Bob Rock calls Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich a ‘genius’

Former Metallica producer Bob Rock has labelled Lars Ulrich a ‘genius’ and compared his playing style to The Who’s late drummer Keith Moon and Led Zeppelin’s John Bonham.

Rock produced Metallica’s self-titled 1991 smash hit – commonly referred to as ‘The Black Album’ – as well as follow-ups ‘Load’, ‘Reload’ and ‘St. Anger’.

Speaking on the band’s official podcast ‘The Metallica Report’, the producer said he hadn’t seen the band play live for nearly 15 years when he finally caught them at So-Fi Stadium in Inglewood, California in 2023.

He said it took him back to when Metallica first came to him with the demos for ‘The Black Album’ and explained they wanted "to have a groove."

"When I saw Lars, when I saw the pocket, I almost cried," he said of the gig.

Rock said that when he first heard the demo for ‘Sad But True’ he noticed similarities to Led Zeppelin's ‘When the Levee Breaks’ based on the way Ulrich played along with James Hetfield’s rhythm guitar.

Watch: Metallica – ‘Sad But True’

"Lars plays to James. His fills are James's riffs,” he explained. "Keith Moon played to Townsend. John Bonham played to Page."

He added that Ulrich’s approach led to what the producer saw as unwarranted criticism, especially through the 90s and 2000s.

"That's his style. If he just played boom-dah, it wouldn't be Metallica. So I think he's a genius, to be quite honest,” he said.

Rock also defended helping guide Metallica towards the bluesier, more experimental sound of the ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ era.

He said: “I don’t follow the rules of metal, which is probably wrong, and I’m sorry. Because, really, my relationship with Metallica is that I’m a song person, and so it doesn’t matter however you style it.”

He continued: “I wasn’t the guy that said, ‘No, we’ve gotta copy the Black Album.’ I was glad we weren’t copying the Black Album, ’cause you can't make the Black Album again.

“When you make albums like that, it’s everything coming together – where I was, where they were, where culture was, where music was. And so I embraced the fact that they wanted to be a little freer and all these other influences rather than just metal bands that they grew up on started to come into the picture.”

Metallica live in Europe

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