WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.060 Welcome back to another deep dive. Today we are 00:00:03.060 --> 00:00:05.120 opening up a file that I think a lot of people 00:00:05.120 --> 00:00:07.860 think they know. But once you actually start 00:00:07.860 --> 00:00:10.439 digging into the primary sources, the biography, 00:00:10.699 --> 00:00:12.679 the court records, you realize the public perception 00:00:12.679 --> 00:00:15.560 is really just a caricature. It really is. We 00:00:15.560 --> 00:00:18.559 are looking at a figure who is, well, arguably 00:00:18.559 --> 00:00:21.140 one of the most polarizing men in music history. 00:00:21.579 --> 00:00:24.039 He's the engine room of the biggest heavy metal 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:28.519 band on earth, but he's also a knight, a multimillionaire 00:00:28.519 --> 00:00:33.679 art collector, and a failed tennis prodigy. It's 00:00:33.679 --> 00:00:35.659 a very strange resume, isn't it? Usually when 00:00:35.659 --> 00:00:37.280 we talk about metal icons, we're talking about 00:00:37.280 --> 00:00:39.780 people who came from broken homes or the streets 00:00:39.780 --> 00:00:42.020 or absolute obscurity. The narrative is almost 00:00:42.020 --> 00:00:44.899 always escape. Right. Escape from something. 00:00:45.079 --> 00:00:47.310 But today we're looking at someone. who didn't 00:00:47.310 --> 00:00:49.369 need to escape anything. He ran towards the chaos. 00:00:49.609 --> 00:00:51.770 We are, of course, talking about Lars Ulrich 00:00:51.770 --> 00:00:53.909 of Metallica. The one and only. And I want to 00:00:53.909 --> 00:00:56.549 set the stage for you here because the stack 00:00:56.549 --> 00:00:59.130 of research we have for this deep dive is massive. 00:00:59.429 --> 00:01:02.210 We have biographical records from Denmark in 00:01:02.210 --> 00:01:05.250 the 60s. We have technical breakdowns of his 00:01:05.250 --> 00:01:08.450 drumming evolution from the 80s to the 2020s. 00:01:08.629 --> 00:01:10.769 And we have the legal transcripts, which are 00:01:10.769 --> 00:01:13.269 fascinating from the Napster era. Oh, they're 00:01:13.269 --> 00:01:15.310 incredible. So our mission today is to figure 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:18.730 out how a kid from a wealthy suburb in Copenhagen 00:01:18.730 --> 00:01:21.349 became the face of American heavy metal. And 00:01:21.349 --> 00:01:23.829 not just the face. but the architect. I think 00:01:23.829 --> 00:01:25.390 that's the distinction we need to make early 00:01:25.390 --> 00:01:28.269 on. There are drummers who just hit things, and 00:01:28.269 --> 00:01:30.450 then there's Lars Ulrich. You can criticize his 00:01:30.450 --> 00:01:32.609 timing, you can criticize his personality, but 00:01:32.609 --> 00:01:34.989 you absolutely cannot criticize his ability to 00:01:34.989 --> 00:01:37.510 manifest a vision. A vision and a band. This 00:01:37.510 --> 00:01:40.890 is a guy who willed a genre into existence through 00:01:40.890 --> 00:01:43.750 sheer hustle. Pure force of will. Well, let's 00:01:43.750 --> 00:01:45.569 go back to where that will was forged, because 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:47.629 it wasn't in some garage in California. It was 00:01:47.629 --> 00:01:51.750 in Gentof, Denmark, December 26, 1963. The sources 00:01:51.750 --> 00:01:55.849 paint a picture that is very, let's say, continental. 00:01:55.930 --> 00:01:58.150 This wasn't a blue -collar upbringing. Far from 00:01:58.150 --> 00:02:00.390 it. This is one of the most interesting parts 00:02:00.390 --> 00:02:03.489 of the whole Ulrich mythology. He was born into 00:02:03.489 --> 00:02:06.620 the cultural elite. His father, Torben Ulrich, 00:02:06.760 --> 00:02:09.219 and his grandfather, Einer Ulrich, were both 00:02:09.219 --> 00:02:11.419 professional tennis players. And in Denmark, 00:02:11.659 --> 00:02:14.500 the Ulrich name meant something. It was a legacy. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:17.939 It meant excellence. It meant discipline. But 00:02:17.939 --> 00:02:20.419 Torben, the dad, was this incredible character. 00:02:20.580 --> 00:02:23.360 He wasn't just a jock, not at all. He was a jazz 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:26.099 writer, a musician, a filmmaker, a Buddhist. 00:02:26.199 --> 00:02:29.099 He had this very bohemian, very philosophical 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:31.759 approach to life. I was reading about the environment 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:34.139 in the house. It wasn't just tennis rackets on 00:02:34.139 --> 00:02:37.099 the wall. His godfather was Dexter Gordon, the 00:02:37.099 --> 00:02:39.639 legendary jazz saxophonist. Which is absurd, 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:41.939 right? I mean, think about that. Most kids have 00:02:41.939 --> 00:02:44.060 a godfather who sends them a card and five bucks 00:02:44.060 --> 00:02:45.960 on their birthday. Or teaches them how to change 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:48.830 a tire. Yeah, exactly. Juarez had a titan of 00:02:48.830 --> 00:02:50.770 jazz just, you know, hanging out in the living 00:02:50.770 --> 00:02:52.729 room. And he was childhood friends with Nina 00:02:52.729 --> 00:02:55.930 Cherry. So you have this very comfortable upper 00:02:55.930 --> 00:02:58.150 middle class safety. But inside the house, it's 00:02:58.150 --> 00:03:02.150 just full of high art, jazz and intellectualism. 00:03:02.270 --> 00:03:06.909 So it's this weird mix of extreme physical discipline 00:03:06.909 --> 00:03:10.210 from the tennis side and this completely free 00:03:10.210 --> 00:03:13.349 artistic bohemian side from his dad's other interests. 00:03:13.569 --> 00:03:16.650 A total contradiction. But the expectation was 00:03:16.650 --> 00:03:19.449 clear. You are an Ulrich, therefore you play 00:03:19.449 --> 00:03:22.590 tennis. That was the path laid out for him. And 00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:25.069 Lars was good. The stats here say he was ranked 00:03:25.069 --> 00:03:27.830 in the top 10 for his age group in Denmark. That 00:03:27.830 --> 00:03:29.830 isn't a hobby, that's a career track. It's a 00:03:29.830 --> 00:03:32.669 job. When you're 10, 11 years old and you're 00:03:32.669 --> 00:03:34.770 ranked nationally... Your life is structured. 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:36.530 You're training every day. You're traveling to 00:03:36.530 --> 00:03:38.830 tournaments on weekends. You're analyzing your 00:03:38.830 --> 00:03:41.490 grip, your backhand. He was being groomed to 00:03:41.490 --> 00:03:43.610 be the third generation of Ulrich tennis stars. 00:03:43.830 --> 00:03:46.150 And by all accounts, he bought into it. He wasn't 00:03:46.150 --> 00:03:48.370 rebelling against it at that age. No, he wanted 00:03:48.370 --> 00:03:50.710 to be his dad. He idolized him. He wanted to 00:03:50.710 --> 00:03:52.389 play center court at Wimbledon. That was the 00:03:52.389 --> 00:03:55.069 dream, the family dream. So where does the corruption 00:03:55.069 --> 00:03:57.349 happen? When does the metal virus enter this 00:03:57.349 --> 00:04:00.229 very pristine, very controlled system? February 00:04:00.229 --> 00:04:04.650 1973. This is the year zero moment. The absolute 00:04:04.650 --> 00:04:07.210 turning point in his entire life. The epiphany. 00:04:07.389 --> 00:04:11.770 Exactly. Lars is nine years old. His dad, Torben, 00:04:11.889 --> 00:04:14.250 is playing in a tennis tournament in Copenhagen 00:04:14.250 --> 00:04:16.870 at a big stadium. And playing in that same stadium 00:04:16.870 --> 00:04:20.230 complex that same night is deep purple. Now, 00:04:20.250 --> 00:04:22.310 for anyone listening who maybe doesn't realize 00:04:22.310 --> 00:04:25.850 the scale of this Deep Purple in 1973 isn't just 00:04:25.850 --> 00:04:28.649 a rock band. They are the loudest, most intense, 00:04:28.930 --> 00:04:31.129 most formidable thing on the planet. They are 00:04:31.129 --> 00:04:33.230 absolute monsters. Yeah. This is the Machine 00:04:33.230 --> 00:04:35.290 Head era. This is Richie Blackmore on guitar, 00:04:35.449 --> 00:04:40.509 Ian Gillen on vocals. It is virtuoso chaos, pure, 00:04:40.670 --> 00:04:43.129 unadulterated volume. So the story goes that 00:04:43.129 --> 00:04:45.410 Torben gets five passes for his friends. Right. 00:04:45.449 --> 00:04:47.850 For his journalist buddies, one friend bails 00:04:47.850 --> 00:04:50.220 in the last minute. And suddenly there's a spare 00:04:50.220 --> 00:04:52.060 ticket. Torben looks at nine -year -old Lars 00:04:52.060 --> 00:04:54.740 and says, you want to go? And the research describes 00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:58.040 this moment as him being mesmerized. But I imagine 00:04:58.040 --> 00:05:00.019 it was way more visceral than that. You're a 00:05:00.019 --> 00:05:02.279 polite Danish boy. You're used to the polite 00:05:02.279 --> 00:05:04.160 applause of a tennis match. The whole quiet, 00:05:04.160 --> 00:05:06.439 please atmosphere. Exactly. And suddenly you 00:05:06.439 --> 00:05:08.500 walk into a wall of martial stacks. It must have 00:05:08.500 --> 00:05:10.360 been a physical assault. Oh, it must have been 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:12.839 terrifying and exhilarating in equal measure. 00:05:13.269 --> 00:05:16.449 He saw Richie Blackmore smashing guitars, playing 00:05:16.449 --> 00:05:19.110 with his feet, the sheer volume of it. It just 00:05:19.110 --> 00:05:22.730 completely rewired his brain. He had never experienced 00:05:22.730 --> 00:05:25.209 anything so powerful. And the effect was immediate. 00:05:25.290 --> 00:05:28.089 The next day, literally the next morning, he 00:05:28.089 --> 00:05:31.129 goes to a record store and buys the album Fireball. 00:05:31.949 --> 00:05:36.000 And that's it. The seed is planted. But he doesn't 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:38.319 just quit tennis and start a band at nine. The 00:05:38.319 --> 00:05:40.279 two things run in parallel for a while. They 00:05:40.279 --> 00:05:42.199 do. The tennis player is still walking around, 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:45.139 going to practice, hitting backhands. But internally, 00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:48.259 the musician has woken up. He starts obsessing 00:05:48.259 --> 00:05:49.839 over this music. And this is where we see the 00:05:49.839 --> 00:05:52.579 first sign of his enablers, his grandmother, 00:05:52.800 --> 00:05:55.500 Grandma Ula. Grandma Ula, the unsung hero of 00:05:55.500 --> 00:05:59.160 heavy metal. Absolutely. At age 12 or 13, she 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:02.139 buys him this first drum kit, a Ludwig. A Ludwig, 00:06:02.339 --> 00:06:04.000 the classic. Now you have to think about the 00:06:04.000 --> 00:06:06.709 noise. a drum kit in an apartment or a house 00:06:06.709 --> 00:06:09.370 is an act of aggression it takes up space it 00:06:09.370 --> 00:06:11.850 shakes the walls it's an announcement but the 00:06:11.850 --> 00:06:14.410 family allowed it they indulged this hobby they 00:06:14.410 --> 00:06:16.189 thought it was a hobby they thought it was a 00:06:16.189 --> 00:06:19.290 phase probably a way for him to blow off steam 00:06:19.290 --> 00:06:22.129 from the pressures of tennis they never imagined 00:06:22.129 --> 00:06:24.319 it would become his life Because in the summer 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:26.980 of 1980, the family makes this massive move. 00:06:27.100 --> 00:06:30.120 They leave Denmark and relocate to Newport Beach, 00:06:30.300 --> 00:06:33.259 California. And the stated purpose of this move 00:06:33.259 --> 00:06:36.740 was not for Lars to start a band. No, the entire 00:06:36.740 --> 00:06:39.339 reason they moved across the world was to turn 00:06:39.339 --> 00:06:41.779 Lars into a professional tennis player. This 00:06:41.779 --> 00:06:44.420 is where the tragedy and the comedy of his life 00:06:44.420 --> 00:06:47.980 just collide perfectly. They move to Newport 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:50.930 Beach, which is the absolute... epicenter of 00:06:50.930 --> 00:06:53.949 American tennis. It's sunny. It's wealthy. It's 00:06:53.949 --> 00:06:56.910 brutally competitive. And Lars is 16. Yeah. He 00:06:56.910 --> 00:06:58.949 thinks he's a big deal because, you know, he 00:06:58.949 --> 00:07:01.670 was top 10 in Denmark. He walks onto the court 00:07:01.670 --> 00:07:04.209 at Corona Del Mar High School, expecting to be 00:07:04.209 --> 00:07:06.350 the captain of the varsity team. And this is 00:07:06.350 --> 00:07:07.750 the part of the story that I love because it's 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:10.629 such a perfect humble pie moment. He doesn't 00:07:10.629 --> 00:07:12.730 just fail to make the varsity team. He doesn't 00:07:12.730 --> 00:07:15.209 make the team at all. He gets cut completely. 00:07:15.470 --> 00:07:17.370 He doesn't make the seven man roster. He's not 00:07:17.370 --> 00:07:19.839 even a backup. That has to be devastating. I 00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:21.860 mean, your entire family has uprooted their lives 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:24.220 for this one specific goal, and you aren't even 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:26.120 good enough for high school ball in California. 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:29.579 It's a complete identity crisis. You have to 00:07:29.579 --> 00:07:32.399 understand the context. Southern California in 00:07:32.399 --> 00:07:35.339 1980 was churning out these athletic machines, 00:07:35.699 --> 00:07:38.620 tennis prodigies. Lars was a technique player, 00:07:38.759 --> 00:07:41.180 maybe a bit scrappy, but these California kids 00:07:41.180 --> 00:07:43.839 were just powerhouses. They were bigger, stronger, 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:46.839 faster. He was completely outclassed. So most 00:07:46.839 --> 00:07:49.139 kids would crumble. They'd retreat. They'd try 00:07:49.139 --> 00:07:51.040 to join the chess club or just sulk in their 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:53.680 room for a year. But this is where we see the 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.060 pivot, that famous Ulrich pivot. The rejection 00:07:57.060 --> 00:07:59.980 didn't break him. It clarified things. It slammed 00:07:59.980 --> 00:08:02.920 a door shut. And in doing so, it opened the only 00:08:02.920 --> 00:08:05.000 other door he was interested in. If he had made 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:06.819 that team, who knows? Maybe he gets a scholarship 00:08:06.819 --> 00:08:09.560 to a mid -tier university. Maybe he grinds out 00:08:09.560 --> 00:08:11.519 a living on the challenger circuit for a few 00:08:11.519 --> 00:08:13.560 years. And we never get Metallica. We never get 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:16.600 Metallica. But because he failed so spectacularly, 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:18.860 so publicly, he looked at the tennis racket, 00:08:19.000 --> 00:08:21.420 looked at the drum kit and said, OK, plan B is 00:08:21.420 --> 00:08:24.120 now plan A. There was no other choice. So now 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:26.660 he's 16. He's in Newport Beach, which, by the 00:08:26.660 --> 00:08:29.060 way, is not a metal town at all. It's all surfers 00:08:29.060 --> 00:08:30.939 and preppies. Right. It's the OC. It's not the 00:08:30.939 --> 00:08:33.480 Sunset Strip. And he's obsessed with a very specific 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:35.580 sound that isn't really happening in America 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:38.919 yet. He's all about the new wave of British heavy 00:08:38.919 --> 00:08:43.340 metal. The NWOBHM. Iron Maiden, Saxon, Diamondhead, 00:08:43.460 --> 00:08:47.559 Tigers of Pantang. This was gritty, fast, punk 00:08:47.559 --> 00:08:51.149 -infused metal. In Los Angeles at the time, the 00:08:51.149 --> 00:08:55.110 big scene was glam. It was Muttley Crew, Rat, 00:08:55.389 --> 00:08:59.309 Hairspray, Spandex. Lars hated that stuff. He 00:08:59.309 --> 00:09:00.769 thought it was fake. He wanted the dirt. He wanted 00:09:00.769 --> 00:09:03.570 the speed. And his obsession, this fanaticism 00:09:03.570 --> 00:09:05.929 as fuel point in our outline, is really illustrated 00:09:05.929 --> 00:09:08.350 by what he did in 1981. This is just incredible. 00:09:08.450 --> 00:09:10.370 He didn't just buy the records. He flew to London. 00:09:10.590 --> 00:09:12.070 Think about that for a second. He's a teenager. 00:09:12.309 --> 00:09:14.250 She saves up some money, gets on a plane, and 00:09:14.250 --> 00:09:16.409 flies from San Francisco to London, effectively 00:09:16.409 --> 00:09:18.950 on a pilgrimage, for one reason. To see the band 00:09:18.950 --> 00:09:21.389 Diamondhead play at the Woolwich Odeon. Did he 00:09:21.389 --> 00:09:24.889 even have a ticket? Or a place to stay? No. That's 00:09:24.889 --> 00:09:27.820 the best part. He had nothing. He just showed 00:09:27.820 --> 00:09:30.259 up. He managed to talk his way backstage after 00:09:30.259 --> 00:09:33.480 the show, met the band, and basically fanboyed 00:09:33.480 --> 00:09:35.600 his way into sleeping on their floor. He just 00:09:35.600 --> 00:09:38.360 willed himself into their inner circle. He was 00:09:38.360 --> 00:09:40.360 relentless. He told them how much he loved their 00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:42.559 album, Lightning to the Nations. He knew all 00:09:42.559 --> 00:09:45.159 the songs. The band was so flattered by this 00:09:45.159 --> 00:09:47.720 kid who came all the way from America that they 00:09:47.720 --> 00:09:49.480 just sort of adopted him. He stayed with them 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:52.080 for weeks. So he wasn't just watching the show. 00:09:52.200 --> 00:09:54.620 He was getting a crash course in how to be in 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:57.620 a band. He was studying them. He was a spy. He 00:09:57.620 --> 00:09:59.740 was watching how they interacted, how they loaded 00:09:59.740 --> 00:10:01.639 their gear, how they traveled, how they wrote. 00:10:02.039 --> 00:10:04.679 He's taking mental notes the entire time. When 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:06.799 he flew back to America, he wasn't just a fan 00:10:06.799 --> 00:10:09.080 anymore. He was a missionary. He had the gospel 00:10:09.080 --> 00:10:11.399 of this new sound, and he was determined to bring 00:10:11.399 --> 00:10:14.539 it to the U .S. But a missionary needs a congregation. 00:10:15.080 --> 00:10:18.340 He needed a band, so he goes to the... The legendary 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:21.419 classifieds paper. Yeah. Before Craigslist, this 00:10:21.419 --> 00:10:24.259 was how you found anything in L .A. A used couch, 00:10:24.440 --> 00:10:27.789 a roommate. a lead guitarist. He places an ad. 00:10:27.990 --> 00:10:31.409 And the wording of the ad is so specific. Drummer 00:10:31.409 --> 00:10:33.970 looking for other metal musicians to jam with. 00:10:34.289 --> 00:10:37.850 Tigers of Pantang, Diamondhead, Iron Maiden. 00:10:38.029 --> 00:10:40.110 It was a dog whistle. Yeah. He was intentionally 00:10:40.110 --> 00:10:42.230 filtering out the glam rockers. If you didn't 00:10:42.230 --> 00:10:43.929 know who Diamondhead were, you were not invited. 00:10:44.230 --> 00:10:46.649 And a young man named James Hetfield responded. 00:10:46.990 --> 00:10:49.250 The other half of the equation. James Hetfield 00:10:49.250 --> 00:10:51.710 and his friend Hugh Tanner responded. They meet 00:10:51.710 --> 00:10:55.029 up in Downey. And honestly, The first meeting 00:10:55.029 --> 00:10:57.970 was not great. The sources say Lars wasn't actually 00:10:57.970 --> 00:11:00.149 that good at drumming yet. He had all the passion 00:11:00.149 --> 00:11:02.830 and the knowledge, but his timing was all over 00:11:02.830 --> 00:11:04.870 the place. The cymbals were falling over. Yeah, 00:11:04.909 --> 00:11:08.210 his kit was a mess. Hetfield was reportedly very 00:11:08.210 --> 00:11:10.690 unimpressed. He was a serious musician. And Lars 00:11:10.690 --> 00:11:12.649 just seemed like this enthusiastic, slightly 00:11:12.649 --> 00:11:15.830 goofy European kid. They jammed, and then James 00:11:15.830 --> 00:11:18.559 basically ghosted him. But Lars had something 00:11:18.559 --> 00:11:21.039 Hetfield didn't. He had the hustle. And this 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:22.759 is the story about the Metal Massacre compilation. 00:11:22.940 --> 00:11:26.279 This is pure, 100 % Lars Ulrich. This is his 00:11:26.279 --> 00:11:30.299 entire personality in one anecdote. He was friends 00:11:30.299 --> 00:11:32.580 with a guy named Brian Slagle, who was starting 00:11:32.580 --> 00:11:35.120 a little indie record label, Metal Blade Records. 00:11:35.879 --> 00:11:38.340 Slagle was putting together a compilation album 00:11:38.340 --> 00:11:41.360 of local L .A. metal bands called Metal Massacre. 00:11:41.539 --> 00:11:43.620 And Lars just calls him up. Calls him up and 00:11:43.620 --> 00:11:46.000 says, hey, I've got this band, Metallica. We're 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:49.100 amazing. Slagle's like, OK, cool. And Lars asks 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:51.259 him, hey, if I could band together, can I get 00:11:51.259 --> 00:11:53.279 a spot on the record? He framed the question 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:55.860 perfectly. But he didn't have a band. No band, 00:11:56.120 --> 00:11:59.139 no songs, not even a jam session planned. It 00:11:59.139 --> 00:12:01.100 was a complete hypothetical. And Slagle says, 00:12:01.220 --> 00:12:03.440 sure, if you can get me a tape by Friday. So 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.399 he manufactured the opportunity first. He created 00:12:06.399 --> 00:12:09.559 the opportunity out of thin air. Then he immediately 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:12.000 calls James Hetfield back. Yeah. And he doesn't 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:13.860 say, hey, want to jam again? He says, I have 00:12:13.860 --> 00:12:15.840 a record deal. We have a spot on an album. He 00:12:15.840 --> 00:12:18.519 leveraged a non -existent band to get a slot 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:20.700 on a record and then use the slot on the record 00:12:20.700 --> 00:12:23.440 to create the band. That's the genius of Lars. 00:12:23.700 --> 00:12:26.580 It's brilliant. He creates the demand and then 00:12:26.580 --> 00:12:29.559 he supplies it. He forced Hetfield's hand. James 00:12:29.559 --> 00:12:31.259 wanted to be on vinyl. That was the ultimate 00:12:31.259 --> 00:12:33.799 dream for any musician back then. So they got 00:12:33.799 --> 00:12:36.740 together, wrote Hit the Lights in a Frenzy, and 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:39.000 recorded a shoddy demo. And they needed a name. 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:41.679 And this is another classic example of his tactical 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:44.460 acquisition. Oh, it's a great heist story. Just 00:12:44.460 --> 00:12:47.759 a brilliant, shameless move. Lars had a friend 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:50.740 named Ron Quintana. Ron was a super fan, just 00:12:50.740 --> 00:12:53.320 like Lars, and he was starting a fanzine. Oh, 00:12:53.340 --> 00:12:55.659 right. He had a list of potential names written 00:12:55.659 --> 00:12:58.419 down on a piece of paper. He shows the list to 00:12:58.419 --> 00:13:00.940 Lars and asks for his opinion. What do you think? 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:03.820 I'm debating between Metal Mania and Metallica. 00:13:04.350 --> 00:13:06.889 And Lars' eyes must have just lit up. You can 00:13:06.889 --> 00:13:09.169 just imagine the light bulb going on. He knew 00:13:09.169 --> 00:13:11.610 instantly. Metallica is a perfect word. It sounds 00:13:11.610 --> 00:13:13.429 like a periodic element. It sounds heavy. It 00:13:13.429 --> 00:13:15.929 rolls off the tongue. But he plays it cool. He 00:13:15.929 --> 00:13:18.529 doesn't let on. No. He looks at Ron with a straight 00:13:18.529 --> 00:13:20.929 face and says, you know what, Ron? Metal Mania 00:13:20.929 --> 00:13:23.409 is a much better name for a magazine. It's got 00:13:23.409 --> 00:13:25.610 that alliteration. It's catchy. You should definitely 00:13:25.610 --> 00:13:28.870 go with that. And as soon as Ron leaves the room... 00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:32.149 Lars writes Metallica on his own notebook. He 00:13:32.149 --> 00:13:34.440 just stole it. He claimed it for his non -existent 00:13:34.440 --> 00:13:37.220 band. But again, it shows his branding instinct. 00:13:37.480 --> 00:13:41.059 He knew Metalmania was generic and cheesy. Metallica 00:13:41.059 --> 00:13:44.960 was iconic. He saw the future in that word. So 00:13:44.960 --> 00:13:47.149 the band is formed. They have the name. They 00:13:47.149 --> 00:13:49.129 have the attitude. Now we have to talk about 00:13:49.129 --> 00:13:52.029 the actual music. Because for all the talk about 00:13:52.029 --> 00:13:54.690 Lars being a businessman or a hustler, he is 00:13:54.690 --> 00:13:57.929 credited in our sources as a true pioneer of 00:13:57.929 --> 00:14:00.230 the thrash drumming sound. Yeah, we have to give 00:14:00.230 --> 00:14:02.710 credit where it's due. In 1983 with the first 00:14:02.710 --> 00:14:04.990 album, Kill Em All, the drumming was frantic. 00:14:05.070 --> 00:14:07.690 It was bathed in that motorhead punk rock energy. 00:14:07.889 --> 00:14:10.149 It's what we call the skank beat, snare on the 00:14:10.149 --> 00:14:12.509 upbeat, kick on the downbeat, played at like 00:14:12.509 --> 00:14:15.389 200 beats per minute. Tracks like Metal Militia. 00:14:15.529 --> 00:14:17.649 are just physically exhausting to even listen 00:14:17.649 --> 00:14:19.970 to. They are. It sounds like the kit is falling 00:14:19.970 --> 00:14:22.110 down a flight of stairs, but somehow perfectly 00:14:22.110 --> 00:14:25.029 in time. It's all forward momentum. He was constantly 00:14:25.029 --> 00:14:27.110 pushing the rest of the band to play faster, 00:14:27.210 --> 00:14:30.070 to be more aggressive. But his technical peak, 00:14:30.230 --> 00:14:32.850 or at least his most complex, intricate era, 00:14:32.970 --> 00:14:36.470 was definitely the Injustice for All album in 00:14:36.470 --> 00:14:39.789 1988. Without a doubt. The song won. We have 00:14:39.789 --> 00:14:41.110 to talk about the machine gun part. It is the 00:14:41.110 --> 00:14:44.190 defining moment of air drumming history. I think 00:14:44.190 --> 00:14:45.990 every kid who ever picked up a pair of sticks 00:14:45.990 --> 00:14:48.450 has tried to play that part, that middle section, 00:14:48.549 --> 00:14:51.009 the breakdown. The guitars are doing this staccato 00:14:51.009 --> 00:14:53.690 chugging riff, and Lars matches it perfectly 00:14:53.690 --> 00:14:56.289 note for note with the double bass drums. Rat 00:14:56.289 --> 00:14:58.169 -tat -tat -tat -tat -tat. It's not just keeping 00:14:58.169 --> 00:15:00.590 time at that point. No, the drums become a melodic 00:15:00.590 --> 00:15:03.139 instrument. They're a lead instrument. They were 00:15:03.139 --> 00:15:05.000 mimicking the rhythm guitar in a way that very 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.139 few drummers had done before in metal. It was 00:15:07.139 --> 00:15:10.480 a rhythmic and compositional statement. And Dyer's 00:15:10.480 --> 00:15:13.200 Eve from that same album? Dyer's Eve is barely 00:15:13.200 --> 00:15:17.059 playable. It is so fast, so relentlessly complex. 00:15:17.360 --> 00:15:19.940 For years, people rumored that they used studio 00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:21.799 trickery to loop the drum track because it was 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:23.899 physically impossible for a human to play that 00:15:23.899 --> 00:15:27.019 clean that fast for that long. Has he proven 00:15:27.019 --> 00:15:29.440 he can do it live? He has, but it's an athletic 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:31.480 feat. You can see the strain. It's an Olympian 00:15:31.480 --> 00:15:32.919 -level performance to get through that song. 00:15:33.179 --> 00:15:37.220 But then we hit the 90s, the Black Album, and 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:40.019 suddenly the drumming completely changes. It 00:15:40.019 --> 00:15:43.139 gets, well, simple. And this was a very conscious 00:15:43.139 --> 00:15:45.399 choice and a very controversial one among the 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:48.519 hardcore fans. Lars realized that if they wanted 00:15:48.519 --> 00:15:50.820 to get bigger, if they wanted to play stadiums, 00:15:50.820 --> 00:15:53.860 not just theaters, they needed groove. You can't 00:15:53.860 --> 00:15:57.440 headbang to 200 BPM thrash. You can, but a stadium 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.799 full of 80 ,000 people can't. It's too fast. 00:16:00.000 --> 00:16:01.679 You need something people can feel in their chest. 00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:04.580 So he slowed it all down. He started looking 00:16:04.580 --> 00:16:07.860 at drummers, like ACDC's Phil Rudd. He looked 00:16:07.860 --> 00:16:10.379 at Charlie Watts from the Rolling Stones, masters 00:16:10.379 --> 00:16:12.720 of the pocket. Enter Sandman is a very, very 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:14.879 simple drum beat. It is. Kick, snare, kick, snare. 00:16:15.259 --> 00:16:17.659 That's it. But it hits you like a 10 -ton hammer. 00:16:17.980 --> 00:16:20.360 It leaves so much space for the vocal and that 00:16:20.360 --> 00:16:22.720 iconic riff to breathe. This is where he matures 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:25.799 as a songwriter. He realized that the drums are 00:16:25.799 --> 00:16:28.240 there to serve the song, not to show off his 00:16:28.240 --> 00:16:30.659 own chops. The song comes first. The song is 00:16:30.659 --> 00:16:33.740 king. And that philosophy sold 30 million albums, 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:36.649 so it's hard to argue with it. And he even scaled 00:16:36.649 --> 00:16:39.029 down his kit, right? I remember the Justice Tour. 00:16:39.110 --> 00:16:41.970 He was surrounded by this absolute fortress of 00:16:41.970 --> 00:16:44.929 White Tama drums. Oh, it was a monster. The 80s 00:16:44.929 --> 00:16:47.470 kit was the White Tama beast. Four rack toms 00:16:47.470 --> 00:16:50.529 up high, two floor toms, huge cymbals everywhere. 00:16:50.769 --> 00:16:54.289 In the 90s, for the Black Album Tour, he stripped 00:16:54.289 --> 00:16:57.169 it way down to a seven -piece kit. One rack tom 00:16:57.169 --> 00:16:59.950 up top, two floors. He wanted to force himself 00:16:59.950 --> 00:17:02.830 to be more creative with less. but our research 00:17:02.830 --> 00:17:05.269 notes pointed out a really fascinating detail 00:17:05.269 --> 00:17:07.630 in the gear section something i never noticed 00:17:07.630 --> 00:17:10.329 despite listening to these guys for decades the 00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:13.230 ride symbol it's the where's waldo of the metallica 00:17:13.230 --> 00:17:15.490 drum kit because it's not there it's not there 00:17:15.490 --> 00:17:17.250 and for the non -drummers listening you have 00:17:17.250 --> 00:17:19.789 to understand how weird that is explain it a 00:17:19.789 --> 00:17:22.269 standard drum kit has what okay so a standard 00:17:22.269 --> 00:17:24.970 drum beat The pulse of the song usually relies 00:17:24.970 --> 00:17:27.309 on one of two things. Either the hi -hat, which 00:17:27.309 --> 00:17:29.069 is the two cymbals that open and close with the 00:17:29.069 --> 00:17:31.450 pedal, or the ride cymbal, the big heavy one 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:33.609 on the side that goes ding, ding, ding. You use 00:17:33.609 --> 00:17:35.910 the hi -hat for verses maybe and then switch 00:17:35.910 --> 00:17:37.950 to the ride for the chorus to make it bigger. 00:17:38.269 --> 00:17:41.029 Exactly. The ride opens up the sound, creates 00:17:41.029 --> 00:17:44.159 a wash of sustain, and lifts the energy. It's 00:17:44.159 --> 00:17:47.240 drumming 101. But Lars hates the thing. He detests 00:17:47.240 --> 00:17:50.579 it. He thinks the ping of a ride cymbal has too 00:17:50.579 --> 00:17:52.779 much of a defined pitch, and it cuts through 00:17:52.779 --> 00:17:54.839 the frequency in a way that distracts from James' 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:58.250 guitar tone. So instead, for his big, loud sections, 00:17:58.470 --> 00:18:00.730 he uses a china cymbal. That's the one that looks 00:18:00.730 --> 00:18:02.589 like it's turned inside out. Yeah, it looks like 00:18:02.589 --> 00:18:05.230 a trash can lid. It makes this trashy, explosive 00:18:05.230 --> 00:18:08.589 K -A -H sound. It has no sustain, it's just a 00:18:08.589 --> 00:18:11.009 burst of white noise, and then it dies. It's 00:18:11.009 --> 00:18:12.869 pure aggression. That's his wash, it's just noise. 00:18:13.109 --> 00:18:15.269 It's a wall of white noise. It fills the sonic 00:18:15.269 --> 00:18:17.650 spectrum without having a specific musical pitch. 00:18:18.210 --> 00:18:20.509 It's actually a huge part of why Metallica sounds 00:18:20.509 --> 00:18:23.240 so aggressive and powerful. If you put a sweet 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:25.819 -sounding jazz ride symbol on Master of Puppets, 00:18:25.859 --> 00:18:28.119 it would sound ridiculous. But the notes say 00:18:28.119 --> 00:18:30.759 there is one exception on the current tour. Yes. 00:18:31.039 --> 00:18:34.079 On the M72 World Tour, they play a song called 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:37.099 Until It Sleeps from the Load album. That song 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:39.759 has a very specific laid -back groove that needs 00:18:39.759 --> 00:18:42.049 a ride symbol to sound right. So what does he 00:18:42.049 --> 00:18:45.450 do? It's hilarious. His drum tech in the dark 00:18:45.450 --> 00:18:48.690 between songs runs out on stage, screws a ride 00:18:48.690 --> 00:18:50.769 cymbal onto a stand and puts it in front of him. 00:18:51.190 --> 00:18:54.009 Lars plays the one song and then as soon as it's 00:18:54.009 --> 00:18:56.009 over, the tech runs back out and takes it away 00:18:56.009 --> 00:18:58.109 immediately. It's like a specialized surgical 00:18:58.109 --> 00:19:00.920 tool. Hand me the ride. Okay, surgery's over. 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:03.680 Take it away. It just shows his absolute commitment 00:19:03.680 --> 00:19:06.400 to his sonic philosophy. He will not compromise, 00:19:06.660 --> 00:19:09.039 even if it means having a guy run on stage every 00:19:09.039 --> 00:19:11.099 single night for one three -minute section. It's 00:19:11.099 --> 00:19:12.740 incredible. Okay, we've established the musician, 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:15.299 the innovator. Now we need to move to what is, 00:19:15.480 --> 00:19:17.839 for many, the darkest chapter in the public relations 00:19:17.839 --> 00:19:21.809 history of the band. The year is 2000. The word 00:19:21.809 --> 00:19:24.630 on everyone's lips is Napster. This is the moment 00:19:24.630 --> 00:19:27.809 where Lars Ulrich went from being the cool, energetic, 00:19:28.049 --> 00:19:31.869 talkative drummer to being the greedy rock star 00:19:31.869 --> 00:19:34.329 in the eyes of millions of people. Let's look 00:19:34.329 --> 00:19:36.369 at the facts, because the narrative has gotten 00:19:36.369 --> 00:19:39.650 very muddy over 25 years. How did this actually 00:19:39.650 --> 00:19:41.710 start? It wasn't just that people were sharing 00:19:41.710 --> 00:19:44.609 their old albums for free. No, that had been 00:19:44.609 --> 00:19:47.710 going on with tape trading for years. The trigger 00:19:47.710 --> 00:19:51.250 was a specific song. Metallica was recording 00:19:51.250 --> 00:19:54.750 a track called I Disappear for the Mission Impossible 00:19:54.750 --> 00:19:57.890 2 soundtrack. It was still a work in progress, 00:19:58.049 --> 00:20:00.569 a demo. It hadn't been mastered. It hadn't been 00:20:00.569 --> 00:20:03.029 released. And it shows up on the radio. He hears 00:20:03.029 --> 00:20:05.450 it on a major radio station. And he's thinking, 00:20:05.569 --> 00:20:08.289 how is this possible? The tapes are locked in 00:20:08.289 --> 00:20:11.509 our studio. It's a huge violation of their creative 00:20:11.509 --> 00:20:14.910 process. They trace the source and they find 00:20:14.910 --> 00:20:17.869 this new, strange piece of software called Napster. 00:20:18.430 --> 00:20:21.269 They long on. And not only did they find I Disappear, 00:20:21.289 --> 00:20:23.769 they find their entire studio catalog available 00:20:23.769 --> 00:20:26.970 for free. So Lars decided to go to war. He went 00:20:26.970 --> 00:20:29.369 nuclear. He and the band filed a lawsuit for 00:20:29.369 --> 00:20:31.670 copyright infringement and racketeering. But 00:20:31.670 --> 00:20:33.930 he made a massive tactical error in how he handled 00:20:33.930 --> 00:20:35.930 the public relations. He didn't just let the 00:20:35.930 --> 00:20:38.369 lawyers send a cease and desist letter. He decided 00:20:38.369 --> 00:20:40.029 to make a spectacle of it. The delivery of the 00:20:40.029 --> 00:20:42.049 names. This is the image that burned him for 00:20:42.049 --> 00:20:45.579 a decade. He hired a consulting firm to track 00:20:45.579 --> 00:20:48.640 down the IP addresses of every Napster user who 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:51.279 had shared a Metallica song. They compiled a 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:54.279 list of over 300 ,000 usernames. Essentially, 00:20:54.380 --> 00:20:57.359 300 ,000 of his own fans. And he printed out 00:20:57.359 --> 00:20:59.799 this enormous stack of paper. It was thousands 00:20:59.799 --> 00:21:03.380 of pages. Thousands. And he physically delivered 00:21:03.380 --> 00:21:05.759 this stack of paper to Napster's office with 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:08.480 news cameras rolling. He was captured on camera 00:21:08.480 --> 00:21:10.980 looking smug, handing over this list and saying, 00:21:11.099 --> 00:21:13.140 ban these people from your service. It looked 00:21:13.140 --> 00:21:15.160 like he was suing his own audience. The optics 00:21:15.160 --> 00:21:18.200 were just terrible. They were catastrophic. He 00:21:18.200 --> 00:21:20.359 looked like a narc. He looked like a multimillionaire 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:22.380 trying to squeeze pennies out of college kids 00:21:22.380 --> 00:21:24.769 in their dorm rooms. And the Internet, which 00:21:24.769 --> 00:21:27.230 was still a fairly new cultural force, turned 00:21:27.230 --> 00:21:29.890 on him instantly and viciously. There were flash 00:21:29.890 --> 00:21:32.970 animations of Lars the greedy pig. It was brutal. 00:21:33.190 --> 00:21:35.509 And here's the deep dive nuance we need to bring. 00:21:35.609 --> 00:21:38.549 If we strip away the terrible PR and just look 00:21:38.549 --> 00:21:40.450 at the principle of the thing, was he wrong? 00:21:40.829 --> 00:21:43.670 Legally, no. He was 100 % correct. Ethically, 00:21:43.789 --> 00:21:46.890 that's the debate that still rages. But looking 00:21:46.890 --> 00:21:50.809 back from 2025, many, many artists now say Lars 00:21:50.809 --> 00:21:52.950 was the canary in the coal mine. The only one 00:21:52.950 --> 00:21:55.089 with the guts to say something. He was the only 00:21:55.089 --> 00:21:57.630 one brave enough, or maybe arrogant enough, to 00:21:57.630 --> 00:21:59.690 stand up and say, wait a minute, just because 00:21:59.690 --> 00:22:01.970 technology allows you to do this, that does not 00:22:01.970 --> 00:22:05.410 give you the right to steal our labor. He foresaw 00:22:05.410 --> 00:22:09.049 that if music became completely free, the economic 00:22:09.049 --> 00:22:12.250 model for artists would collapse. And for many, 00:22:12.289 --> 00:22:14.990 it did. He testified before the Senate Judiciary 00:22:14.990 --> 00:22:17.210 Committee. I read the transcript of his testimony. 00:22:17.490 --> 00:22:19.210 He wasn't ranting and raving. He was actually 00:22:19.210 --> 00:22:21.730 very articulate about the concept of artist control. 00:22:21.930 --> 00:22:24.250 He was. He made a great point. He said it wasn't 00:22:24.250 --> 00:22:26.609 about the money. It was about the choice. It 00:22:26.609 --> 00:22:28.869 is our music and we should be the ones to decide 00:22:28.869 --> 00:22:31.150 when and how it is distributed to the public. 00:22:31.509 --> 00:22:34.309 That's a very valid artistic stance. But because 00:22:34.309 --> 00:22:36.309 he was already a millionaire living in a mansion, 00:22:36.549 --> 00:22:39.029 nobody wanted to hear it from him. It's interesting 00:22:39.029 --> 00:22:40.950 that while he was fighting this big digital war, 00:22:41.190 --> 00:22:43.269 he tried to start his own business in the traditional 00:22:43.269 --> 00:22:46.670 industry, too. The music company. A very literal 00:22:46.670 --> 00:22:49.789 name for a record label. Very Lars. No frills. 00:22:49.970 --> 00:22:52.869 He started it in 1998 with an accountant, Tim 00:22:52.869 --> 00:22:55.789 Duffy. The idea was that he would use his clout 00:22:55.789 --> 00:22:59.390 to sign and develop bands he liked. But it folded 00:22:59.390 --> 00:23:02.569 in 2002. It just never took off. Which goes to 00:23:02.569 --> 00:23:04.430 show that just because you're a genius at running 00:23:04.430 --> 00:23:06.170 the biggest band in the world, that doesn't mean 00:23:06.170 --> 00:23:08.589 you know how to run a label. It was a failure. 00:23:08.769 --> 00:23:11.390 Which brings us to the other side of Lars, the 00:23:11.390 --> 00:23:13.470 side that isn't fighting with teenagers on the 00:23:13.470 --> 00:23:15.910 Internet or testifying before Congress. Section 00:23:15.910 --> 00:23:19.079 five of our research, the Renaissance man. Because 00:23:19.079 --> 00:23:21.079 if you think this guy goes home after a show 00:23:21.079 --> 00:23:23.200 and just drinks beer and watches football, you 00:23:23.200 --> 00:23:26.240 are completely wrong. He is a deeply cultured, 00:23:26.240 --> 00:23:29.140 deeply curious individual. And this goes right 00:23:29.140 --> 00:23:31.079 back to that childhood in Denmark. He has always 00:23:31.079 --> 00:23:33.000 been a passionate art collector. And we're not 00:23:33.000 --> 00:23:34.779 talking about posters. We're talking about serious 00:23:34.779 --> 00:23:37.700 blue chip fine art. The Basquiat story is the 00:23:37.700 --> 00:23:40.359 headline here. It's unbelievable. Jean -Michel 00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:43.839 Basquiat. the legendary New York neo -expressionist 00:23:43.839 --> 00:23:46.640 artist from the 80s. Lars owned a major painting 00:23:46.640 --> 00:23:50.140 of his called Self -Portrait from 1982. He bought 00:23:50.140 --> 00:23:51.940 it way before the Basquiat market completely 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:55.240 exploded. In 2002, he decided to sell it at Christie's 00:23:55.240 --> 00:23:57.299 Auction House. And the numbers are just staggering. 00:23:57.500 --> 00:23:59.740 The pre -sale estimate was around $5 million. 00:24:00.759 --> 00:24:02.539 which is already a huge amount of money, the 00:24:02.539 --> 00:24:05.859 hammer price. It sold for over $13 .5 million. 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:08.380 It tripled the estimate. So what does that tell 00:24:08.380 --> 00:24:10.500 us about him? It's not just a rich guy buying 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:13.460 things he likes. It tells us he has an eye, a 00:24:13.460 --> 00:24:15.660 real one. He understands value. He understands 00:24:15.660 --> 00:24:18.119 cultural trends. He sees things before other 00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:20.680 people do. He treats art with the same intensity 00:24:20.680 --> 00:24:23.440 and research that he treats his band. It shatters 00:24:23.440 --> 00:24:25.940 that stereotype of the dumb drummer. He is a 00:24:25.940 --> 00:24:28.640 sophisticated operator. And he's dabbled in acting, 00:24:28.819 --> 00:24:31.299 real acting, not just music video. Yes. He had 00:24:31.299 --> 00:24:33.599 a legitimate role in the HBO film Hemingway and 00:24:33.599 --> 00:24:36.720 Gellhorn in 2012. He played George Ivins, a Dutch 00:24:36.720 --> 00:24:38.819 filmmaker. This wasn't a cameo where he plays 00:24:38.819 --> 00:24:40.700 a rock star. It was a period piece. He had lines. 00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:42.799 He had a character arc. He had to act alongside 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:45.059 Nicole Kidman. Clive Owen. Then he was okay? 00:24:45.380 --> 00:24:48.019 The reviews were actually pretty decent. He has 00:24:48.019 --> 00:24:50.380 a presence. He's not just a musician trying to 00:24:50.380 --> 00:24:53.099 act. He held his own. There's also the documentary 00:24:53.099 --> 00:24:55.680 Mission to Lars. This one creates a really different 00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:57.640 picture of him. I found it very touching when 00:24:57.640 --> 00:25:00.059 I watched it. It's a film that completely changes 00:25:00.059 --> 00:25:02.539 your perception of him. It's made by Kate and 00:25:02.539 --> 00:25:04.960 William Spicer about their brother, Tom. Tom 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:07.240 has Fragile X Syndrome, which is a genetic condition 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:10.299 that causes developmental issues. And Tom's one 00:25:10.299 --> 00:25:14.049 obsession in life is Lars Ulrich. Lars is his 00:25:14.049 --> 00:25:16.890 holy grail. Exactly. The entire movie is this 00:25:16.890 --> 00:25:20.509 chaotic, funny, and sometimes heartbreaking road 00:25:20.509 --> 00:25:23.829 trip trying to get Tom to meet Lars during a 00:25:23.829 --> 00:25:26.130 Metallica tour. And you spend the whole movie 00:25:26.130 --> 00:25:28.150 dreading the meeting, expecting the rock star 00:25:28.150 --> 00:25:31.210 to be distant or rude or for it to be a disappointment. 00:25:31.549 --> 00:25:34.170 That's not. It's the opposite. When they finally 00:25:34.170 --> 00:25:37.150 meet, Lars is incredibly gentle. He gets down 00:25:37.150 --> 00:25:39.210 on Tom's level. He spends real time with him. 00:25:39.250 --> 00:25:41.710 He connects with him on a human level. It shows 00:25:41.710 --> 00:25:44.930 a very deep, empathetic side that gets completely 00:25:44.930 --> 00:25:47.630 lost in the Napster villain narrative. And then 00:25:47.630 --> 00:25:51.210 the ultimate validation. The boy who left Denmark 00:25:51.210 --> 00:25:54.170 in disgrace after failing at tennis comes home 00:25:54.170 --> 00:25:57.529 as a national hero. He was knighted. By the Queen 00:25:57.529 --> 00:26:00.430 of Denmark herself, Queen Margaret II awarded 00:26:00.430 --> 00:26:03.049 him the Knight's Cross of the Order of the Danabrog. 00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:05.519 in 2017. So does that mean we have to call him 00:26:05.519 --> 00:26:08.240 Sir Lars Ullrich? In Denmark, the title is Ritter. 00:26:08.339 --> 00:26:11.160 Yeah. Yes, essentially. He's a member of the 00:26:11.160 --> 00:26:13.759 Danish chivalric order. It's a huge, huge honor. 00:26:13.900 --> 00:26:16.039 It's the country officially acknowledging that 00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:18.319 he has brought honor to Denmark on the global 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.759 stage. And he never gave up his passport, right? 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.299 He's lived in the States for decades. Correct. 00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:25.700 He's lived in the USA for over 40 years. His 00:26:25.700 --> 00:26:28.119 kids were born there. He pays taxes there. But 00:26:28.119 --> 00:26:30.559 he never became a U .S. citizen. He remains Danish. 00:26:30.859 --> 00:26:33.460 He holds on to that identity very tightly. I 00:26:33.460 --> 00:26:35.059 want to touch on the physical cost of all this. 00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:36.960 We talked about the drumming, the speed, the 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:38.980 volume, the intensity. You can't do that for 00:26:38.980 --> 00:26:41.359 40 years without some kind of damage. Tinnitus. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:45.000 The constant ringing in the ears. Lars has been 00:26:45.000 --> 00:26:47.880 very open about this since around 2009. He suffers 00:26:47.880 --> 00:26:50.660 from it constantly. In the early days of Metallica, 00:26:50.819 --> 00:26:53.960 nobody wore earplugs. That wasn't cool. They 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:56.319 stood in front of massive walls of speakers every 00:26:56.319 --> 00:26:58.619 night. He said he'd go to sleep after a show 00:26:58.619 --> 00:27:00.579 and just hear a high -pitched television test 00:27:00.579 --> 00:27:03.380 tone in his head. That's a special kind of nightmare. 00:27:03.599 --> 00:27:05.579 It's a cautionary tale for every young musician 00:27:05.579 --> 00:27:08.000 out there. Now, he's incredibly strict about 00:27:08.000 --> 00:27:09.759 ear protection, but the damage is already done. 00:27:09.819 --> 00:27:12.359 It doesn't go away. Which brings us to his relaxation 00:27:12.359 --> 00:27:15.720 habits. If you have ringing ears and you play 00:27:15.720 --> 00:27:17.700 some of the loudest music on earth for a living, 00:27:17.839 --> 00:27:20.599 what do you possibly listen to on the tour bus 00:27:20.599 --> 00:27:23.859 to unwind? Jazz. He goes right back to the start, 00:27:23.940 --> 00:27:26.319 right back to his godfather. He listens to Miles 00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:28.839 Davis, John Coltrane, and of course, Dexter Gordon. 00:27:29.259 --> 00:27:32.259 He says he needs the space in the music. He needs 00:27:32.259 --> 00:27:35.019 the improvisation. He describes metal as being 00:27:35.019 --> 00:27:37.619 about structure and aggression, while jazz is 00:27:37.619 --> 00:27:40.559 about freedom and flow. It's the yin to his yang. 00:27:40.619 --> 00:27:43.119 It balances him out. Let's round out the personal 00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:45.960 side before we wrap up. Relationships. He's been 00:27:45.960 --> 00:27:48.480 married a few times. Three marriages. He was 00:27:48.480 --> 00:27:50.579 married to Debbie Jones, a British woman he met 00:27:50.579 --> 00:27:53.720 on tour back in the late 80s. That marriage ended 00:27:53.720 --> 00:27:55.680 during the Pressure Cooker sessions for the Black 00:27:55.680 --> 00:27:58.119 Album. Then he was married for a number of years 00:27:58.119 --> 00:28:02.000 to Skylar Satenstein. and ER doctor, which is 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:04.700 a really interesting match for a rock star. An 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:06.819 ER doctor probably has the right temperament 00:28:06.819 --> 00:28:09.680 for it. I imagine so. Nothing would faze her. 00:28:10.059 --> 00:28:13.079 They had two sons, Miles and Lane. Then he was 00:28:13.079 --> 00:28:14.980 on a long -term relationship with Connie Nielsen, 00:28:15.059 --> 00:28:17.900 the actress from Gladiator. They were a kind 00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:19.680 of Danish power couple for a long time and have 00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:22.180 a son together. And currently he's married to 00:28:22.180 --> 00:28:24.819 Jessica Miller, a fashion model. And his sons, 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:27.579 Miles and Lane, are musicians too. They are. 00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:29.970 They have a band called Taipei Houston. It's 00:28:29.970 --> 00:28:32.589 a two -piece, just drums and bass. And they're 00:28:32.589 --> 00:28:34.650 actually really interesting, very noisy garage 00:28:34.650 --> 00:28:36.490 rock kind of punk stuff. They aren't trying to 00:28:36.490 --> 00:28:38.829 be Metallica Jr., but you can see the influence. 00:28:39.650 --> 00:28:43.089 Lars is apparently a very supportive, if predictably 00:28:43.089 --> 00:28:45.450 intense, dad. He goes to their shows and gives 00:28:45.450 --> 00:28:47.789 them notes. Of course he does. The snare needs 00:28:47.789 --> 00:28:50.390 to be louder in the mix, son. Cut the ride cymbal, 00:28:50.430 --> 00:28:52.259 Miles. What are you doing with that thing? I 00:28:52.259 --> 00:28:54.200 also saw a note in the research about his friendship 00:28:54.200 --> 00:28:56.599 with Noel Gallagher from Oasis. That seems like 00:28:56.599 --> 00:28:58.819 an odd pairing on the surface. It does. But when 00:28:58.819 --> 00:29:01.420 you think about it, it makes sense. They're both 00:29:01.420 --> 00:29:03.819 opinionated, incredibly talkative, strategic 00:29:03.819 --> 00:29:08.019 leaders of massive world conquering bands. They're 00:29:08.019 --> 00:29:10.339 the architects. And there's a great story that 00:29:10.339 --> 00:29:14.140 Noel Gallagher actually inspired Lars to quit 00:29:14.140 --> 00:29:17.079 cocaine. Really? How so? Yeah, this was in the 00:29:17.079 --> 00:29:19.740 mid -2000s. Lars was, you know, dabbling, as 00:29:19.740 --> 00:29:21.920 many rock stars did. He read an interview where 00:29:21.920 --> 00:29:24.079 Noel Gallagher talked about quitting drugs cold 00:29:24.079 --> 00:29:26.240 turkey because he felt he wanted to be creative 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:28.980 and sharp, not just another wasted rock casualty. 00:29:29.420 --> 00:29:31.460 And Lars said it just clicked for him. He thought, 00:29:31.500 --> 00:29:33.819 if Noel can do it, I can do it. He stopped all 00:29:33.819 --> 00:29:36.119 the recreational stuff to focus on the work and 00:29:36.119 --> 00:29:38.000 his family. That's the discipline again, the 00:29:38.000 --> 00:29:39.980 tennis player mindset coming right back around. 00:29:40.079 --> 00:29:42.720 It's always there. Underneath everything, he's 00:29:42.720 --> 00:29:45.140 still that kid training on the court. So let's 00:29:45.140 --> 00:29:47.299 zoom out. We've covered the Gentofta upbringing, 00:29:47.700 --> 00:29:50.440 the Deep Purple epiphany, the spectacular tennis 00:29:50.440 --> 00:29:52.960 failure, the garage days, the global domination, 00:29:53.259 --> 00:29:55.339 the lawsuits, the art collection, the knighthood. 00:29:55.740 --> 00:29:58.319 When you look at Lars Ulrich as a complete picture, 00:29:58.599 --> 00:30:01.819 what is the ultimate takeaway? I think the takeaway 00:30:01.819 --> 00:30:04.440 is about the power of the pivot. Lars Ulrich 00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:07.720 is a man who absolutely refuses to be defined 00:30:07.720 --> 00:30:10.400 by his limitations or his failures. He wasn't 00:30:10.400 --> 00:30:12.380 the best tennis player in California, so he quit 00:30:12.380 --> 00:30:14.400 and decided to become the biggest drummer in 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:16.599 the world. He wasn't the most technical drummer, 00:30:16.720 --> 00:30:18.740 so he became the best arranger and band leader 00:30:18.740 --> 00:30:22.059 in his genre. He wasn't a lawyer, but he took 00:30:22.059 --> 00:30:25.119 on the entire Internet and, in a way, predicted 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:27.440 the future of the music industry. He seems to 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:29.740 have this incredible, almost unnerving ability 00:30:29.740 --> 00:30:32.480 to just decide who he is and then will that identity 00:30:32.480 --> 00:30:34.519 into existence until the world eventually catches 00:30:34.519 --> 00:30:36.660 up and agrees with him. That's it perfectly. 00:30:37.119 --> 00:30:40.619 He has this unwavering, borderline arrogant self 00:30:40.619 --> 00:30:43.940 -belief. Even when he's wrong, he commits to 00:30:43.940 --> 00:30:46.779 it so fully that he bends reality to his will. 00:30:47.160 --> 00:30:49.700 And that energy is what drove Metallica. James 00:30:49.700 --> 00:30:52.440 Hetfield is the soul of the band. He's the riff, 00:30:52.460 --> 00:30:56.400 the voice, the raw talent. But Lars, Lars is 00:30:56.400 --> 00:30:58.759 the battery. He is the engine. He's the one who 00:30:58.759 --> 00:31:00.680 answers the phone, who picks the flight, who 00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:03.220 picks the fight, who steals the band name. Without 00:31:03.220 --> 00:31:05.740 Lars, James Hetfield is just a guy with a great 00:31:05.740 --> 00:31:08.259 voice playing amazing guitar riffs in a garage 00:31:08.259 --> 00:31:11.000 somewhere. Exactly. With Lars, he's a stadium 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:13.539 god. It took that combination of soul and will 00:31:13.539 --> 00:31:15.710 to make it happen. And it all hinges on that 00:31:15.710 --> 00:31:18.910 one moment, that one failure at Corona Del Mar 00:31:18.910 --> 00:31:20.829 High School. The failure that made everything 00:31:20.829 --> 00:31:22.829 possible. He didn't make the team. And thank 00:31:22.829 --> 00:31:25.130 God for all of us that he didn't. That is the 00:31:25.130 --> 00:31:27.029 final thought I want to leave you with. We spend 00:31:27.029 --> 00:31:30.269 so much of our lives fearing failure. We think 00:31:30.269 --> 00:31:32.650 if we don't make the team or get the job or get 00:31:32.650 --> 00:31:34.549 into the school we wanted that our life is over. 00:31:34.910 --> 00:31:37.329 But for Lars Ulrich, the failure was the single 00:31:37.329 --> 00:31:39.190 best thing that ever happened to him. It was 00:31:39.190 --> 00:31:42.190 a redirection. It forced him onto the path he 00:31:42.190 --> 00:31:44.559 was always meant to be on. So if you're listening 00:31:44.559 --> 00:31:47.240 right now and you just hit a wall, maybe you 00:31:47.240 --> 00:31:48.839 didn't make the cut for something you desperately 00:31:48.839 --> 00:31:52.180 wanted, just remember Lars. Put down the racket, 00:31:52.339 --> 00:31:54.720 pick up the sticks, you might be about to start 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:56.660 the biggest metal band in history. Or at the 00:31:56.660 --> 00:31:58.660 very least, you might really annoy your neighbor. 00:31:58.799 --> 00:32:02.599 That too. A noble cause in itself. Thank you 00:32:02.599 --> 00:32:04.779 for listening to this deep dive on the beat behind 00:32:04.779 --> 00:32:07.559 the beast. Go listen to the isolated drum track 00:32:07.559 --> 00:32:10.480 of One. Look up that Basquiat painting he sold 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:13.500 and appreciate the strange, contradictory, fascinating 00:32:13.500 --> 00:32:15.880 life of Sir Lars. We'll see you next time.