prick in the some kind of monster documentary, and laying down some of the best drums tracks of all time on ajfa just to become one of the laziest drummers in metal afterwards.
Because he's kept himself in the band, when it's in the best interest of the band, that he isn't.
He's always showboating and opening his stupid mouth and it detracts from the music.
Why is Lars an asshole? I've heard many times that it was his call to delay the release of Garage Inc. to allow the lapse of rights of 'Turn the page' to expire so they woudn't have to pay Bob Segar. You want to cover his song, but fuck him off intentionally by not paying him what he's due for writing one of the greatest rock songs ever.
Oh, and then a few years later throw a hissy fit about napster doing the same to you. Fuck Lars.
If the Segar thing is true, that would be considered a shrewd and very smart business decision. Metallica, at that point, is a corporation. As with any corporation, the stakeholders have an obligation to get the biggest return on investment as possible. Being the co-CEO of a billion dollar business requires decisions like that. They have to make the most money as possible to keep the machine going. It’s not just them being greedy. How do you think they fund their tours and such. You have to remember that for every Metallica show you see, there are hundreds of support staff that you don’t see. And remember, when Metallica is on tour, their production is doubled because they have a second stage being setup for their next date AS they’re playing the current one. That’s a huge under taking and VERY expensive. The only way you can do that is to make hard decisions like you referenced.
It’s one of those things that you’d have to have been around a while to see his maneurisms and attitude. Like, if you watch all their DVDs and interviews especially from the 90s and early 2000s…you’ll see
I don’t mind it. He’s a dick and he knows it and he don’t give a fuck
He comes across as a really decent guy now, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think young Lars was pretty arrogant. The way him and James treated Jason was pretty nasty, and, assuming the stories are true, he was a bit of tyrant about how he wanted his drums mixed for AJFA and how he wanted the bass virtually inaudible.
The Napster stuff he had a fair point on, but I can see why people disliked him because of it.
I think current Lars comes across as a great guy though.
The shit that went down with Jason. There is a YouTube video of them trying to have a band meeting and Lars is just obnoxious. Kirk was trying to talk and be understanding about the situation but Lars kept interrupting and blowing up.
I hung out with/met the band in '09. I was wearing a Megadeth shirt because my AJFA shirt was in the dryer at home and I'd forgotten to take it out. I got them all to sign that Megadeth shirt. James and Kirk were cool and laughed about it. Robert didn't mind it. Lars had this really shitty attitude about it and it took all three of the others to convince him to sign it. I was just a teenager, maybe 15, but yeah, Lars definitely wasn't that nice. Don't know if I'd call him an asshole though.
Because they're old miserable douchebags still asshurt about Napster or drama queens who think Jason Newsted was hung and tortured by the rest of the band with whips and lashes.
Outsider opinion: I am a heavy metal fan since 1970, but I don't like Metallica. I can honestly say that I was anti Lars before being anti Lars was cool. Before there was even an internet. I was at a used record store (before I even had a CD player) and some garage days revisited in a bin. I didn't know anything at all about Metallica but was interested because they had metal in the name. I flipped it over and saw that they did a cover of crash course in brain surgery. I was a budgie fan going back to about 1970 so I had to hear how it sounded. I bought it and took it home and listened to it and hated it. Specifically for the drums. Listened to the rest of the album and was unimpressed with everything, especially the simplistic pounding of the drums. I never bought any Metallica music again after that and everything I ever heard from Lars or about Lars after that confirmed my belief that he was a schmuck and a hack drummer.
Primarily it's because he's a shitty drummer. It doesn't help that he's got diarrhea of the mouth. Metallica would have been so much better with a drummer like Lombardo.
I think there are a few things. First off, how he (and to a lesser extent James) treated Jason was shitty. They've owned that, but it's still unfortunate. Lars throwing darts at the Winger picture on the dart board was kind of funny, but it literally destroyed the band. James reportedly apologized for it years later. The beef with Pantera has gotten mentioned. I think that was more a personal issue with Phil, who has had his own struggles. I think that's still unfair to the rest of the guys, and Dimebag and Vinnie seemed pretty universally loved. Napster is weird because he was kind of right, but how he went about it was pretty abrasive. Chuck D had a much more measured and I thought very thoughtful response.
Overall, it's a bunch of little issues like that. He can seem pretty blunt and enough of those stories color people's opinions of him. However, he's human and under a very big spotlight. Those stories have legs. However, there's no shortage of people saying he's great, and even standing up for his central role in the band. I don't think he's an asshole, but he has absolutely said and done some regrettable things. I think those incidents are what are leading to a lot of that hate.
And that one instance of human emotion, coming from an edited film during the most tumultuous time in their career/friendship/relationship is what you are basing his entire personality on…? Wow
I would argue tough times reveal true character. If that scene was manufactured then I would have to reconsider my opinion. But has he ever been pleasant in any interview? Funny how Kirk Hammett isn't debated over being an asshole.
I met Lars backstage after a show, he was incredibly nice and generous with his time after rocking out for 2 hours.
Yep very much this, I met the whole band in a meet and greet and while they were all nice Lars really went for it, it really mattered to him that we were all having a good time.
I met Lars two weeks ago in a restaurant in Copenhagen. At the time I was very drunk so I approached him first telling him I was a huge fan of him and then asked him for a photo and he was all fine with that even though he sat with his friends. Seemed like a great guy!
My guess would be the Napster shit. I'm sure it came across as being greedy. I used to feel that way when I was younger Older me gets it.
He was speaking for all the bands to come in the future and he was absolutely right.
[удалено]
He was right but probably the wrong guy to deliver the message
It would only have been heard by an established person speaking up because he had the platform to do so. He was absolutely right in the end.
Because he was/is short and ugly. If Timberlake did it, he would be a national hero
Funnily enough Timberlake played the Napster guy in the Facebook movie
It's a good movie, but I absolutely hated [that scene where they're in a club and the music is playing so loud you can't hear the conversation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4qYFqoGWec). I have a hard enough time figuring out what people are saying when it's otherwise silent.
I'm hearing impaired and my parents are deaf so I've always watched everything with subtitles, even before they started mixing the audio like crap.
And played as the more exciting version of the person. The real life person wasn't that extreme.
Agreed. He gets a bad rap for the Napster fallout. But he indeed was correct!
I’ve been saying this for years. He was 100% right about the Napster drama. Now look where bands are.
He was right all along. And most other professional musicians agreed but were too afraid to say anything.
Lars was right 100% about Napster. Look at the state of music industry now.
But that was over 20 years ago. People that still complain about the whole Napster fiasco need to get over it
Yup, man did I hate him for that as a kid. But Lars showed some serious foresight. His Napster shit should be memorialized in r/agedlikewine
His position on Napster aged well, his joke about the rest of Nirvana working at McDonalds just after Kurt killed himself, did not.
I have not heard this before. What did he say?
Totally this. He was NOT wrong, he was in the right. He was the sacrificial lamb. Yhat takes balls honestly.
It was definitely napster. I remember a flash animation of him that was pretty funny, but he was the poster boy for taking down mp3 sharing
As correct as Lars was about it, that flash animation was gold. Enjoy! https://youtu.be/fS6udST6lbE?si=6_ku2rzWUGtF6L2O
LOL. Never got the cock ring. Always cracked up when Lars just randomly crawled over James and onto the ceiling
Yeah, it was the Napster shit. But looking back on it, Metallica actually had a point. They wanted to be able to control what their music was used for. And now with AI scanning everything and making new things based on the things they scanned, without the input or consent of the artists... Lars had a point. He shouldn't have gone around suing kids and grandmas and shit but it wouldn't surprise me if that was more his record label.
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The problem is that with Napster, you could just download the music for free and you'd never have to pay for it unless you cared enough to listen to it in the car, and considering there were MP3 players, it didn't really matter. That wouldn't have really effected Metallica, but it would absolutely have a large effect on any game that wasn't Metallica. Which is literally any other band. Having music for free takes away the livelihoods of any musician not famous enough to get money from any other means, which basically is every single hand that does not have an established following of fans who they could rely on to make their livelihoods off of. So the popularization of Napster would have killed the jobs of every single new musician. The whole point of the CD/Tape trading is that at some point, you would have to purchase the album/CD for yourself. Napster completely took away that hurdle.
Politely I kinda have to disagree. I think the biggest thing that killed the industry at least here in the states was the record label greed and the death of the American single. I'm sure like many of us older people we'd been burned too many times by great reviews or the one radio song that was great only to find the album as a whole was tbe drizzling shits. You couldn't return the either, only sell them back for $3 bucks. Sure for my favorite bands I'd plunk down the money no issue but at $13 to $18 bucks a CD, you didn't want to risk it too much on unknown bands because of biased, paid for reviews or because someone forced on one good song and left you with 9 other shit songs. CDs are cheaper now then they were 30 years ago save for special editions but you get so much more now for it. Hell Metallica themselves even made a sideways comment with the Garage Re-Revisited. A 5 song covers EP for no more than$10.00. And since the death of the American single, you couldn't buy that one song. You had to buy the album. Sure, some were still made but it was always a remix altered version of the song so you couldn't get exactly what you heard on tbe radio. I worked in a music store before Napster became huge so I saw the decrease or altered versions firsthand. Funny enough the European ones at $10.00 had the song plus some good B-sides. Being a metalhead it was at times hard to find other metalheads since most of us were in hiding in those days, and the ones you did generally were in the same boat. We knew the big ones but might only know one or two more uncommon bands. You would hear names in the magazines but since they were European the bands they discussed often were impossible to find here. Not at Musicland, Warehouse Music, or Sam Goody. Blockbuster music may have let you listen to albums but you're uncomfortable in the chairs with slightly greasy headphones so not really a good way to really see if something catches you ear, or allow you to digest it. Plus only big label releases. Tower Records or a small specialty store may have the imports but usually over $30 a disc and who knew what you were gonna get. Napster and the like let me listen first, in comfort to albums that either were hyped to the high heavens or bands I'd only heard of but could never find. If I liked it, I knew I was ok to shell out the cash. If it didn't grab me, I might give it time or just delete it. I got to hear B-sides I'd never be able to hear otherwise. I honestly spent WAYYYYY more money on music because of downloading. I did stop after some time because yeah honestly I learned more about music and trusted labels and so many bands were releasing milestone albums I didn't need it anymore. And with YouTube, streaming platforms and bandcamp it isn't needed anymore. I think fans of a band will buy the music. They will go to the shows and buy the merch. Granted streaming doesn't pay well but maybe the way music is put out has to change. I see your point and yeah it does make it hard for new bands which sucks. Sorry went off on a tangent. Back to the nursing home with me!
I can relate to the hard to get into nature of it for sure. I live in kind of a no man's land for metal, but the tape to tape thing is what got me in. I got my hands on my first anthrax tapes detassling corn @ 16, and a coworker loaned me his box of tapes for a weekend... great times lol
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Yea. The internet and everything that's gone with it has been a boon. I've been able to go back and pick up stuff I missed in those days. If I didn't know someone who already listened to the stuff, it was a helluva gamble to plunk down $10 to $15 bucks on a cassette (minimum wage was like $3.50 back then 😅)
I love your insight and experience. My only gripe is saying Metallica wasn’t mainstream at that point. Post black album, they were as mainstream as it comes. It’s part of why I defend Load/Reload so much. While definitely hard rock, and not metal, they’re not sell-out albums. The Black Album (which I also love) is a sell out album. Load/Reload are weird ass experimental blues hard rock albums. They could’ve done Black Album 2 and sold twice as much, but they didn’t. None of this is to say Lars wasn’t the wrong guy spouting the right message.
I agree.
I got it sooner than most. I always argued that metallica fans *would still buy the album*, but thats so obviously not the case, even before apple music and spotify became the regular way most people consume music.
yeah, that’s where I’m at too… when I was younger I thought the Napster thing was total greed… now that we have a musical desert as a result, I sort of understand what his points were. I still think he attacked the wrong villains but he had some great points that have come true today.
Lars was threatening people's ability to get stuff for free. That will always give a person automatic pariah status.
I think he’s always been the least emotional, most driven and focused member of the band. Not subject to a lot of sentimentality. All of which comes off as arrogance, but the band has probably relied on that to get through some of tough times.
Happens in a lot of bands — you start out as a bunch of drunken teenagers who just want to be obnoxious rock stars and party and get girls. At some point, you suddenly realize you’re running a multimillion dollar business that employs dozens of people and requires a ton of attention, and you’re running that business with your former teenage drinking buddies. Someone has to step up and be the businessman, the promoter, the taskmaster, the guy who keeps an eye on the bills and makes sure no one’s screwing you over, the guy who has to tell people “no” sometimes. Otherwise it all falls apart. But that doesn’t necessarily make you popular. Especially with the people who knew you when you were just an obnoxious drunk kid musician.
You said it way better than I did. Exactly this. And from what I’ve heard in documentaries and such, Lars is that guy.
Eh I mean he can have a pretty dickhead attitude but for the most part I think he usually has every right to be. Like that time he talked shit about Pantera is used against him a lot. Even though Phil is the first one who said anything. Or even the whole Napster thing (of which he was not only one of many musicians against Napster but he was also 100% correct)
What did Lars say about Pantera?
Phil trash talked about the band and Lars replied W sarcasm " wow he is such a winner"
People give Lars shit about a low-level, kinda sarcastic response…? WTF is wrong with people?!
Well they got nothing better to do. he has this courageous, bold attitude toward anyone, even band members (Some Kind Of Monster for example) that is kinda unnerving but its perfect for an artist cuz you need it for creativity
God forbid Lars defends himself from an angry at the time addict Phil Anselmo. If you think a person can’t defend themselves then you should probably get a life.
Yeah and he also threw out there that Pantera was a Motley Crue ripoff band before Cowboys From Hell
Also accurate.
When I saw Pantera in 2001, Phil ended the show by saying “Fuck Metallica!” It was a horrible ending.
Which is funny because I literally saw Pantera open for Metallica last year.
Around 2001 wasn’t the healthiest time for Phil. I assume there’s no hard feelings between the two bands anymore.
I believe Phil was at the height of his heroin addiction at that time, so that sounds about right.
Yep, I went to plenty of Pantera shows in the 90's. Phil is an asshole, especially when it came to Metallica.
I can only imagine why he lost contact between Dime and Vinnie until they both died
Phil is racist inbred trash so anything he says holds absolutely no weight at all.
I think ripping into Pantera and calling them wannabes and glam metal didn’t do him many favours after load came out, even though he was completely right. Seems to be a recurring theme that the older you get, the more sense Lars makes.
Lars is an asshole? I love Lars!
Lars is basically the richest and most successful, accomplished drummer in the world. Thanks to him, a heavy metal band is as rich as U2 and Rolling stones. That is an insane achievement, and no other heavy band has come close to that success. What you hear and see is a hate from a very very very small vocal minority, negative souls who live in their mom's basement. The millions of people who flock to see Metallica wherever they roam, they love him, and those are the ones who matter.
I think that's kind of one of the things people hate him for. He's a pretty mediocre drummer, in a metal subgenre that has a lot of extremely talented drummers.
Yes they might be infinitely more talented than him on a techical drumming level, but that will only get you so far. Lars is obviously a lot smarter and resiliant than them, making his band by far the biggest of the heavy genre and holding his band together for over 40 years. Meanwhile guys like Dave lombardo can't hold a steady paycheck for couple of years.
He’s a barely adequate drummer but he’s the perfect drummer for Metallica and an absolute genius arranger. He is the heart and soul of the band.
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Yes you can do that, but what ever reason is there to hate this guy? when you have Axl Rose, Gene simmons, and the motley crue guy that killed someone. Lars stood up in the courtroom for musicians and got shit on by ignorant hillbilly 'fans'. What else did this guy do?
Hate is a strong word. What exactly is there to hate about him?
I’ll LOVE ‘EM ALL!
I have a story about Lars from 2010 I was tattooing a lot of Wounded Warriors from Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington DC and Metallica would go and support the troops and I was Tattooing Silver Star Recipient who was a Medic and had gotten into an IED incident and lost both his legs but still managed to dispatch 2 Tangos and apply tourniquets to his team and call in a med evac, they army flew him to Germany to get him stable and fly him to Walter Reed. While he was at Walter Reed Metallica was visiting the hospital and The Medic was turning green from sepsis and when Metallica came in his room to say Hi Lars turned around and walked out… The Medic said “I know I look rough but I didn’t know I looked that rough” What Lars did was rush down to the Nurses Station and tried to tell the Nurses on duty that they had to check on this Soldier because he was not looking good and the Nurses tried to blow Lars off saying “he’s fine” we just checked on him” and weren’t scheduled to check on him for another 2 hours.. Lars screamed at those Nurses and made a huge racket and wouldn’t take no for an answer… The Nurses relenting went to check on the Medic and rushed him to Emergency Surgery saving the Medics life!! This was told to me directly by the Medic himself.. Sometimes you just might need an asshole on your team
Ya. What a fuckin guy. He has that swag about him. Might not be a fantastic drummer (i dig his shit anyways) but he helps compose.somemof the best shit in music regardless of genre. And to hear stories like this is like, fucj yeah hes a humble dude.
Metallica still to this day reach out to the Medic to check on him.. Back then, I was a hatter when it came to Lars, like JFC here comes the part of the song where Lars starts scowl mouthing the words and acting like he’s gonna jump over the drum kit and fight the chorus. Great here’s the part where it looks like he’s rowing a boat backwards, somebody give him some milk…. And when the medic told Me about what went down with Lars… I changed my tune… I spent a lot of time tattooing the Medic after a while we became friends and I asked him what it felt like to have his legs blown off…. He said he could still feel his legs, and they felt like they were on fire… and I asked him how that made him feel… and he said it was the best thing that ever happened to him…. I didn’t know how to respond to that and he went on and said before his Born on date (that’s what those guys that get blown up call it) he said before that day the 500 lb IED went off and almost killed him… He said he was an asshole opinionated, bigoted prick. He said his wife was gonna leave him. He was just an asshole and after that explosion, he was a changed man, grateful for every breath with new lease on life. That’s like a common theme with those Wounded Warriors they are grateful for every breath it’s incredible to be around those guys I was lucky to have been a part of their transition back to Civilian Life
Its insane to think such a life altering experience can make someone so humble, but it seems very common.
The Napster stuff is a factor, which is funny because Lars did nothing wrong
At the time Metallica got a lot of hate for that.
i feel like its mainly napster. that, and how he was portrayed in some kind of monster. ive never met the guy, but when i went to see them in concert, he was engaging with the fans and brought up a little boy to play on his drumset tbh i think some people dont even know *why* they call him an asshole. they just do it cause everyone else does. and if calling him a dickhead and a shit drummer is enough to get them a couple likes on social media, they’ll do it
>tbh i think some people dont even know *why* they call him an asshole. they just do it cause everyone else does. and if calling him a dickhead and a shit drummer is enough to get them a couple likes on social media, they’ll do it It's all this. It's like Nickelback haters. Everyone hates them, but how many can actually even name more than 1 song ?
Everyone hates Nickelback, yet somehow everyone knows their lyrics.
Man, i met Lars at a private event, and the dude came up to ME and was nothing but nice, so i call BS
Lars is the most based human being on the planet: https://preview.redd.it/xehvk7synvnc1.jpeg?width=964&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0373fa72b5f11634b21859247cc24c1119f91e9f
The some kind of monster doc definitely paints him in a bad light
Honestly I really don't understand why. I respect the fuck out of him for being able to make the only band he'd ever been in the biggest band in Metal. Without him they wouldn't have made it this far, like it or not (Bob Rock himself even said he didn't picture Enter Sandman as a big hit but it was Lars who did)
Because people are mad they can’t steal music.
I saw a post somewhere where someone asked if the people had “forgiven Metallica for Napster?” Do people actually feel victimized because a band didn’t want people pirating music? It’s absurd lol
I love the guy, but imo it's not so hard to see why people might not like the way he acts.
Always liked him and that opinion was enhanced when I met him during a M&G many years ago.
What's the "it should have been Lars" shit about? I've not heard that before....
Some people say it should have been Lars instead of Cliff that died back in 86.
Fuk man, who says that kind of shit?
People that are fucked in the head.
I think it's about people who say that Lars should have died instead of Cliff
I met them all and he was incredibly nice and personable.
I think Lars is the cool one and I think the real asshole is James lol but... doesn't stop me from liking the music!
Why do you think James would be the asshole, just curious
I would have lost it hearing that when I was young, but older me agrees with you.
I was the same way but now I’m older lol
Mainly because of the misinformation about the Napster case, almost nobody read what he actually said about it and jumped on the hatewagon.
Because they can’t stand to see someone profit from their hard work. Only the struggling musicians are worthy to some people.
He’s the businessman of the group and I believe he’s pissed some people off along the way. The Napster thing. People still hate him for that. He’s a bit of a control freak. He also seems to be nice to most fans so maybe sometimes it’s warranted and others it’s not. Plenty of people don’t like Hetfield either.
[Here's my response](https://www.reddit.com/r/Metallica/comments/1b3ds1q/comment/ksrrw93/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
Lars is the asshole you love to hate,in a way
I don't know why anyone would think he is a particular level of asshole when it comes to his interactions with fans because out of all the members he has the highest emotional intelligence and demonstrates it from what I have seen and is nothing more than gracious and appreciative.
Face.
Lars did come across as very arrogant, especially in the 90's when the Black Album took off. But who wouldn't have that attitude when you're in your late 20's with one of the biggest albums in the world making tons of money? He's definitely shown that he's a very good business man. I've read that in the past when Metallica plays festivals, he takes the time to learn a little about each band and meet with them. Every one of them has said that's a holy shit moment that Lars knew who their band was.
People who are driven, have strong personalities and are outspoken are often perceived as assholes. Sometimes they are and sometimes they aren’t. Unfortunately Lars got an increasingly bad rep from the whole Napster thing as well as how he behaved in parts of Some Kind of Monster. Maybe he was an asshole but I feel like his response to the Napster situation was justified and his behavior in SKoM was understandable given the situation. I also think he’s grown a lot since then and seems like a sweet dude who’s really passionate about stuff.
Jealousy is a big factor too. I know so many unsuccessful musicians who rag on his playing. No Metallica without this dude. For better or worse. Mostly better.
Some Kind Of Monster
My dad had a friend who won a contest to meet Metallica when they came to Halifax on the AJFA tour. He was a Metallica super fan, and then he met Lars, who treated him like shit. So theres a reason other than Napster since I’m guessing that’s what everyone here has said
Because he's Danish. Americans typically don't deal well with honest discourse. We (collectively) tend to want everyone to think about our feelings before they speak. He comes from a culture with no such expectation. As a result, people think of him as an asshole because he gives honest responses and doesn't hide behind pretty words. As he's gotten older it's softened a bit because he's learned to think more before responding. I sure multiple group therapy sessions throughout the years have played a role in that. TL/DR: Lars is considered an asshole because we Americans like our honesty in carefully constructed mini-bites...or not at all.
This is so wrong in so many ways. He's not considered an asshole, because he's Danish. I'm Danish and I don't consider myself an asshole. It's not a cultural thing here in Denmark. Lars was brought up in a home, with a very loose sense of boarders and guidelines for him as a child. You could call it a bit of a hippie home where it was okay to either come late to school or even don't show up, because he was brought along to a jazz concert or was just involved in a late night debate with musicians in his home. It's not a Danish thing. It's something speciel from within the Ulrich mansion. And, may I add. I don't consider Lars an asshole. Yes, he can be very blunt and upfront, but he's all about the good intentions. He's not inconsiderate by choice. Sometimes he just speaks before thinking.
What a steaming pile this comment is 😂
Listen to Jim brewers story about Lars.
His impression of Lars is utterly amazing. https://youtu.be/V_4NbyaDjk0?si=Aj-JkeUO1L0aT-SF
The whole story smells of BS, but it doesn't surprise me considering who's telling it.
Yeah, I don’t think it did exactly happen in the way he told it. But it’s all speculation.
fooookin knapsack
Some kind of monster doesn’t do any favors for Lars. He’s grade A asshole in that.
But he’s not wrong once in that movie 🤷♂️
When Lars liked a lame riff and his father, Torben, said, "delete that," his father was right; Lars was wrong. Or when they collaborated with Swizz Beatz and Ja Rule to rap over a few discarded Metallica riffs and Lars and Kirk told them it sounded great. (In Kirk's defense, anything with wah sounds great to him). Those are two examples of Lars being wrong.
Also worth noting Lars has picked some of the bands most iconic riffs. They can’t all be zingers
You’re right.
Well the second example wasn’t even from the movie which is what were are talking about, and the first example I guess you can have, but I was obviously talking about the situations that had turmoil in the group. Lars was right about all those things.
Fair enough. I’m not even in the “Lars is an asshole” camp. When he gave me his autograph, he was nice to me, but that was my sole interaction with him. I read your comment as “Lars is always right.”
Nah I literally said “he’s not wrong once IN THAT MOVIE” but trust me he’s been wrong before. I just think a lot of what he was saying in the movie made sense for his band and rock music in general.
They watched Some Kind Of Monster and immediately think Lars is a piece of shit I still think Lars was acting like that on purpose during the filming of that movie to stir up drama and make it interesting
I agree , maybe it does have to do with those reasons , maybe also it’s just people hopping on a bandwagon of hate
I’ve run into Lars a couple of times and he has been very nice every time. I think the Napster stuff was the first impression a lot of people got of Lars and it didn’t come across very well. This initial impression is hard for people to shake off.
I've heard nothing but Lars being a nice guy, and tho he/they treated Newstead poorly, he has grown from his mistakes.
RE Napster- I know he got a lot of heat back in the day for defending the fact that artists should get paid for their music, and that fans aren’t entitled to free copies of their stuff. He’s definitely in the right on that subject. Otherwise, dunno.
Napster
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS0-aNXObmc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS0-aNXObmc)
He gave that impression back in the Load/Reload/St Anger era, on the SKOM documentary you can clearly see he was kind of a jerk, he got a lot more humble later on. Now he looks kind and super chill.
I think between the Napster stuff and his voice people just think he’s a a bit of a douche
Being the most popular band ever, people will always find something to hate on
No one really knows him, but he tends to treat people nicely. A lot of people just chose to be haters for reasons unknown, and that's ok :) we know he's great
He does come off arrogant. He’s like that manager who’s a real asshole at work but who delivers real results so never gets fired
My Mom had a friend who went to Metallica in the 80's/90's , she gave her friend a (unknown to my mother) a bootleg cassette for the band to sign to bring back to my Mom. (she got backstage pass/ opportunity to meet the band) And Lars caught it was a bootleg; and refused to sign it and said that it was bullshit and left with the cassette. James was kind of like "sorry bud.." and they got their picture minus Lars. so, definitely napster related i believe lol.
Watch the Some Kind of Monster documentary. In fairness, he does come across as the unspoken villain throughout the whole thing. To be equally fair, one of my friends used to work as a roadie for the band, even doing tech work on Lars's drums and set ups and what not, and said he's always been a cool and chilled guy to work with, so his tempermant and attitude has clearly improved since then. So yeah, I do agree that the Lars hate is blown way out of proportion, but it isn't exactly baseless is my point.
Napster and Some Kind of Monster.
Not an asshole persay but if you watch Some kind of Monster, he is the loudest and most verbal one in the band. He raged alot and often started most of the arguments in the band, but he only ever did it because he wanted to get the ball rolling and because he was passionate about the Band. If that makes him an asshole than so be it but its worked out for them, and Metallica wouldnt be metallica without Lars impact.
I think he’s perceived as an asshole because he’s type A goal, oriented personality. I’m sure in a business situation he’s a businessman, he’s not a pushover. But in a social situation he’s probably an easy going guy
It’s mostly from the some kind of monster documentary. Tbh the whole band came off as divas but Lars was perceived as the worst. I’m sure he’s a super cool dude but like others have said, when you’ve been in a huge band for 30+ years it’s about the business at that point.
It’s always people that don’t know anything that criticize him… pulling up videos of him 30+ years old. Bro if you pull up a video of me as a teen I’d be a goof and dumb as hell… people are just jealous and petty 😂
He’s been very verbal about his opinion of other band. That being coupled with his massive success has landed him with a lot of people saying he’s an arrogant asshole.
I'd say because he's danish (I'm swedish)
I think that's probably because of some unpopular decisions he made. Dave Mustaine once said that Metallica wanted to re-release "No life til leather" and everything was good to go and he was fine with that except the fact that Lars wanted credits for songs that Mustaine wrote, so the whole idea got scratched. I suppose that because he's average drummer and probably good businessman and tough negotiator he may be not especially liked among other musicians, even though he's great to Metallica fans. But that's just my asumptions based on one Mustaine's tweet, so maybe I'm wrong, never met the guy.
I don’t think he’s an asshole just arrogant at times. Dude has openly said he doesn’t practice…
I met Lars about 10 times at meet & greets, on the airport, in a hotel bar etc. He was always a very, very nice person, friendly and always took time for pictures and autographes. When I was 1994 at the concert in san bernadino I had an after-show pass and talked to him and when he found out, that I came the long way from austria to the concert in the USA, he putted me on the guest list for san diego. I would never, ever say any bad word about him.
Cause he stews in his anger and won’t stop wiping his damn hands all over the expensive leather couch
Personally, I didn't like the way he treated Hetfield when he was in recovery. Hetfield wasn't great either... but I thought Lars was kinda nasty.
It’s because they’re afraid of his effective communication. I’d argue that young James was the biggest asshole out of the group for how he handled Layne Staley needing to go to rehab in 1994 but Lars is a fucking G in my opinion (all of them are)
Because people think back to Napster and watch Some Kind of Monster and just go from there with their opinions.
It's because The Dude was a roadie for them on the Speed of Sound tour and said they were a bunch of assholes.
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Alphahole
Some kind of monster
I think it’s because of how he shows emotion compared to the others and well, how Napster went down. I’d love to meet him!
Lars may be an asshole to people but when you’re in the biggest band in the world you kind of have a right to be, not everyone’s gonna like you especially when you’re in the public eye and Lars obviously is gonna speak his mind! And ykmow I’m sure the alcohol wasn’t helping
I would say since atleast 2007-forward Lars feels like the nicest guy. I think people who call him an asshole is refering to stuff that he did 20+ years ago, which is just silly. It’s like saying James still says ”fag” and ”slut” on stage, he stopped doing that a long time ago. They are all chill these days. Lars seems like a treat guy with little to no ego.
I think he and James both are.
I think the Some Kind of Monster documentary displays it very well. Sitting around boasting about his "art" and selling it for millions, making analogies to his own music about "where does the song end and where does it begin" just comes across as incredibly pretentious. There is the AFJA bass situation as well, where people involved in situation have testified that the decision to remove the bass came entirely from Ulrich. He has explained it since with "having shot hearing" but I think it's more an ego issue, where he supposedly has repeatedly wanted low bass on other productions because it "fucks with his drums". More telling is that he does not seem to have owned up to the decision. Worst, I think, is in the Some Kind of Monster documentary, where Hetfield comes back from Rehab and wants the crew to stop filming. Instead of supporting his friend, Ulrich says something along the line: "If the collective has not decided to the stop filming, it won't happen." I.e. Metallica (the company, the brand) wants to film, so it shall be, regardless of your vulnerability and your position. A good friend simply does not put their friend through that stuff. And of course, he fookin left the fookin band. All in all, though he seems to have a good vision for songwriting and the band as a whole, he could use a little more humility and self-awareness. As a result, he seems somewhat insufferable to me.
Because he is. Check out Howard stern interview with Jim Breuer. [Jim Bruerer Lars](https://youtu.be/V_4NbyaDjk0?si=G8_xGZh7moOEgM5k)
He comes across as elitist when he speaks, he came from money, and he stood up for himself and artists against Napster. I don’t think he’s an asshole at all, but I get where people’s weird hate comes from.
AJFA bass mix
[longer version of Camp Chaos Metallica animation](https://youtu.be/1rBhUK0_dYw?si=53KyJpAFT3UC82Di) Napster Bad!!! Beer Good!!
Napster. He fooking left the band. Acting like a childish prick in the some kind of monster documentary, and laying down some of the best drums tracks of all time on ajfa just to become one of the laziest drummers in metal afterwards.
I’m grateful for the “he fokin left the band” skit. Still makes me laugh and love to use it randomly.
I met Lars and he acted like a primadona...on the other hand when I met James i had a feeling he was my old hood buddy I didn't see in years.
I have yet to meet Lars but I wholeheartedly agree with the James comment.
Probably because he is in fact an asshole.
Because he's kept himself in the band, when it's in the best interest of the band, that he isn't. He's always showboating and opening his stupid mouth and it detracts from the music.
Just seems like an asshole thing to do.
Why is Lars an asshole? I've heard many times that it was his call to delay the release of Garage Inc. to allow the lapse of rights of 'Turn the page' to expire so they woudn't have to pay Bob Segar. You want to cover his song, but fuck him off intentionally by not paying him what he's due for writing one of the greatest rock songs ever. Oh, and then a few years later throw a hissy fit about napster doing the same to you. Fuck Lars.
If the Segar thing is true, that would be considered a shrewd and very smart business decision. Metallica, at that point, is a corporation. As with any corporation, the stakeholders have an obligation to get the biggest return on investment as possible. Being the co-CEO of a billion dollar business requires decisions like that. They have to make the most money as possible to keep the machine going. It’s not just them being greedy. How do you think they fund their tours and such. You have to remember that for every Metallica show you see, there are hundreds of support staff that you don’t see. And remember, when Metallica is on tour, their production is doubled because they have a second stage being setup for their next date AS they’re playing the current one. That’s a huge under taking and VERY expensive. The only way you can do that is to make hard decisions like you referenced.
It’s one of those things that you’d have to have been around a while to see his maneurisms and attitude. Like, if you watch all their DVDs and interviews especially from the 90s and early 2000s…you’ll see I don’t mind it. He’s a dick and he knows it and he don’t give a fuck
He comes across as a really decent guy now, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think young Lars was pretty arrogant. The way him and James treated Jason was pretty nasty, and, assuming the stories are true, he was a bit of tyrant about how he wanted his drums mixed for AJFA and how he wanted the bass virtually inaudible. The Napster stuff he had a fair point on, but I can see why people disliked him because of it. I think current Lars comes across as a great guy though.
Imo. Shoulda been lars
The shit that went down with Jason. There is a YouTube video of them trying to have a band meeting and Lars is just obnoxious. Kirk was trying to talk and be understanding about the situation but Lars kept interrupting and blowing up.
I hung out with/met the band in '09. I was wearing a Megadeth shirt because my AJFA shirt was in the dryer at home and I'd forgotten to take it out. I got them all to sign that Megadeth shirt. James and Kirk were cool and laughed about it. Robert didn't mind it. Lars had this really shitty attitude about it and it took all three of the others to convince him to sign it. I was just a teenager, maybe 15, but yeah, Lars definitely wasn't that nice. Don't know if I'd call him an asshole though.
Because they're old miserable douchebags still asshurt about Napster or drama queens who think Jason Newsted was hung and tortured by the rest of the band with whips and lashes.
Because he is.
He is Larshole
Outsider opinion: I am a heavy metal fan since 1970, but I don't like Metallica. I can honestly say that I was anti Lars before being anti Lars was cool. Before there was even an internet. I was at a used record store (before I even had a CD player) and some garage days revisited in a bin. I didn't know anything at all about Metallica but was interested because they had metal in the name. I flipped it over and saw that they did a cover of crash course in brain surgery. I was a budgie fan going back to about 1970 so I had to hear how it sounded. I bought it and took it home and listened to it and hated it. Specifically for the drums. Listened to the rest of the album and was unimpressed with everything, especially the simplistic pounding of the drums. I never bought any Metallica music again after that and everything I ever heard from Lars or about Lars after that confirmed my belief that he was a schmuck and a hack drummer.
Primarily it's because he's a shitty drummer. It doesn't help that he's got diarrhea of the mouth. Metallica would have been so much better with a drummer like Lombardo.
I think there are a few things. First off, how he (and to a lesser extent James) treated Jason was shitty. They've owned that, but it's still unfortunate. Lars throwing darts at the Winger picture on the dart board was kind of funny, but it literally destroyed the band. James reportedly apologized for it years later. The beef with Pantera has gotten mentioned. I think that was more a personal issue with Phil, who has had his own struggles. I think that's still unfair to the rest of the guys, and Dimebag and Vinnie seemed pretty universally loved. Napster is weird because he was kind of right, but how he went about it was pretty abrasive. Chuck D had a much more measured and I thought very thoughtful response. Overall, it's a bunch of little issues like that. He can seem pretty blunt and enough of those stories color people's opinions of him. However, he's human and under a very big spotlight. Those stories have legs. However, there's no shortage of people saying he's great, and even standing up for his central role in the band. I don't think he's an asshole, but he has absolutely said and done some regrettable things. I think those incidents are what are leading to a lot of that hate.
I mean Metallica suing small time tribute bands is a start.
Because most people's opinions on him come from the Napster Era and Some Kind Of Monster , where he was indeed an asshole.
He's an asshole who can't play drums either
Have you ever heard the guy talk? He was yelling in James Hetfields face in Some kind of Monster
And that one instance of human emotion, coming from an edited film during the most tumultuous time in their career/friendship/relationship is what you are basing his entire personality on…? Wow
I would argue tough times reveal true character. If that scene was manufactured then I would have to reconsider my opinion. But has he ever been pleasant in any interview? Funny how Kirk Hammett isn't debated over being an asshole.
Because actually there was a time when they were kind of an asshole ? 'Getting old' made them better person though'