The legendary frontman that Lars Ulrich described as “selfish” on stage

Posted On November 26, 2025November 26, 2025

Pretentiousness is one of the most contentious topics in the metal community. Thankfully, Metallica barely had anything to worry about.

One of the hardest things about being a rock or metal band is, first and foremost, getting your music heard. Then comes the kicker – being good enough to have a lasting impact. Metallica somehow managed both, creating music that people actually loved while also becoming one of the biggest cultural touchpoints in music, a milestone bigger than most bands can even dream of.

They say that the metal community is filled with some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, but, as with any rock circles, when it comes to the music, there has always been this divide between the authentic players and the ones who are out there with nothing more than a front. It’s one of the biggest triggers of debates and arguments within the community, especially when passionate people from both sides start disagreeing about what authenticity actually means.

Metallica have had its share of accusations itself. In fact, a band on their scale will always encounter criticisms like selling out or losing artistic direction where commercial pandering is involved, and Metallica is no different. Some of their most controversial releases, like Load and Reload, were dismissed because people felt they were losing sight of what made them so good to begin with, along with a handful of other things, like playing into the wrong aesthetic.

One thing that the members themselves will never agree to, however, is that they were inauthentic or pretentious. In fact, James Hetfield might have reflected on the shortcomings of records like Load and Reload, but he remained steadfast in the opinion that it “felt like the right thing to do” at the time. Lars Ulrich, too, defended it on account of people disregarding material because they didn’t like the way the band looked.

According to Ulrich, you can always tell when someone is playing into something and when they’re genuinely trying to make good music. It’s something he sees a lot in the surrounding community, when bands and their frontman become too engrossed in looking “cool” to be anything worthwhile.

Elaborating on this in 1995 for Rolling Stone, Ulrich said, “It seems to be part of an attempt at coolness. I look at Eddie Vedder, and he really lets himself go. So you can’t say that he’s not emotional. But he lets himself go in a kind of selfish way, without necessarily bringing the people around him into what he’s doing.” 

He added, “I’m not saying that’s good or bad. I’m just saying that when you talk about the old school, that was one big fucking hug! A total shared experience. And these days it seems like it’s the band, then there’s the audience.”

This is something Metallica always did well when it came to their own audience. For them, rock music is a shared experience, and one of the biggest goddamn downfalls is when there’s a barrier between the act and the audience. If you can unite the entire room authentically and without pushing too hard, that’s where true magic lies.

As Ulrich reflected, however, it’s not always a bad thing to be “selfish” on stage, as it’s often a sign of becoming lost in the music rather than anything inherently sinister or negative. Where Metallica differed, therefore, was having that tether to reality even during some of their most explosive moments, ensuring that they were always attuned to the entire room with an energy that wouldn’t quit.

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