METALLICA's LARS ULRICH Is 'Immensely' Inspired By U2's 'Attempt To Reinvent The Wheel'

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich is the latest musician to comment on U2's decision to team with Apple to put the Irish rock band's new album, "Songs Of Innocence", on every single iTunes account in the world for free regardless of whether it was wanted or not.

Speaking to Billboard magazine, Ulrich said: "I think U2 are the coolest…

"It's 2014 and anybody who thinks outside the box, or attempts in any way, shape or form, to break the status quo in the world of music, should be applauded.

"To me, it's not about whether the endeavor is a success or not. It's the fact that they have the balls and the foresight to throw something this radical at all of us.

"We are embedded in our creative process right now and this type of attempt to reinvent the wheel inspires me immensely."

METALLICA launched its own label, Blackened Recordings, in 2012 and has many options available for distributing its 10th studio album, due out in 2015.

Ulrich told The Pulse Of Radio a while ago that the band was long past the point where it needed a major label behind it. "The great thing about being in a band like us is that we're in a position to bypass the record company," he said. "Basically record companies act like banks. And when you don't need the bank element of a record company, then you can kind of do it yourself."

33 million of the world's 500 million iTunes users have reportedly accessed the U2 album, but there have been complaints about it as well. Apple gave an online tutorial on how to remove it, while BUCKCHERRY guitarist Keith Nelson dissed the Irish supergroup for devaluing their own music.

Ozzy Osbourne's wife and manager Sharon Osbourne delivered the most scathing remarks via a Twitter rant in which she wrote, "U2, you are business moguls, not musicians anymore. No wonder you have to give your mediocre music away for free, 'cause no one wants to buy it." She also called the Irish quartet "just a bunch of middle-age political groupies" and the group, iTunes and record company president Jimmy Iovine "a bunch of megalomaniacs."

While U2 continues to be one of the world's biggest group, the band's last effort, 2009's "No Line On The Horizon", was considered a commercial failure — although the two-year supporting tour was the highest-grossing in history.