Everything about Lars Ulrich totally explained
Lars Ulrich (born
December 26 1963) is the
drummer, main songwriter (with
James Hetfield) and co-founder of
Metallica. He was born in
Gentofte,
Denmark to a middle-class family. A
tennis prodigy in his youth, Ulrich moved to
Los Angeles,
California at age seventeen to pursue his training, but instead of playing tennis, he ended up as a drummer. After publishing an advertisement in a local Los Angeles newspaper called
The Recycler, he met
James Hetfield and formed Metallica.
Biography
Lars' father,
Torben Ulrich, who was an acclaimed tennis pro from the late 1970s into the early 1980s, was also a musician, playing
jazz with such giants as
Stan Getz and
Miles Davis; legendary saxophonist
Dexter Gordon is Ulrich's godfather. In February 1973, Torben Ulrich obtained five passes for five of his friends to a
Deep Purple concert that was being held in the same
Copenhagen stadium as one of his tournaments. When it was discovered that one of the friends couldn't go, their ticket was handed over to the nine year-old Lars. The young Ulrich found himself mesmerized by the performance, buying the band's
Fireball album the very next day. The concert and the album had a considerable impact on Ulrich, inspiring his entrance into the world of
rock and roll and later on,
heavy metal. As a result of his newfound interest in music, he received his first
drum kit at the age of thirteen, a
Ludwig.
In 1981, Ulrich met
James Hetfield in
Downey, California and formed the
thrash metal band
Metallica. Ulrich's early work with Metallica led him to be dubbed as one of the
thrash metal scene's drumming greats. He became known as a pioneer of fast thrash
drum beats and techniques, featured on many of Metallica's early songs, such as "
Metal Militia" from
Kill 'Em All, "
Fight Fire With Fire" from
Ride the Lightning, "
Dyers Eve" from
...And Justice for All, and "
Battery" from
Master of Puppets. He has since been considerably influential due to both the popularity of his band and his interesting drum techniques, such as the machine-gun
double bass in the song "
One" (
...And Justice for All) and the pounding opening of "
Enter Sandman" (
Metallica). When discussing Metallica in an October 2007 interview,
Evile frontman Matt Drake stated that "on
The Black Album [otherwiseknown as the group's eponymous 1991 album], the drums produce the best drum sound I've ever heard on any album".
Napster controversy
In April 2000, Ulrich became a vocal opponent of
Napster and
internet piracy as
Metallica sued the company for
copyright infringement and
racketeering. In July 2000, he testified before the
Senate Judiciary Committee after Metallica's entire catalogue was found to be freely available for download on the service. The case was settled out-of-court, resulting in more than 300,000 Napster users being banned from the service. Due to his high profile role in Napster's legal troubles and subsequent demise, Ulrich faced significant criticism and ridicule from users of the service.
Since the Napster ordeal, Ulrich was quoted by
LAUNCHcast as having some regrets:
Personal life
Lars Ulrich has been married twice. His first marriage, to Debbie, an English woman, ended around 1990 during the making of
Metallica also known as "The Black Album". In March 2004, Ulrich separated from Skylar Satenstein (an emergency medicine physician and Harvard graduate who was the inspiration for Skylar, the love interest for Will Hunting in the movie
Good Will Hunting), to whom he was previously married for seven years and had two sons, Myles (b.
August 5,
1998) and Layne (b.
May 6,
2001).
Ulrich is dating Danish actress
Connie Nielsen and they'd their first child, Bryce Thadeus Ulrich-Nielsen, born in San Francisco on May 21 2007. Nielsen also has another son named Sebastian (b. 1991).
Equipment
Ulrich is an endorser of
Tama drums,
Zildjian cymbals and
Remo drumheads. He has said: "Zildjian cymbals are not just the best cymbals, but the ONLY cymbals". He is rarely, if ever, seen without these brands onstage. He has, however, been known to use a mixture of brands when recording in the studio, including
Ludwig-Musser drums, Gretsch drums and
Sabian cymbals. Ulrich was an endorsee of
Calato Regal Tip drumsticks, but changed to
Easton Ahead in 1994. Tama Drums has produced two signature snare drums,
one with a steel shell (with diamond plate-like finish) and another made out of bell brass which currently is Tama's most expensive snare drum on the regular catalogue. Both snare drums measure 6.5x14.
Trivia
- In 2005 a band called Beatallica (a band that mixed lyrics and riffs from The Beatles and Metallica) received a cease-and-desist order from Sony (who hold a lot of the rights to the music of the Beatles). In support of Beatallica, Ulrich asked Metallica's attorney, Peter Paterno, to help Beatallica. Since then beatallica.com
has been online.
For many years Ulrich has been an avid scuba diver, to the extent that he's been known to read scuba diving magazines during solo breaks between songs while touring.
Ulrich played the drums with Mercyful Fate for the re-recording of the song "Return of the Vampire" on In the Shadows.
On Linkin Park's live CD/DVD Live in Texas, during "From the Inside", Ulrich appears on stage wearing pink bunny ears and Hulk Hands and proceeds to mess with the band for a few brief seconds. In the ending credits on the DVD, he's credited as the "Green-Fisted Bunnyman".
His name is mentioned in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 2006 single "Don't Download This Song", in reference to Ulrich's anti-Napster stance.
Johnny Crass also made a few mentions of Ulrich in the song "Internet Sandman", a parody of Metallica's song "Enter Sandman".
Ulrich is a huge fan of popular British rock band Oasis and has become acquainted with them over the years. In November 2006, Canadian music magazine Exclaim! published an interview with Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher. Gallagher makes several references to Ulrich and is quoted as saying, "Lars Ulrich? Although he’s a fookin’ geezer and I do love him, he’s a strange character. A strange, strange man."
He is a big fan of the British rock band Status Quo and wrote the foreword for their 40th Anniversary book.
Lars recently played the drums at the Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy Tour 2006 for a one-off appearance on one of their closing songs, playing "Out Ta Get Me".
Ulrich was featured in an episode of South Park in which the children are taught not to download illegally because millionaires like Ulrich don't get paid (a parody of the Napster case). Ulrich is seen looking very sorry for himself because he'd to wait a few extra months before he was able to afford a gold plated shark tank bar to be installed next to his pool.
Lars was mentioned in an episode of My Name Is Earl in which Earl and Joy went to a Metallica concert for their honeymoon, which Earl was supposed to go to with another woman. Joy says during the brief scene, "Lars signed my baby-bump," and proceeds to show it to Earl's girlfriend, whom he was originally supposed to go to the concert with. Lars's actual signature is used when Joy has her pregnant belly signed.
In 2001 Lars appeared on an episode of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and won 32,000 dollars for his charity foundation.
In the movie The Prince and Me, Lars is quickly referenced for his birth in Denmark.
Lars did a voice for a cartoon dragon in an episode of the Disney Channel show Dave the Barbarian
Lars and Metallica were in an episode of The Simpsons where they needed a lift to a live concert. Mole Man gave them a ride, and mentioned that he'd "slept with Lars's grandmother."
In the 169th issue of Metal Hammer, Lars Ulrich discusses Metallica's ninth studio album and their Wembley Stadium gig (From Live Earth and Sick of the Studio '07).
A fan of the Nu-Metal band Korn. He once played live with them, on the song "Blind".
Nerdcore rapper MC Lars mentions him in the song Hurricane Fresh, attempting to convince Ulrich that their same first names prove MC Lars to be his long lost nephew after Ulrich comes after him for illegal downloading.
Weird Al Yankovic's "Don't Download This Song" states that you shouldn't do so because "Lars Ulrich says it's wrong".Further Information
Get more info on 'Lars Ulrich'.
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