ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 15, 1985
By Steve Newton
Metallica are the type of band that puts the “heavy” in heavy metal. Actually, drummer Lars Ulrich–who called me from L.A. last week–prefers to call his band’s music “speed metal” or “thrash metal”. Their sound crew are known as “The Sonic Decapitation Team”, and local metal fans will have the opportunity to lose their heads when Metallica play the New York Theatre this Monday (March 18), with local act Kradle.
Metallica were first formed in 1980 after Ulrich moved to the L.A. suburb of Norwalk from his native Denmark. He met up with rhythm guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield, recruited a lead guitarist and bassist (no longer in the band) and the group began playing their “very European-sounding” hard rock at L.A. clubs like the Whiskey A Go Go, Roxy, and Troubadour.
“It was strange in L.A. in the beginning,” Ulrich says, “because we just went out and did it our way. In the beginning we were very sort of obnoxious–I’m not saying we aren’t anymore [laughs]–but we just went out and did it. This was at the time, two or three years ago, when bands like Ratt and Motley Crue were playing the clubs in L.A.
“So here were all these bands with their nice haircuts and their good looks and their eyeliner makeup, and out came we–with our Motorhead t-shirts and our obnoxiousness, and we just played fast, energetic speed metal for an hour.
“And I don’t think that the people in L.A. could really understand what we were doing back then. So we started looking for another market, which turned out to be San Francisco. Up there we found a really good reaction and a sort of underground following.”
After moving their base to San Francisco in January of ’83, Metallica made a demo tape called No Life ‘Till Leather that went to Number One on the “Heavy Metal Top 10” of Frisco’s Metal Mania fanzine. The tape also found wide circulation throughout the world via the “Underground Metal Exchange”.
“Not too many people know about this that aren’t in the underground,” explains Lars, “but there’s a huge society where a lot of people send tapes around and rate them and have little magazines and all that. And I knew a few people to send the tape to, and each of them would copy it and send it to five more people and so on. And that’s how we really got our name around in the beginning. When we first released it it was about the only thing from America that sounded like it did.”
No Life ‘Till Leather, as well as the inclusion of one of Metallica’s songs on the first Metal Massacre LP, gave the band a real popularity push, but it wasn’t until they moved to the East coast and recorded their first album, Kill ‘Em All, that the ball really started to roll. Since then the group have released a second album, Ride the Lightning, and signed an 8-album deal with Elektra Records in the U.S. (They’re on Banzai, distributed by Polygram, in Canada).
The album cover art for Kill ‘Em All showed a sledgehammer lying in a puddle of blood. And the Ride the Lightning cover depicts white lightning surging into an electric chair. According to Ulrich, the band’s preoccupation with violence has a different focus on the more recent record.
“On the first album most of the stuff is either about rock and roll, or banging your head against the stage, or death and destruction in the sort of ‘We’re gonna come kill you and your family’ type way. Whereas the lyrics on Ride the Lightning are a lot more about death in the ‘I’ form–what different people feel or think at the time of death, during death, after death, or whatever. Whether it be from the electric chair, as in ‘Ride the Lightning’, or from suicide, as in ‘Fade to Black’, or from nuclear war, as in ‘Fight Fire With Fire’.
“Some of those feelings really are a lot closer to home, for us anyway, than most people would think. And we’re not afraid to write about what we feel. We’re not so scared that we have to write about heavy metal women instead.”
The Osmond brothers these guys aren’t. But don’t they find it depressing to be engrossed in a music that relies so heavily on negative images?
“Depressing? Negative? Well I don’t know. I don’t think you could start putting lyrics about red roses and flowers and how beautiful everything is into the sort of music that we play. I mean, stuff like ‘Today I went out in my garden and picked up a rose and give it to my girlfriend’ might not work that well.”
Horror and nastiness have always been good fodder for hard rock/heavy metal. Remember how Alice Cooper rose to fame singing about dead babies and loving the dead? But there are extremes. And what about the effect that their lyrics might have on some of the more impressionable among the 300,000 or so fans who have already purchased Ride the Lightning? Would they ever become so enthralled that they might want to experience it themselves?
“It’s difficult,” Ulrich says, “but, you know, what we’re doing, we’re doing for ourselves. It’s an old cliche when people say ‘Give the people what they want’. To us that’s bullshit. Cause we’re not doing this for anybody else. We write about what we want to write about, and we don’t wonder whether some kids are gonna take it seriously or not.
“And the main thing is that we’re not trying to put our statements down anybody else’s throats, or telling people ‘This is the way you have to feel about electric chairs’ or ‘This is the way you have to feel about nuclear war.’ We just do it, and people can interpret it the way they want to.”
To hear the full 22-minute audio of my 1985 interview with Lars Ulrich–and my 1986 interview with James Hetfield as well–subscribe to my Patreon page, where you can eavesdrop on over 350 of my uncut, one-on-one conversations with:
Dave Martone, 2020
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, 2006
Joss Stone, 2012
Glenn Tipton of Judas Priest, 2005
Jack Blades of Night Ranger, 1984
Vivian Campbell of Def Leppard, 1992
Colin James, 1995
Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown, 1998
Tom Cochrane of Red Rider, 1983
Ed Roland of Collective Soul, 1995
Taj Mahal, 2001
Tom Wilson of Junkhouse, 1995
Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, 2003
David Lindley, 2002
Marty Friedman of Megadeth, 1991
John Hiatt, 2010
Nancy Wilson of Heart, 2006
Jeff Golub, 1989
Moe Berg of the Pursuit of Happiness, 1990
Todd Rundgren, 2006
Chad Kroeger of Nickelback, 2001
Steve Earle, 1987
Gabby Gaborno of the Cadillac Tramps, 1991
Terry Bozzio, 2003
Roger Glover, 1985
Matthew Sweet, 1995
Jim McCarty of the Yardbirds, 2003
Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars, 2001
John Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls, 1995
Steve Hackett from Genesis, 1993
Grace Potter, 2008
Buddy Guy, 1993
Steve Lynch of Autograph, 1985
Don Wilson of the Ventures, 1997
Gordie Johnson of Big Sugar, 1998
Trevor Rabin of Yes, 1984
Albert Lee, 1986
Yngwie Malmsteen, 1985
Robert Cray, 1996
Tony Carey, 1984
Ian Hunter, 1988
Kate Bush, 1985
David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, 1984
Jeff Healey, 1988
Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi, 1993
Colin Linden, 1993
Kenny Wayne Shepherd, 1995
Justin Hayward of the Moody Blues, 1986
Elliot Easton from the Cars, 1996
Wayne Kramer from the MC5, 2004
Bob Rock, 1992
Nick Gilder, 1985
Roy Buchanan, 1988
Klaus Meine of Scorpions, 1988
Jason Bonham, 1989
Tom Johnston of the Doobie Brothers, 1991
Joey Spampinato of NRBQ, 1985
Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers, 2003
Andy Powell of Wishbone Ash, 2003
Steve Kilbey of the Church, 1990
Edgar Winter, 2005
Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde, 1990
Randy Hansen, 2001
Dan McCafferty of Nazareth, 1984
Davy Knowles of Back Door Slam, 2007
Jimmy Barnes from Cold Chisel, 1986
Steve Stevens of Atomic Playboys, 1989
Billy Idol, 1984
Stuart Adamson of Big Country, 1993
Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, 1992
Warren Haynes of Gov’t Mule, 1998
John Bell of Widespread Panic, 1992
Robben Ford, 1993
Barry Hay of Golden Earring, 1984
Jason Isbell, 2007
Joe Satriani, 1990
Brad Delp of Boston, 1988
John Sykes of Blue Murder, 1989
Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, 1998
Alice Cooper, 1986
Lars Ulrich of Metallica, 1985
Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, 1992
Myles Goodwyn of April Wine, 2001
John Mellencamp, 1999
Mike Campbell of Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, 1999
Kenny Aronoff, 1999
Jon Bon Jovi, 1986
Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, 1992
Little Steven, 1987
Stevie Salas, 1990
Joe Bonamassa, 2011
Rob Baker of the Tragically Hip, 1997
Tommy Emmanuel, 1994
John Petrucci of Dream Theater, 2010
Eric Johnson, 2001
Stu Hamm, 1991
Gene Simmons of Kiss, 1992
Ace Frehley from Kiss, 2008
David Lee Roth, 1994
Allan Holdsworth, 1983
John Mayall of the Bluesbreakers, 1988
Steve Vai, 1990
Tony Iommi of Heaven and Hell, 2007
Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, 1996
Geoff Tate of Queensryche, 1991
James Hetfield of Metallica, 1986
Stevie Ray Vaughan, 1990
Rick Richards of the Georgia Satellites, 1988
Andy McCoy and Sam Yaffa of Hanoi Rocks, 1984
Steve Morse, 1991
Slash of Guns N’ Roses, 1994
Brian May from Queen, 1993
Dickey Betts of the Allman Brothers, 1991
Jake E. Lee of Badlands, 1992
Rickey Medlocke of Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1997
John Fogerty, 1997
Joe Perry of Aerosmith, 1987
Rick Derringer, 1999
Robin Trower, 1990
Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, 1994
Mick Ronson, 1988
Geddy Lee of Rush, 2002
Buck Dharma of Blue Oyster Cult, 1997
Michael Schenker, 1992
Vince Neil of Motley Crue, 1991
Vinnie Paul of Pantera, 1992
Joan Jett, 1992
Steve Harris of Iron Maiden, 1988
Sebastian Bach of Skid Row, 1989
Rob Halford of Judas Priest, 1984
Bill Henderson of Chilliwack, 1999
Paul Rodgers, 1997
R.L. Burnside, 1999
Guthrie Govan of the Aristocrats, 2015
Mick Mars of Mötley Crüe, 1985
Carlos Santana, 2011
Walter Trout, 2003
Rudy Sarzo of Quiet Riot, 1983
Tommy Aldridge, 2001
Donald “Duck” Dunn, 1985
Mark Farner of Grand Funk, 1991
Chris Robinson of Black Crowes, 1990
Jennifer Batten, 2002
Mike Fraser, 2014
Leo Kottke, 2002
Lemmy Kilmister of Motorhead, 2002
David Gogo, 1991
Booker T. Jones, 2016
Link Wray, 1997
James Reyne from Australian Crawl, 1988
Mike Rutherford of Genesis, 1983
Buddy Guy, 1991
Country Dick Montana of the Beat Farmers, 1990
Mike Cooley of the Drive-By Truckers, 2016
Gary Rossington of Lynyrd Skynyrd, 1986
Lindsay Mitchell of Prism, 1988
Buddy Miles, 2001
Eddie Money, 1988
Tom Hamilton of Aerosmith, 1983
Gaye Delorme, 1990
Dave Murray of Iron Maiden, 1984
Graham Bonnet of Alcatrazz, 1984
Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac, 2016
Doc Neeson of Angel City, 1985
Rik Emmett of Triumph, 1985
Sonny Landreth, 2016
Tosin Abasi of Animals as Leaders, 2016
Jeff Beck, 2001
Albert King, 1990
Johnny Ramone of the Ramones, 1992
Peter Frampton, 1987
Otis Rush, 1997
Gord Downie of the Tragically Hip, 1989
Leslie West of Mountain, 2002
Steve Howe of Yes, 2017
Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, 1983
Uli Jon Roth, 2016
Poison Ivy of the Cramps, 1990
Greg Lake of ELP, 1992
Robert Plant, 1993
Malcolm Young and Brian Johnson of AC/DC, 1983
Warren Zevon, 1992
Tal Wilkenfeld, 2016
Steve Clark of Def Leppard, 1988
Roy Buchanan, 1986
Gary Moore, 1984
Ronnie Montrose, 1994
Danny Gatton, 1993
Alex Lifeson of Rush, 1992
Ann Wilson of Heart, 1985
Yngwie Malmsteen, 2014
Chris Cornell, 2008
Long John Baldry, 1985
Allan Holdsworth, 1983
Kim Mitchell, 1984
Warren Haynes of the Allman Brothers, 1994
Derek Trucks, 1998
Susan Tedeschi, 1998
Joe Satriani, 2018
B.B. King, 1984
Albert Collins, 1985
Ronnie James Dio, 1985
Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, 1984
Dick Dale, 2000
Gregg Allman, 1998
Dickey Betts, 2001