Lars Ulrich makes veiled threats of another Metallica album during web chat with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff
- Reference: 1588248607
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/30/lars_ulrich_threatens_to_make_another_metallica_album/
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To that some of us would say: "Haven't we suffered enough?"
During a live webcast on Tuesday by the enterprise SaaS outfit about "connecting with your customers fans from home", Ulrich told apparent best buddy Benioff that the upside of the pandemic was technology finding new ways of bringing folks together.
After an intro of congratulatory back-slapping, the pair mourned the human cost of COVID-19 then spitballed about how tech is keeping the wheels of big biz – including one like Metallica – turning during these torrid times.
Musing on how to make music during "the new normal", however, the conversation took a dark turn. Ulrich warned: "The people that make the software and all the stuff that we use to record are sitting right now trying to figure out how Lars and James [Hetfield] and Kirk [Hammett] and Rob [Trujillo] can make a Metallica record from four different locations in four different states. That's obviously something that we're very excited about."
As if Ulrich's timing wasn't dodgy enough, we can imagine how poor it might sound once Metallica starts jamming over Zoom.
At this, superfan Benioff excitedly interjected: "Is that gonna happen? Are we gonna see a new Metallica album appear from your homes?!"
Ulrich wouldn't give an outright "yes", but was worryingly receptive to the suggestion. He responded: "A lot of that will do with how long the stay-at-home orders are in place and a lot of that will have to do with if there's a second wave of the virus. Who knows what our world will look like six months from now? But obviously, the one thing that you can depend on with creative people, for better or worse, is that they can't sit still for very long and I can tell you that on one of these weekly Metallica Zoom sessions we are talking about how we can just be a band again."
After rambling a bit more, he added: "I can tell you that all four of us are really excited about what that could look like. Will there be a Metallica quarantine record? I can't tell you because, again, I don't know how long the quarantine will last, but if you and I and the rest of the world are still sitting here six months or a year from now, I can say there's a very good chance."
Great. Of course, about 300 years ago, during the '80s, Metallica was among a clutch of influential bands that took the New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound, injected it with Motörhead and hardcore punk, and sped it up to a breakneck pace, popularising "thrash metal" and laying the foundations for more extreme forms like death metal and black metal.
They unleashed a salvo of landmark albums during that time – Kill 'em All , Ride The Lightning , Master of Puppets , and ...And Justice For All – up until 1991, when they realised they could make even more money if they wrote pop-rock songs and power ballads. That was the eponymous "black album".
Then they cut their hair. And the less said about that period, right up to 2016's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct , the better.
Kerry King of fellow Bay Area thrash outfit Slayer always said Metallica lost all their talent when they cut their hair. Admittedly, Slayer haven't released a good record since the '90s started either. King went bald.
But if we take a moment to stop cyber-bullying Metallica, there was a warm and cuddly side to the sellout sesh. Salesforce said it would be matching donations up to $100,000 to the band's charity limb, All Within My Hands, which has been giving grants to COVID-19 relief orgs.
Benioff has also spearheaded [1]$5m in grants to small US businesses negatively affected by the lockdown. It should be said, however, that with each individual grant worth $10,000, that just about covers two weeks of revenue at the low end. Two days at the high end.
Though there were pained expressions and confessions of "heartbreak" during the presentation, we mustn't forget that the theatrics and charitable gestures are still ultimately about one thing: making as much money as possible even while the world groans under the weight of the pandemic. You can be sure that Ulrich, too, will be patting a fat cheque as thanks for his appearance.
It's not his first time rubbing shoulders with tech high society. Erstwhile Intel CEO Brian Krzanich once shared fond memories of [2]dining at Benioff's house in the company of Ulrich, Elon Musk and David Blaine, of all people.
Metallica as a whole is also [3]"powered" by Salesforce Marketing Cloud and Salesforce Commerce Cloud, and was even roped in to play the company's Dreamforce event in 2018, where Ulrich was [4]quoted as saying Metallica had spent that year "trying to apply Salesforce products into everything that Metallica does".
Former Metallica bassist Cliff Burton – peace be upon him – would never have let this happen.
You can watch Salesforce's stream [5]here if you, too, are hardwired to self-destruct. Ulrich's terrifying prophesies can be found around the 31-minute mark. ®
Sponsored: [6]How To Accelerate Brilliant Digital Experiences With Low-Code
[1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/22/salesforce_5m_sme_coronavirus_grant/
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/25/intel_ceo_talks_teamwork/
[3] https://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/press-releases/2018/09/180925-0/
[4] https://qz.com/1500717/what-is-salesforce-four-days-170000-people-and-one-metallica-concert-later-i-figured-out-what-salesforce-is/
[5] https://twitter.com/salesforce/status/1255179484103311361
[6] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8552/how-to-accelerate-brilliant-digital-experiences-with-low-code?td=wptl1936
Re: up until 1991,
Really good rock, for me, seemed to have mostly disappeared by 1980.
Lately, if I am in the mood for some serious rock I go back to the years before 1980, but then I can lay claim to having seen the likes of Uriah Heep and Ground Hog in the sixties and did security at Lemmy's first Motorhead gig.
Re: up until 1991,
>Really good rock...mostly disappeared by 1980
>I can lay claim to having seen....in the sixties
There may be a correlation there, which may also explain why other comments herein are referring to those authors thinking nothing by Metallic after ~1990 being any good.
The children (who claim to be almost 30, but that can't be true) that we (possibly) all work with will probably say that all music after 2010 was rubbish...
Re: up until 1991,
"Really good rock, for me, seemed to have mostly disappeared by 1980."
That's suspiciously close to saying that the decade prior was the golden age of rock.
Which is... ahhh.. a curious assertion.
We remember the good bands, but the forgotten ones are best left buried.
Reload was the first album I ever paid for
They lost me at St Anger. Loved all their stuff prior but nowadays I struggle to listen to it.
Saw them live at Wembley after buying tickets off ebay for thrice the face value for me and a buddy, loved it.
Pioneers of thrash?
That's like saying UB40 are pioneers of reggae.
Re: Pioneers of thrash?
We didn't say that anywhere.
Re: Pioneers of thrash?
>We didn't say that anywhere.
"...during the '80s, Metallica was among a clutch of influential bands that took the New Wave of British Heavy Metal sound, injected it with Motörhead and hardcore punk, and sped it up to a breakneck pace, creating "thrash metal" and..."
When you say 'creating' and immediately follow with a genre, it could be interpreted as creation of the genre rather than creating music within the genre.
And no, they didn't sell out after the black album. It was during the writing of the black album. "Thrash metal" does not allow a bloody ballad to show up in the track listing--see Slayer for details.
Re: Pioneers of thrash?
> And no, they didn't sell out after the black album. It was during the writing of the black album. "Thrash metal" does not allow a bloody ballad to show up in the track listing--see Slayer for details.
Metallica had been dabbling in power ballads for years before the Black album - e.g. One, Sanitarium, Fade to Black.
They thought they could handle it. After all, it's just a ballad.
Remember kids, the first one is always free. Just say no!
Re: Re: Pioneers of thrash?
Jeez, nothing gets past you. Let's say "popularising". Though I'd argue if you're talking about Venom or Hellhammer or something, I don't think it much resembles thrash as it became to be known.
Deluded article from a cretin
Fallen Metallica, one of the biggest and most successful bands around, if thats fallen then how would you describe The Register, a circus?
Re: Deluded article from a cretin
One of the biggest and most successful bands around, but they still haven't been good for 30 years.
Re: Deluded article from a cretin
El Reg: One of the biggest and best circuses around ;-)
sort of agree on the critical view of the newer (great, now I feel old...) albums - though I do happen to like "The Unforgiven" (also "II"), as well as "And the Memory Remains". I think Reload was a good attempt (after "Load"). I really dislike how half-hearted the stuff with the orchestra was - an orchestra does offer much more possibilities than what they used (what was it? S&M? I forgot... not that it - or anything Else Matters). As somebody who has been playing in orchestras a lot I was really underwhelmed by that "effort".
(but then my current playlist for coding stuff includes Hammerfall and Manowar, so my taste in music is... ah, well - de gustibus non est disputandum)
Re: Deluded article from a cretin
Have an upvote for 'Unforgiven'. A great track.
Far better than almost all the tat that passes for Music these days.
Re: Deluded article from a cretin
>not that it - or anything Else Matters
What, Nothing?
Re: Deluded article from a cretin
"...how would you describe The Register, a circus?"
Welcome to the circus fellow clown. Mind the pies, they have RJ45s in.
Rosie
Re: Deluded article from a cretin
I would describe El Reg as The Master of Muppets.
It's pretty harsh to say they haven't made any great music in the last 30 years. I'd rephrase it personally as since they stopped listening to external producers and trimming the fat from their albums that things are much less focused and not as good. By all account James would prefer this approach, but Lars has always wanted to fill every available minute on a CD.
St. Anger aside, it's a hard listen, but Load and Reload would have made one really good album, and trim the bloat from Death Magentic and (especially) Hardwired and they would be much better IMO.
Most bands are in it for the money
It feels like a shitty thing to say, but one thing most professional musicians can't get enough of is money.
When Lars appeared in court arguing about Napster (years ago) he was essentially saying - "people are taking money off me. Money I could otherwise have, and want". A lot of fans said, wow that's very against the philosophy of being in a metal band.
Get this into your head: professional bands are businesses. They make a lot of money. Like (successful) businesses.
You don't think the Red Hot Chili Peppers have recently re-signed John Frusciante out of love for music, do you? He's broke, and the rest of them like making money. They know fans will turn out in their millions for this. It really is that simple.
Re: Most bands are in it for the money
Yeah, it's business, just like football and circus.
Re: Most bands are in it for the money
Not to mention news
Re: Most bands are in it for the money
Yep! It's also why albums from a lot of the larger bands actually sound pretty crap from a quality perspective. There's no love or desire to create something that sounds good (so long as it sells well, that's all that matters). Both Metallica and the Chillis have been guilty of releasing some of the worst mastered albums I've ever listened to over the past 20 years or so.
Re: Most bands are in it for the money
Ah the volume wars.
Slide everything to max and compress the hell out of it.
9/10 times it's not the producers fault, but the bands saying "yeah sound good, but can we make it louder!" And if the band ARE the producers, oh dear.
It's one of the reasons vinyl "sounds better", is that vinyl cannot take the abuse so much, so the over compression has to be wound back in. It's not vinyl is better, it's that CD mastering is worse.
Re: Most bands are in it for the money
The Napster thing was a tragedy for many reasons. If you were of a certain age, getting Metallica records meant knowing somebody who would dub a tape for you. Maybe you didn't have the cash, or maybe Mom wouldn't let you buy it because it had a bloody hammer on the cover.
How many Metallica fans were made by this samizdat music publishing? Nobody knows. But to hear Lars tell it, those people were thieves.
I haven't listened to Metallica Incorporated(R)(TM) in decades. I won't be introducing my kids to their music either. Good luck with your Salesforce job, Lars.
Re: Most bands are in it for the money
Not to forget, didn't Metallica concerts in the 80s have designated areas for people to record bootlegs? Going from that level to full-bore anti-Napster was quite the shift.
Harsh
Got to agree with the above. I hate sell outs as much as the next guy and there has been some crap over the years. Admittedly I cannot even stand to listen to St Anger. Overall though, I'm still very much a fan. Death Magnetic is one of my favourites.
Worst Concert Ever
I've seen some bad ones too... My first real concert was Kiss at the old Chicago Stadium(home of the Bulls and Blackhawks) in the 70s and it Rocked!! But Alchollica was by far the worst, extra points if you know that reference!
Re: Worst Concert Ever
But Roger Taylor appearing with them at the Freddy Mercury concert was a highlight.
Harsh...
> They unleashed a salvo of landmark albums during that time – Kill 'em All, Ride The Lightning, Master of Puppets, and ...And Justice For All – up until 1991, when they realised they could make even more money if they wrote pop-rock songs and power ballads. That was the eponymous "black album".
Admittedly, the black album was a fairly significant step change from their previous efforts, but it was still loud and nasty. And while The Unforgiven is a power ballad, it followed in the footsteps of One and Sanitarium, from their previous albums!
The less said about St Anger, the better, though.
Actually, with my metal-geek studded-leather jacket on, there was definitely something in the water around 1990, as a number of established elder rock gods took a successful punt at reinventing their sound, mostly by bringing in a new producer to shake things up. E.g. Judas Priest/Painkiller, Metallica/Black and Alice Cooper/Trash, Ozzy/No More Tears, etc...
Alas, this then encouraged people to experiment further, which is how we ended up with increasingly corporate efforts to mangle more things together in the hopes of producing a new golden-egg laying goose. Yep, nu metal, I'm looking at you; people like Kid Rock and Fred Durst have a lot to answer for...
It's rocking horse shit rare that bands make megabucks on albums these days.
Tour ticket sales and merch is where it's at.
Anyway, I found out that I'm 20 minutes away from where Aleister Crowley was born, so I'm going to blast me some Ozzy while I go for a long walk.
up until 1991,
1991? Are you kidding me? That is thirty years ago, which would make me at least .... Oh, fuck off.