“Sad”: The artist Lars Ulrich called “pathetic” for copying Metallica
There’s no denying that Metallica are one of the biggest metal bands to ever grace the earth, but to say that they were entirely original would be doing a massive disservice to the many acts that came at least a decade before them. Without the likes of Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden before them, there would be no Metallica, and it took the innovations of others for bands of their ilk to be able to gain any popularity or traction in the first place.
All of their members played a vital role in establishing the group’s sound, with frontman and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich having always been part of the fold, and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett having joined the group just prior to the release of their debut album, Kill ‘Em All. The band have cycled through a number of bassists throughout their existence, but since 1983, the aforementioned trio have always been present, despite there having been plenty of occasions where factors threatened to derail the group.
They would lose their founding lead guitarist, Dave Mustaine, under acrimonious circumstances, only two years after they formed. Due to his drug and alcohol abuse and violent outbursts, the band collectively decided that they would get rid of the guitarist and replace him with Hammett immediately. While Mustaine was always incredibly jealous of the fact that Hammett “stole his job” and resented the fact that the others enjoyed success with something he had helped create, he would go on to form his own project in retaliation.
Mustaine would form a rival band, Megadeth, and they would enter a decades-long feud with Metallica in a battle to be regarded as the best thrash metal band. While Metallica are arguably the band that have come out on top in this situation, there’s no denying that the mere existence of Megadeth, let alone the degree of success that Mustaine has had with them, has always irked the members of his former group, and they’ve repeatedly made a habit of saying disparaging things about their old colleague.
Mustaine often complained that Hammett’s guitar parts on Kill ‘Em All weren’t his, and that he ought to have been credited for his role in the creation of the band’s debut album, but on the other hand, Metallica have repeatedly bashed Mustaine for using Megadeth as an opportunity to unabashedly rip them off. Of all the members, Ulrich has perhaps been the most vocal in his disgust at Mustaine, and in an interview with Metallica fanclub zine So What, he would express his frustrations a great deal.
“I think I divorced myself from it emotionally,” Ulrich claimed. “There’s a funny parallel between Dave Mustaine’s Metalli-bashing and the releasing of a new record of his. So there’s this weird thing that’s kind of sad and pathetic that, X percentage of the press around a new Megadeth release simply becomes about Metallica, which is, you know, sad and pathetic. But also, if you put it in perspective and still look at a couple of factual things, remember that the guy was in our band for just around a year.”
While it may be completely unnecessary and entirely petulant for Mustaine to continually use his platform to wind up his former bandmates, Ulrich’s buttons are clearly pressed a little too easily, and considering the level of fame that Metallica have achieved, it’s probably better for everyone’s sanity to not rise to Mustaine’s attempts to rile him up.
