Metal Anarchy

During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Metallica’s Lars Ulrich shared his thoughts on the current state of heavy music. The drummer believes “hard rock is more of a subculture and less mainstream than it’s been.”

Ulrich said the following when asked if the mainstream better understands heavier music in the modern age:

“We’ve probably had the biggest summer we’ve ever had just in terms of sheer number of tickets sold between our European and American dates. Obviously, that’s a complete mindfuck given that it’s 42 years into this ride. But at the same time, it feels that hard rock is more of a subculture and less mainstream than it’s been.

Looking back, at the Eighties with MTV and AOR radio and magazines from Rolling Stone to Kerrang! … it feels like hard rock was much more a conversation in the mainstream than it is now. So while these numbers are crazy — and I know so many other bands are doing crazy numbers, like Guns N’ Roses, Slipknot, Ghost, Disturbed — it feels like hard rock is more part of a subculture and kind of outside of the mainstream again like when we started Metallica.

I don’t know if I have as much knowledge of what’s going on around me as I did 20, 30 years ago, and I don’t know if I’m interested in being as much a part of that conversation as I was, but when asked, it definitely feels like what we’re doing in hard rock in general is connecting with a lot of people. But in terms of the zeitgeist and overall mainstream culture, it doesn’t feel like we’re as much a part of the mainstream conversation as it has been in the past.”