This guy kills me

This guy now kills me as well. This is spot on.

I said this a while back on another discussion, but I was not impressed at all with Lars in Grand Rapids when they came. The tempo and rhythm was all over the place making it tough to enjoy them... Really disappointed but oh well, if you're not forced to change then do what you do...

He's always been a pretty shit drummer. The more proggy stuff they did on some AJFA tracks was probably the limit of his ability. I would say I'm not surprised that age is making him slip further, but Danny Carey is 3 years older and still plays like a monster.
 
Buddy at 70, just before he died:

M@ - I absolutely love how passionate you are about music :tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy::tearsofjoy: . You destroy the age-myth with three individual posts and example about a drummer in a completely different ball game compared to iconic metal bands, that's awesome man lol!
 
Lars hit the jackpot by having joined a band in which his limited drum skills kinda worked and which hit the mother load financially. And where he made himself sort of indispensable, as he and Hetfield seem to work well together writing most of the songs and he does seem to have a decent nose for business decisions. Usually nobody in a band likes to do the business end of the job, preferring to make music instead. So anyone who does know how to do that and is willing to do so kinda becomes the indispensable one. In one of my bands the drummer was also the one doing all the business legwork. Administration, bookings, websites, he could do that. Playing the drums in time on the other hand, not so much. Ironically he was also a huge Lars Ulrich fan as well, so........, go figure. Once he left the band immediately fell apart. Because every band needs several key members, a singer with stage presence, someone who can write songs, and someone who can handle the business of being a business. And the latter one is the most crucial in the early stages of a band's career if you ask me. Good business sense can overcome shortcomings in the vocal and songwriting department.
 
Bah, Lars plays like Lars, Kirk plays like Kirk, James is James, they are Metallica, one of the biggest heavy bands in history. You play to your skill level and write songs, and not many do it better than Metallica. All those iconic songs wouldn't have sounded the same (or better) with a different drummer IMO.
 
Bah, Lars plays like Lars, Kirk plays like Kirk, James is James, they are Metallica, one of the biggest heavy bands in history. You play to your skill level and write songs, and not many do it better than Metallica. All those iconic songs wouldn't have sounded the same (or better) with a different drummer IMO.

Methinks having a drummer who can play in time and do more then just 4/4, who knows where that could have taken Metallica musically? Just like having a lead guitar player who is not stuck on pentatonics and auto wah mode would have changed things up sonically as well. And its obvious that if Cliff had not died the band would not have sounded like they do today. Or a Black Album for that matter.

Metallica are who they are because of the band members, true. They made their limitations work and I reckon that Lars played a major influence on their success. Just not in the drums department. And you can check out how they would have sounded with a different drummer because there's a gig where Lars could not play drums and Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Joey Jordison of Slipknot took over the drums.



I think Dave made the others sound sloppy. :innocent:
 
Methinks having a drummer who can play in time and do more then just 4/4, who knows where that could have taken Metallica musically? Just like having a lead guitar player who is not stuck on pentatonics and auto wah mode would have changed things up sonically as well. And its obvious that if Cliff had not died the band would not have sounded like they do today. Or a Black Album for that matter.

Metallica are who they are because of the band members, true. They made their limitations work and I reckon that Lars played a major influence on their success. Just not in the drums department. And you can check out how they would have sounded with a different drummer because there's a gig where Lars could not play drums and Dave Lombardo of Slayer and Joey Jordison of Slipknot took over the drums.



I think Dave made the others sound sloppy. :innocent:


Ya, I always thought how much better AC/DC could have been if guitars weren't pentatonic wanking and drums weren't 4/4.:rolleyes: There will always be someone better.
 
Ya, I always thought how much better AC/DC could have been if guitars weren't pentatonic wanking and drums weren't 4/4.:rolleyes: There will always be someone better.

For one not all their songs would sound the exact same! I do like me some AC/DC at times. But only for a couple of songs, then it gets boring real quick. I don't mind that Metallica managed to make Lars's limited drum capabilities work. They wrote some good songs in the 80's. But lets not say that because they managed to make it work therefore Lars is the perfect fit for Metallica. There's a reason why Lars has become an online joke as a drummer, a living meme. Just like Kirk and wah pedals is also a living meme joke.

The first three albums of Metallica were epic. I think with In Justice they hit their limitations. Lars could not handle the kind of drumwork that was needed to pull off In Justice's progressive stuff. Kirk Hammett's pentatonic wah wah noodling could not pull off creating leads that were interesting enough over the challenging riffs that were given him to him on that album. Maybe if Cliff had still been around, who knows, but they didn't even include his successor on the album. At least not in frequencies the human ear could hear. I think it was a very smart move for them to dial things back on the Black Album. Keeping it more simple played better to their strengths and limitations. After that they've been floundering ever since musically and at this point I don't think it mattered much anymore if they had Dave Lombardo on drums and Marty Friedman or Yngwie Malmsteen on leads.
 
For one not all their songs would sound the exact same! I do like me some AC/DC at times. But only for a couple of songs, then it gets boring real quick. I don't mind that Metallica managed to make Lars's limited drum capabilities work. They wrote some good songs in the 80's. But lets not say that because they managed to make it work therefore Lars is the perfect fit for Metallica. There's a reason why Lars has become an online joke as a drummer, a living meme. Just like Kirk and wah pedals is also a living meme joke.

The first three albums of Metallica were epic. I think with In Justice they hit their limitations. Lars could not handle the kind of drumwork that was needed to pull off In Justice's progressive stuff. Kirk Hammett's pentatonic wah wah noodling could not pull off creating leads that were interesting enough over the challenging riffs that were given him to him on that album. Maybe if Cliff had still been around, who knows, but they didn't even include his successor on the album. At least not in frequencies the human ear could hear. I think it was a very smart move for them to dial things back on the Black Album. Keeping it more simple played better to their strengths and limitations. After that they've been floundering ever since musically and at this point I don't think it mattered much anymore if they had Dave Lombardo on drums and Marty Friedman or Yngwie Malmsteen on leads.

I guess we are in complete disagreement then. AJFA was some of Kirks best lead work IMO. There are numerous passages that break out of the box so to speak, plus a few parts that definitely have the Satch feel in his playing (the last couple bars in the Dyers solo). Go back and listen to Frayed Ends, AJFA, Shortest Straw, Blackened and Dyers Eve. The lead work is excellent. I'm not a drummer so I won't pretend to know what I'm talking about there but, to me, the drums sound more than adequate as well. My musical styles started to change in the 90's so anything after AJFA doesn't really interest me.
 
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