Metallica’s Lars Ulrich Stands Behind ‘Lulu’ Record, Learned to Be More Impulsive From Lou Reed
This Halloween marks the fifth anniversary of Metallica's ill-received collaboration with alternative / avant-garde legend Lou Reed, Lulu. Despite the draw from both Rock and Roll Hall of Famers, the album hardly moved the needle, shifting just 35,000 copies since its release. Drummer Lars Ulrich guested on The Eddie Trunk Podcast (audio below), defending the album as well as offering some insight as to how the writing sessions made a lasting impact on him.
"There's nothing I would change," Ulrich said about Lulu. "I mean, the only thing I'd change is I wish Lou was still around," he continued, mentioning how the two grew close over the course of a year "and then, as he got sicker, we were less close. But I didn't know he was that sick."
As if backed into a corner, the drummer stood behind the maligned release, continuing, "No matter how many people sit there and find fault with [Lulu], we wouldn't change any of it. And I still would dare most people, or at least most musicians, or most creative types, to sit there and go… If Lou Reed called you up and asked you to play music with him, you wouldn't say 'no' to that. And if you were gonna say 'no' to that, I would ask you to question yourself as an artist."
Trunk then asked Ulrich if the sessions with Reed had impacted the way Metallica went about writing Hardwired... To Self-Destruct. "When we made that record with [Lou] five years ago, we were stunned how a seasoned artist like himself could be that impulsive," the skinsman responded. He went on to detail how Reed was satisfied with single takes, favoring the "moment" opposed to Metallica's approach to constant revision and experimentation until finally settling on something.
"I think that it definitely just gave us a new way to interpret a creative process, or gave us an additional layer — that one can be that impulsive and one can also be happy with sort of recognizing that what happened in that minute has a beautiful element to it that's just part of that minute," Ulrich told Trunk.
Metallica will be releasing their long-awaited 10th studio album, Hardwired... To Self-Destruct on Nov. 18. So far, the songs "Hardwired" and "Moth Into Flame" have been met with enthusiasm from fans, many of which have celebrated the thrashy direction.
Lars Ulrich on The Eddie Trunk Podcast
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