Every great rock and roll band has one weak link that drags everything down. Although everyone works hard to ensure that a song sounds great when the record button is pressed. There are always a few musicians who haven’t done their homework before working on a song. While Metallica was a machine during the 1980s, their producer recognized that Lars Ulrich’s drumming might use some improvement.
Before Metallica had started, James Hetfield questioned Ulrich’s drumming abilities. During their initial jam sessions, Hetfield thought the whole thing was a disaster. He noted how all of Ulrich’s equipment kept falling over and how he had to almost push himself to maintain time on the guitar while the drummer went about his normal hijinks.
Although the band swiftly came together in the first few weeks, Hetfield and Ulrich developed a chemistry. Few have been able to imitate it in rock and roll. Instead of focusing on what key a song is in or what the root accents should be, Ulrich acted as an overseer for what each song required. Finally, he encouraged Kirk Hammett to reconstruct the riff. It transformed “Enter Sandman” into the heavy metal staple we know today.
While the band managed to record their debut album, Kill Em All, for almost nothing, many of its early flaws were exposed. Aside from Ulrich’s problems behind the kit, Hammett stated that the majority of his solo tracks were far too messy. He wanted to rework them but did not have the time to commit to more overdubs.
When Metallica had saved enough money to afford studio time for Ride the Lightning, producer Flemming Rasmussen gave them a boost. Rasmussen dialed in the precise tones for the band. He went on to create the sounds of the band’s most acclaimed work. This included turning the knobs on their masterwork, “Master of Puppets.”
When the producer initially entered the studio with Ulrich, he was taken aback by the drummer’s inability to maintain time properly. Instead of spending the first few days perfecting the drum sound, Rasmussen complained. They spent the first few hours sitting Ulrich down and instructing him to play on time.
Despite their assistance, Rasmussen believed Ulrich was deliberately harming the band, adding, “I thought he was absolutely useless.” When he started playing, the first question I asked was, ‘Does everything start on the upbeat?’ He replied, ‘What’s an upbeat?’. We began telling him about beats. Make sure each hit is the same length, and count to four before entering again.
Despite the group’s impromptu drum school in the studio, Ulrich’s distinctive technique resulted in them using multiple time signatures. It practically happened by accident. When working on albums like “And Justice For All,” their experiments with progressive rock stemmed from their desire to fit all they could into the song. This frequently resulted in Ulrich adding in more rhythms to compensate for everything. Any drummer should know how to count to four. However, considering Metallica’s renown as a metal powerhouse, Common Time is only a recommendation for Ulrich.
