There aren’t too many metal heavyweights that can boast as strong a lineup of classics as Metallica. Since their beginning on the album Kill Em All, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich have helped steer the band through the biggest heights any metal band has ever had, from underground legends to stadium-rock royalty. Although most Metallica songs can veer towards the long side, Ulrich’s favourite tracks to perform on stage remain on the softer side.
When first forming the band, no one had any aspirations to be one of the biggest acts on the radio. Across their landmark album Master of Puppets, the group’s compositions usually exceed six minutes, which is not nearly as conducive to a radio-ready single. By the time they got to making And Justice For All, though, their need for complexity in their music started to get the better of them.
Wanting to run away from that particular sound, the group enlisted Bob Rock to oversee the production of their next project. Having turned in time working with Bon Jovi and Aerosmith, Rock turned their brand of thrash metal grandeur into massive stadium hooks on The Black Album, boasting tracks like ‘Enter Sandman’ and Hetfield’s most tender ballad, ‘Nothing Else Matters’.
When discussing the high points of his career, though, Ulrich had a special place in his heart for the song ‘Sad But True’. Recorded with multiple layers of guitars, the song is easily the heaviest on their mainstream breakthrough, boasting sinister lyrics from Hetfield and a steady groove that wouldn’t be out of place on a Black Sabbath record.
Compared to the band’s precise arrangements, Ulrich liked how he never had to play the same drum fill throughout the song, explaining to SiriusXM, “I love the feel of that song. It’s a song for me that I play pretty much different. All the other songs are really rigid, and some songs are a little more freeform. ‘Sad But True’ falls on the far end of the freeform scale. Every night I play different drum fills. It’s like a push-pull”.
Then again, Ulrich does have a similar soft spot for the group’s ballad ‘Welcome Home (Sanitarium)’, saying, “I never play it the same way twice”. Since the band had been known for making songs with solid structures from front to end, this ballad off of Master of Puppets marked the moment where they veered into different territory, building on the mellow material that ‘Fade to Black’ had only hinted at.
While the group’s softer material put off most fans at first, the need to keep things simplistic was essential for the band’s commercial material. When discussing putting together his drum parts on The Black Album, Ulrich remembered having a complete change of heart about his drumming idols, going from copying technicians like John Bonham and Neil Peart to appreciating the grooves laid down by Charlie Watts and Phil Rudd.
A handful of Metallica fans may have felt betrayed seeing the band walk away from complex song structures, but songs like ‘Sad But True’ and ‘Welcome Home (Sanitarium)’ were never about showcasing the heaviest riffs known to man. These songs could help expose non-metalheads to the genre, and Ulrich’s steady performance, coupled with Hetfield’s bulletproof riffs, have converted many people to the sound of heavy music.
