Same Boat and Captain

From this article, a powerful quote: "Let me say that Lars [Ulrich] is one of the reasons I play the drums and nothing will change that." I will go further and state - again - that "And Justice for All" was the first Metallica release I bit into and was the release I air drummed to for so many hours in my bedroom. In fact, on my way to work after dropping off Karen at UIHC, I listened to "The Shortest Straw" which is the first track on side B of the cassette version and yes, I remember that.

That all said, there was an article published with the sound engineer for "And Justice for All" and he firmly planted the lack of bass in the mix on Ulrich. Of course, there are two sides to every coin and to every story. Nonetheless, a lot of websites are rewriting or borrowing or citing this interview as yet another reason to make Lars Ulrich out to be this evil person. There are numerous videos and websites that love to bash Lars Ulrich as an awful drummer and who turned his back on the very fans that have given him the opportunity to do what he has done in his career. I'm not feeling the vibe of bashing Lars and have posted, more than once, about trolls looking for fresh reasons to dislike Lars Ulrich.

So now, with this latest revelation that it was his direction to the sound engineer to turn down the bass, the trolls seem to think they've found the silver bullet to lay to rest - once and for all - how awful Lars Ulrich is. But this story and the way it's being reported often misses the point. The real meat and gravy of the interview is simple. At the time, Lars Ulrich had a vision for what he wanted the album to sound like. In context, Ulrich simply wasn't ready to be in a rhythm section with Jason Newsted. I make this claim because if what Ulrich has said in videos and in magazines is scrutinized, by the time Metallica were preparing the "Black" album, there was a change in the words he used to describe the songs on the "Black" album. As evidence, when he talks about the rhythm section during an interview on the "A Year and A Half in the Life of Metallica" video, there's already a different mentality. Ulrich talks about wanting to get a rhythm section sound and a groove on the songs that they were putting together for the "Black" album. And that was the very next release.

I suspect Lars Ulrich is tired of the "controversy" that surrounds the bass on "Justice" and that if he could go back to that room when he told the sound engineer to turn down the bass and relive that moment, maybe he wouldn't have done the same thing. At the same time, I also suspect Lars Ulrich realizes, perhaps at a higher level, that it doesn't matter today, in 2015, whether he would want to go back in time to that moment or not because, frankly, it can't be done - the past cannot be changed. Following that logic, maybe Lars Ulrich gets it that life is not about yesterday. Life is really about today. Sure, I would love to go back:

• to 1990 when I auditioned for Horny Genius and say, "Yes, I will join your band" 
• to 1992 when I played drums in Old Stew and say, "Let's get out of the practice room, let's get out of Bonehead's and go do this because we have a bunch of original songs that really speak to me and I want to play drums in a band that plays songs that do that." 
• to 8/6/1993, the day before Karen and I were married and make 8/6/1993 the last day I ever drank any booze in my life. If I were able to do that, I would now be sober for 21 years, 7 months, 2 weeks, 6 days, or 7902 days instead of 4 years, 2 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, or (in total 1546) - a difference of 6356 days.
• to that day in September 2010 when I accepted the job offer at that hellhole company in Kalona, though I 've since questioned that notion since I can't say for certain that I would be employed where I am employed today had I not accepted that job offer. I don't really know.

And, of course, the list goes on and on. I can only work on today because yesterday is over and tomorrow, frankly, is not a given. My sister-in-law's uncle - only in his 40s - had a stroke and is in a coma. Yesterday, they removed life support from him. I'm in my 40s - who's to say I won't be in the same precise position he is in now at some point today, tomorrow, or soon. I don't know that.

I'm not trying to be morbid but I'm also working on myself to not try to wish myself into another time in my life. My life is this moment, this minute in fact. I wonder if the authors of all the "Lars is evil" words about the bass guitar in the "Justice" mix understand that their words are not going to change the album they own or that I own, for that matter. It's just not going to happen.

On a related note, Metallica are playing in Chicago on Saturday, August 1, 2015, but it's sold out. Damn!