Lars Ulrich Recalls ‘Some Kind of Monster’: “Transparency Has Always Been a Really Big Thing for Us”
It’s been nearly 20 years since Metallica released Some Kind of Monster, the documentary that showcased the highs and extreme lows of the band during the worst years of their existence, and people still have questions: why did they release such an unflattering film? How do they feel about it today?
While speaking to BBC Radio (transcribed by Blabbermouth), Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich explained that the idea behind Some Kind of Monster was to be as transparent with their fans as humanly possible.
“Transparency has always been a really big thing for us. And so we decided very early on that the bands that we appreciated and the bands that we were inspired by, most of them were very transparent. And we wanted to have the door, the connecting door to the fans, be as open wide as possible. I think if you decide to open the door, the only thing you can do is open the door completely. You can’t cherry-pick when to let people in. It’s gotta be the good and the bad, and it’s gotta be all of it, and there’s gotta be continuous access. So we feel that we’ve always tried to honor that. And that movie from 20 years ago was obviously… I think for a lot of people that never had that kind of open door access to a rock and roll band and seeing all of it, including the warts and all the crazy shit that was going on behind the doors as we were trying to figure out who we were and trying to figure a way through understanding the growth that had occurred with who we were as people and how we related to each other and the state of our minds and our own mental health and all of it. And at that time, obviously, there were all these camera crews there, and we just decided to go for it, because we weren’t scared and we trusted the film people and we felt that that kind of transparency was part of who we were.”
Much like his stance on pirating, you gotta respect the fact that Lars Ulrich sticks to his guns about these matters. It might be best to leave the therapy sessions unreleased next time, though.
