Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich discusses the biggest regret of his career
For the majority of Lars Ulrich’s adult life, he’s only known what it’s like to be within the confines of one of the world’s most successful bands, Metallica. Naturally, when you find yourself in that environment, reality becomes further away, and losing sight of the important things can be easy. Well, that’s what happened to Ulrich.
The group formed in Los Angeles while Ulrich was a teenager who had moved to the city with the aspiration of becoming a professional tennis player. However, deep down in his heart, he always knew his ability would stop him from fighting for titles against Björn Borg, and the top tier of tennis was out of sight.
Moving to America was a wake-up call, but it did lead him to form Metallica, which suggests everything happens for a reason. After watching Yesterday and Today in 1980, Ulrich knew he wanted to perform too. He soon became friends with James Hetfield, and Metallica was born.
Together, they grew a reputation for themselves in the Californian scene, and only two years after forming, Kill ‘Em All was unleashed on the world. For the majority of the last 40 years, Metallica have been riding high as musical royalty. With that, Ulrich became accustomed to headlining festivals, selling-out stadiums, and number-one albums.
In 2018, Ulrich admitted to 100.3 FM The X that if he could go back in time, he’d try to enjoy the journey more rather than be obsessively focused on the destination. He explained: “People used to say that, back in the day, we – or I, or most of us – didn’t slow down long enough to take it in, or allow ourselves to take it in. And I think the key thing now is, 35 years into this crazy ride, hearing it and allowing ourselves to take it in, internalise it and kind of feel proud about that and feel that connection that James is talking to everybody, is really cool. I don’t wish to [say], ‘I wish we would have done that different 20 years ago.’… sometimes I just wish that at least I’d slowed down long enough back in the day to take a lot of that in. But we were always in such a hurry to get to the next thing, or whatever.”
Ulrich continued: “Hearing that now… we do a lot of meet-and-greets and do a lot of interaction with fans on many different levels, and just that moment, that connection… it’s always precious, and it’s a real highlight of the day when we come and play shows.”
The regret expressed by Ulrich is likely shared by a wealth of musicians who don’t appreciate the good times while they are happening. Fortunately for the Metallica drummer, the band were still on top when he realised he’d taken his life for granted, allowing him to learn from his mistake and appreciate the view.
