Metallica are sort of Beliebers; Lars Ulrich talks Lou Reed

by Wyatt Marshall

Metallica at The Apollo in September (more by PSquared Photography)

Justin Bieber is on the record as a Metallica fan, and he gave a shout out to Metallica classics “One” and “Fade to Black” in particular in a GQ profile last year. “Those are my jams,” Bieber said. In case anyone doubted him, crying “False!” a video of Biebs singing the guitar solo to “Fade to Black” hit Youtube a couple of weeks ago. You can watch the video below.

Metallica was recently asked in an interview with Q magazine if the feeling for their fellow artist’s work was mutual. It is, sort of.

When asked if Metallica are Beliebers, James Hetfield replied, “Are we believers? Yes.” Lars Ulrich qualified Hetfield’s response, asking:

Is it possible to have respect for him without being a Belieber? I think the kid’s really talented and obviously to go through what he’s going through at that early age must be a mindfuck. So the fact that he still goes out there and does it, I admire that and I think he’s super talented, so I guess I am kind of a Belieber. If he likes “One,” and Liam Gallagher likes him, OK, there you go.

Bassist/wildman Robert Trujillo had some ominous words for Bieber: “As long as he stays out of trouble, I’ll be a Belieber,” he said.

Metallica’s manager, Peter Mensch, is not a Belieber. He has reportedly warned Bieber that his off-stage antics would ruin his career. Mensch called Bieber and his manager Scooter Braun out in UK tabloid, The Sun, earlier this year, saying “His manager Scooter Braun is scared s***less,” that Bieber will go off the deep end. He continued, “I don’t know what Bieber’s problem is. His career is over in three years anyway.”

“I’d take Bieber to the woodshed and spank him,” Mensch added. Shot across the bow.

In other Metallica news, Lars Ulrich spoke with Entertainment Weekly about what it was like to work with Lou Reed and to pay tribute to the departed legend. Reed and Metallica released Lulu together on Halloween in 2011. Here’s an excerpt of Lars’s interview with Entertainment Weekly, in which he talks about meeting Reed before the 2009 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary show, when Reed and Metallica first worked together:

A day or two before the festivities, we were in a rehearsal room somewhere in midtown and he walked in and didn’t say a whole lot. He turned on his guitar and started complaining about everybody being too loud, and this was wrong, and that was wrong, and it was like, ‘Ah! His reputation proceeds him!’ Like they didn’t send a doppelgänger–it really was him. He just cursed and complained and was annoyed for the next hour. We started fiddling around a little bit, and at some point we just had a conversation that was like, ‘Hang on, let’s just talk.’ So we talked, and I was like, ‘Listen, let’s find a way to make this work.’ And then somehow he thawed, and for the rest of the day it was beautiful. I can’t remember exactly what was said, though the other guys thought I was at my diplomatic best…

So he let his guard down, and when he let his guard down then it was totally cool. Over the course of the sound check and the gig, it got better and better and we connected more and more. Eventually we realized we were long lost soul mates in terms of attitudes and ways of looking at the world. By the time we were done at Madison Square Garden, he asked if we could make a record. It really went that quickly. As we were leaving the elevator in the bowels of Madison Square Garden, he asked me–he didn’t ask me even, he said to me, ‘Let’s make a record together.’ And I said, ‘That’s great Lou, that sounds fantastic,’ not thinking anything would ever come of it. But he called like two weeks later! That kind of purity and that kind of follow through and that complete f–ing lack of bulls– was so unusual and so refreshing.

Read the rest of Lars’s interview about Lou over at Entertainment Weekly and check out Bieber’s Metallica “cover” below…

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