A midnight bus crash, failed companies, and multiple divorces put Lars Ulrich through
some bleak years. Here are all the times the bell of tragedy has tolled for Metallica's drummer.
Years before Lars Ulrich became a founding member of one of the greatest metal bands
of all time, the Metallica drummer aspired to a much different career as an athlete.
However, once the Danish immigrant made the move to the United States with his family,
he experienced a rude awakening. In an interview with Metal Hammer, Ulrich said -
The realization caused Ulrich to drastically shift his focus away from pursuing the same
profession as his father, Torben. But the failure just made him more motivated to succeed
as a musician and create songs inspired by bands he admired, such as Iron Maiden and Motorhead.
Lars Ulrich began devoting his time and energy into drumming, but his skill level wasn't
nearly high enough to impress his future band mates. In his book, "Justice for All: The
Truth about Metallica," Joel McIver explains how James Hetfield and Ron McGovney lost their
drummer, Jim Mulligan, and held auditions to replace him in 1981. Ulrich was one of
the individuals who answered the call to try out and it did not go well, as McGovney recalled -
Hetfield completely agreed with his bandmate, and he was also turned off by the striking
cultural differences of the recently arrived Dane, with the future frontman recalling in
"Justice for All" -
"Why don't you try getting a more solid beat?"
"Regular?"
"Oh, well, call it regular."
Yet, the relationship between Hetfield and Ulrich changed completely after the second
time the two met in which the latter proved to actually be a decent drummer. The musicians
then quickly became good friends right before the creation of their epic metal band.
In 1981, Lars Ulrich became a founding member of Metallica, but major shake ups to the lineup
occurred early on when both McGovney and Mustaine were replaced by Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett.
To most casual observers, the issues behind-the-scenes appeared to end there, but apparently the
drama continued and nearly led to Ulrich's exit.
When Scott Ian, the frontman of Anthrax, was on tour with Metallica in 1986, he learned
that the other members of the band were going to replace Ulrich as soon as possible. However,
Burton's shocking death shortly after stopped that from ever happening, and the story remained
mostly unknown until Mustaine was asked about it by Rolling Stone years later.
Once Ian released his book, "I'm the Man," the rumor was confirmed, but the singer claimed
he was far from the only one who knew about it.
He then described how surprised everyone else on the tour was at the news because the four
seemed like a solid group, which could mean that Ulrich would have been blindsided by
the decision as well.
Like all the members of Metallica, the tragic, sudden passing of Cliff Burton in 1986 was
an extremely traumatic experience for Lars Ulrich. The band was touring in Sweden when
their bus crashed in the middle of the night and the four were sound asleep. Even though
the huge vehicle slammed onto its side, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett managed to survive
the accident relatively unscathed, while Ulrich only broke his toe, according to Joel McIver
in his book, "Justice for All." On the other hand, the three were horrified to discover
that Burton had been thrown from the bus and crushed underneath it.
Decades later, the drummer stressed that memories he had with Burton will always be a part of
him and the anniversaries of his bandmate's death are especially painful, telling Metal Hammer -
Viewers of the 1992 documentary, "A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica," may notice
that Lars Ulrich's approach to recording music was sometimes not appreciated by his fellow
bandmates at all.
"It's basically start whenever, certain people were ready to go."
"Hurry up Lars, we've gotta get these first four drum hits."
The latest member at the time, Jason Newsted, was especially irked because the way things
were done was so different from what he was used to. The bassist voiced his frustration
to The Guardian and said his new bandmate would constantly insist on doing another take,
adding -
Likewise, producer Bob Rock became so frustrated by Ulrich and the other band members that
the "Black Album" was almost the last one he helped create. When talking with MusicRadar,
he admitted -
Of the many disputes they all had with each other at the time, one of the most heated
between Rock and the drummer was the argument over what song should be the top single, "Enter
Sandman" or "Holier than Thou." Yet despite the disagreements, the producer went on to
work with Metallica on several more albums in the following years.
Lars Ulrich's parents, Torben and Lone, were always loving and supportive of their only
son, which made the tiny family very close. So, when his mother passed away in 1998, the
drummer was absolutely devastated. In his book, "Justice for All," Joel McIver explains
that Lone battled cancer for some time before eventually succumbing to the terrible disease.
Ulrich spent as much time as possible with his mom and dad where they were staying in
Southern California before the end, so he was nearby up north in San Francisco on the
tragic night. Ulrich then rushed home to be with his father, and MTV News reported that
the band delayed their trip to New Zealand and Australia for a few weeks in support of
their drummer.
In 1998, Lars Ulrich established a substantial side project with Metallica's former tour
accountant, Tim Duffy. This new record label called the Music Company was an imprint of
the major studio, Elektra, and signed several bands that the drummer saw potential in, such
as the Brand New Immortals, DDT, and Goudie, yet none of these groups managed to gain a
large following. On the other hand, Systematic, a signing out of California with the former
drummer of Slayer, Paul Bostaph, managed to find more success. MTV News reported that
in two years, the band sold almost 70,000 copies of their debut album, "Somewhere in Between."
Even before Systematic was brought into the fold, Ulrich was confident that the small
company would do well in the industry. When he announced that Metallica was taking a much-needed
break in early 2000, the drummer said that he would be kept busy running his label, according
to the book, "Justice for All."
Unfortunately, his time as a studio head did not last long and the lack of sales forced
him to end the company in 2002. While Systematic was able to make the switch to the much larger
label, Elektra, Ulrich was unable to do the same for the other bands he tried to promote
and simply had to let them go.
Due to his decades of performing as a heavy metal drummer, Lars Ulrich has had serious
hearing issues for quite some time. Mostly because he failed to use any protection early
in his career, he first noticed how serious the problem had become due to a severe case
of tinnitus that began while on tour in 1988. The ringing became so intense that he would
wake up hearing sounds that weren't really in the room and mistake it for the TV. He
told CNN -
Not only did the near-constant noise in his head never really go away, but even worse
was that it was followed by some hearing loss as well. Once Ulrich began to wear protection,
the deterioration nearly ground to a halt, but considerable damage had already been done.
The drummer added -
Lars Ulrich may be a rock star in a badass heavy metal band, but that doesn't mean that
he's immune to heartbreaks. According to The Mirror, his first of two separations was in
the late 1980s, though he wasn't the only band member dealing with relationship issues.
Kirk Hammett described what it was like for him and his bandmates when he told Playboy -
Then in 2004, Ulrich went through his second divorce with Skylar Satenstein. Yet possibly
because it had happened to him before, the drummer didn't seem too upset afterward as
he told the Des Moines Register -
Through his work in the music industry, Lars Ulrich has formed several solid relationships
with others in the line of work. Sadly, two of those notable individuals passed away over
the years and both of their deaths greatly affected the drummer.
When the life of Timi Hansen, the Danish bassist for King Diamond and of Mercyful Fate, tragically
came to an end in 2019, the loss was especially difficult for Ulrich, who took to Instagram
to pay tribute to the man who had been so influential to his career, saying -
Years earlier, Metallica had also lost the classical composer Michael Kamen, who had
the brilliant idea of forming a collaboration with the popular metal band. Twenty years
after this epic team-up, Ulrich wrote a statement to honor the talented musician who passed
away in 2003, writing on Instagram -
For as much as he is loved and respected in Metallica, there are still those who have
been very vocal about what they perceive as Ulrich's poor skills over the years. So much
so that he revealed to the fan club magazine So What!, there have been some interviewers
who bring it up and tell him -
In the same interview, the veteran musician admitted that earlier in his career, the criticism
and insults used to get under his skin, admitting in an interview with Rhythm magazine -
Interestingly, Ulrich also made the surprising, but candid admission about his skills, saying -
But he then stressed that his strength is his ability to work so well with Hetfield,
and there's no one in the world better at that, which gives him all the confidence he
needs to ignore the haters.
"You know i don't think there's a right or wrong, it's just about, you know…
I wanna be a rock star!"