METALLICA's LARS ULRICH: Once You Broke The Ice With LOU REED, He Was Human Like Everybody Else

October 30, 2013

In the latest issue of Q magazine, the members of METALLICA were asked if recording "Lulu" — their collaborative album with former THE VELVET UNDERGROUND fronman Lou Reed — was "the barrel of laughs" that they were expecting.

"It was a barrel of laughs, semi-full," guitarist Kirk Hammett replied. Drummer Lars Ulrich added: "Lou's got a pretty twisted sense of humor. It was a pretty crazy run of different experiences.] had a great time doing it.

"With Lou, once you break the ice, he's human like everybody else."

Continued Hammett: "He always had a lot to say, good and bad. The most hilarious thing would be going out to dinner with him. He'd grab the menu and start chanting, 'No sugar! No sugar! I don't want sugar, no sugar!' He's so adamant because of his diabetes, but he'd make everyone in the restaurant know sugar couldn't come within 200 miles of his food. He was very adamant about the sugar thing."

Reed died on Sunday (October 27) at the age of 71 from complications due to liver disease. Although Reed got a liver transplant last spring, the affliction could not be beaten despite continued treatment and Reed returned to Long Island to spend his final days at home.

At press time, METALLICA had notably yet to issue a comment on Reed's passing.

"Lulu" was a commercial failure and widely panned by fans and critics.

Nevertheless, the disc was the last recorded work released by Reed, and the members of METALLICA may have been the last musicians to work with him in the studio.

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield told The Pulse Of Radio at the time that he did not know the German plays on which the "Lulu" storyline was based and simply let Reed take charge. "He put together his modern poet version of it, and when he played us the soundtrack to that play, his lyrics were unbelievable," James said. "There was basically a soundscape behind it, and he wanted us to add music to it and that's what we did."

Find more on Metallica
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).