The rock band that Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said was like paradise to play with
The earlier thrash metal sound of Metallica came from the hotbed of hard rock pioneers, from AC/DC to Led Zeppelin.
Most criticisms of Metallica throughout their journey have centred around whenever they’ve deviated from those roots and moved further towards more traditional hard rock, with records like Load and Reload the usual culprits when discussing the “worst” moments for the band.
The earlier albums, according to loyalists, are where they thrived the most, with a sound that borrowed from other rock heroes but which took it to be something entirely different – something rawer, somehow, that sounded and felt authentic and unpolished but sturdy in the vision they were trying to execute.
Metallica became a significant influence for many major rock and metal bands, including Slayer, Megadeth and Pantera, but underneath the surface is a seemingly endless list of rock bands that went into shaping them themselves, like Iron Maiden, who Lars Ulrich once named as possibly the biggest influence on their sound.
He even said he didn’t think that Metallica would be the band they became were it not for Iron Maiden, and credited them for being the reason why he wanted to start a band in the first place. Other bands also sit at the top of those who shaped their vision and gave them the drive to push for even greater levels of excellence, many of which they had the luxury of crossing paths with once they’d established themselves as a major player.
In the early 1990s, the band had the chance to open for AC/DC on their Monsters of Rock tour, an incredibly special opportunity that Ulrich reflected on a few years back when he appeared on Brian Johnson’s show, Life on the Road. He discussed how much AC/DC influenced him and what it was like performing alongside one of their heroes.
“You have to remember, our musical roots were so much more at AC/DC, Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin,” he said. “We were much more about blues and rock. We started playing a little faster as we progressed [in career]. Playing with you on this tour in 1991, which was the last time we actually opened for anyone, was like being in paradise, having a chance to be around you and watch you every night for six weeks.”
AC/DC influenced the sound of some of Metallica’s biggest releases, including The Black Album, which went on to sell over 30million records worldwide. At the time, Ulrich was barely listening to anything other than AC/DC, allowing their influence to bleed through in most of the record’s defining tracks. “In 1990, I spent six months listening only to AC/DC,” he later admitted. “And it changed my entire approach to songwriting.”
There’s much to be said about how much they owe their success to the band. Of course, Metallica put in the work to earn a legacy in their own right, but were it not for bands like AC/DC, it’s anyone’s guess whether they would have shaped such a distinctive sound, hotwiring off the many tropes they found in other rock legends.
Either way, their lasting legacy feels more like an ode to all of those hard rock pioneers they channelled along the way, and how being a genuine fan of music and music innovation can allow you the tools to stand apart, too, equipped with the grace of others and the confidence to make something entirely different and original.
