Lars Ulrich

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Lars Ulrich is the drummer and co-founder of the American metal band Metallica. He was born in Gentofte, near Copenhagen, in 1963, the son of the tennis player Torben Ulrich. The jazz saxophonist Dexter Gordon was his godfather. At the age of nine he saw Deep Purple in Copenhagen, and the next day he bought their album Fireball. Around the age of thirteen he got his first drum kit. In 1980 he moved to California to become a tennis player, but chose music. He fell under the spell of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, especially the band Diamond Head.

Music and breakthrough

In 1981 he placed an advertisement in a local magazine. The guitarist and singer James Hetfield responded, and together they started Metallica. Ulrich and Hetfield wrote almost all the songs together and are the only members who have been there from the beginning. In the 1980s Ulrich became known for his fast, aggressive thrash beats, on albums such as Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All. He used two bass drums and a hard china cymbal instead of the usual ride cymbal. From the album Metallica (1991) he began to play more simply, fitting the more hard-rock-oriented songs.

Influence

In 2000 Ulrich became the face of Metallica's lawsuit against Napster, the service through which music was shared for free. The band discovered that even a still unfinished song, I Disappear, was already circulating. Ulrich spoke in the US Senate, and the case was settled out of court. Many fans found it strange that a rich rock band should take on its own listeners. In this way a drummer found himself in the middle of the debate about music in the internet age.

Listening

In School of Rock

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