With the Metallica Through the Never juggernaut in full effect, drummer Lars Ulrich took to Reddit for an AMA. And it turns out that Napster’s biggest opponent has downloaded illegally from the internet… and it was their own album. “When Death Magnetic leaked 10 days early, one of the HQ guys was over at my house, drinking wine, and we played around with bit torrent and downloaded our own songs, which we figured we were somewhat entitled to do,” Ulrich said. “The scariest part was how easy it was.”
He also addressed the N word. And yeah, we’re talking about Napster. “I wish we had been better prepared for the shit storm that we found ourselves in,” he said. “I don’t regret taking on Napster, but I do find it odd how big of a part of our legacy it has become to so many people, because to me it’s more like a footnote. I was also stunned that people thought it was about money. People used the word, “greed” all the time, which was so bizarre. The whole thing was about one thing and one thing only – control. Not about the internet, not about money, not about file sharing, not about giving shit away for free or not, but about whose choice it was. If I wanna give my shit away for free, I’ll give it away for free. That choice was taken away from me.”
There were also some questions about what the band will be doing now that they own their own masters. Ulrich said that they’re considering remastering some of the band’s early albums, which means that there could be remastered versions of their first four albums for old school fans to argue about. He also stated that there will be plenty of live bootlegs that Metallica could release in the future. “Yes, there’s tons of stuff in the vault that hasn’t been released, including soundboard tapes, full videos, lots of goodies to come your way, hopefully sooner rather than later,” he says.
Here’s a few more things he discussed:
- Why they didn’t play “Trapped Under Ice” when playing Antarctica: “We forgot! We talked about it the week before but in all the momentary excitement, we literally forgot.”
- Whether he sees any rock/metal bands that will become as big as them: “I think the coolest band for me in the last couple years is Baroness. I also love Norwegian band Kvelertak. But I just don’t know if any of these bands can take it to those heights unfortunately.”
- His favorite Megadeth song: “My Last Words.” He also stated about Dave Mustaine ” I respect him as a musician and I will always love him as a brother and as a part of Metallica.”
- If they’re considering remastering any of their records now that they own the rights to them: “Yes, we are considering remastering some of the early records.”
- On whether or not he stays up to date with social media, and if he maintains the Metallica twitter account: “It’s maintained by the guy who’s about 12 inches from me right now. I’m less and less interested in checking stuff out, it’s too time-consuming.”
- Why the band cut their hair in the Load era: “It had nothing to do with marketing whatsoever. It was 5 years between the Black Album and Load and in that timespan the members of Metallica at various points decided individually to trim their hair length. It stunned us to the point of disbelief that people actually gave a shit about our hair when the record came out. But it was nothing to do with image or marketing or any of that nonsense.”
And of course the new album was brought up. “Yes we have started,” he said. “Coming along slowly, like everything in our world. But the jams we’ve done so far have been super exciting and it’s gonna be fun putting this record together in the next year.”
