Metallica Not Interested in Collab With Lady Gaga Again

Terminal weekend, Metallica closed out the 59th Annual Grammy Awards alongside pop superstar Lady Gaga, but all did not get as planned: during their set singer James Hetfield had a microphone malfunction, forcing him to share Gaga'due south. Despite the setback, their rendition of "Moth Into Flame" was nothing short of spectacular. The ii musical powerhouses, who at kickoff seemed an unlikely pairing, delivered an unforgettable bear witness, with some arguing that the shared microphone amplified the thrash metal free energy of their performance.

From Metallica's surprising collaboration with the San Francisco Symphony in the '90s to performing with Lady Gaga at the Grammy Awards, the metal legends continuously manage to keep their audience guessing. True to form, the band, at present in their 36th twelvemonth, have unexpectedly announced that starting in May, they will be going on their get-go total-scale tour of the U.S. since 2009. In celebration of this news, we're reprinting drummer Lars Ulrich's feature from Interview'southward November 1999 outcome, where he reveals his pointed opinions virtually the heavy-metal community, aging, and the importance of musical growth. —Tahnsarah Peters

Strings Fastened
Past David Sprague

Metallica is working with some surprising band members on their daring new anthology—the San Francisco Symphony.

Virtually twenty years ago, Metallica emerged as difficult rock'south most primal political party animals, laying the foundation for what would go thrash metallic. When the band grew wary of the genre's limitations, however, they zigged when others expected them to zag. They even managed to overcome the sudden decease of bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed in 1986 when the quartet's tour motorcoach overturned in Sweden. The group stalked through the '90s with a steely maturity and an astute world view, but with every bit of viscera intact. This month they take another unexpected turn: a live album recorded with the San Francisco symphony.

DAVID SPRAGUE: Your new aesthetic acquired quite a bit of grumbling in the heavy-metal community.

LARS ULRICH: The heavy-metal audience is very conservative, and I get into pushing their buttons. The fact that people could spend all this time talking about our haircuts just points out how ridiculous the whole thing is. If at the cease of the day someone's opinion of us comes downward to whether we're wearing leather jackets, so they shouldn't be buying the records.

SPRAGUE: Do you requite much idea to the thought of aging?

ULRICH: People are e'er spewing this horseshit about how historic period doesn't matter. Well, it does matter! I'm thirty-five, and I'm happy to exist thirty-five. I tin't pretend I'one thousand notwithstanding a snot-nosed 21-year-erstwhile and that the four of us are living in ane room eating tuna out of a can. I had just as much—even more—fun in a purely cardinal mode back in those days, but everyone grows up.

SPRAGUE: You recently played your cloth with a fully outfitted classical orchestra. Was that a daunting proposition?

ULRICH: It was an interesting one, to say the to the lowest degree. It's not something that would have occurred to me, only when the thought was suggested, we jumped at information technology. Stretching your parameters is a necessity if you lot wan to continue growing, and sometimes the best mode to do that is to dive into the deep terminate.

SPRAGUE: I understating your interest in so-called highbrow culture extends to fine art as well.

ULRICH: I'm fascinated by and collect artists who play with the perception of what painting actually is. A lot of information technology descends from the Cobra movement, which began around 1948. All these writers, artists, and poets formed this doctrine of stripping art of whatsoever preconceived notions and approaching information technology with a child's innocence. It's funny, considering whenever I buy a slice, someone invariably says, "Oh, what a smashing investment." And I hate that reaction. To me, it's a affair of dearest and not an exchange of equity.

SPRAGUE: Money and inventiveness must too come up into conflict with Metallica, don't they?

ULRICH: Obviously, nosotros're in a position where things are expected of us, but at the same time we've never done anything that I feel was contrived. In that way, I think we have more in common with bands like U2 or R.E.Chiliad. than with a lot of hard-rock bands that have been around for the same amount of time. Those are bands that inspire me more than most people would imagine.

SPRAGUE: And if it were to stop tomorrow, what would y'all like the final give-and-take on Metallica to be?

ULRICH: I would say that I'thousand very proud that we play heavy music—but equally proud that nosotros don't think similar a heavy-metal band.

THIS INTERVIEW ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN THE Nov 1999 Issue OF INTERVIEW.

For more than from our archives, click hither.

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Source: https://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/new-again-metallica