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Kid in a candy store
Louder Sound reprints a Classic Rock magazine interview with a card-carrying Purple fanatic Lars Ulrich. He reminisces about Jon Lord, his first time seeing Deep Purple, goes through Machine Head track-by-track, and recalls meeting various members of the band. The interview was apparently conducted around the time of the Re-Machined tribute album, and that was in 2012.
Why do you think Deep Purple were so popular in Europe?
Led Zeppelin never registered on the same level when I was growing up [in Denmark]. Zeppelin somehow seemed to be more of an American thing. There was also a perceived image of them. Ritchie Blackmore was very visual, but he wasn’t posing in a way like Robert Plant with his open shirt, sweaty chest and ‘I’m a God, come back to the hotel room and blow me’ attitude.
Why did you pick When A Blind Man Cries? Is it true that you originally wanted to cover it for 1987’s Garage Days Re-Revisited EP?
No. Back then it was about the riffs and the energy of the music. I think increasingly as we’ve gone along, the covers have become more about what James could kill vocally. I always believed that James could sing a beautiful version of When A Blind Man Cries. So when we were asked to do this project it was a no-brainer.
Read more in Louder Sound.
Unauthorized copying, while sometimes necessary, is never as good as the real thing
It’s cool that they like Purple, but I can’t stand this band, I much prefer Guns and Roses although Axl is a prima donna and a-hole.
April 14th, 2024 at 03:58I love Metallica and I respect them a lot but they bloody ruined this song in my opinion.
April 14th, 2024 at 10:10But who cares about a drop in the ocean.
That’s why Ian Gillan is an amazing singer because no one came close enough to express the heart felt emotion of this song.
Peace and Love ✌️
Metallica’s music does little for me (too fast!), but there is a lot more Fireball than Stairway to Heaven or Black Dog in them. For a Yank band they are unbelievably devoid of LED Zep influences (not just due to Lars, but also James and Kirk). What I really respect them for, however, is how they have established vast mainstream popularity with a music that is not really commercial. They are to heavy metal what Depeche Mode is to New Wave electronic pop, Bon Jovi is to AOR or U2 is to 80ies Brit (let’s assume the Irish Republic as – God forbid! – “British” for sake of argument here) guitar rock – they have global commodity status. That is no mean feat.
Re GnR: I very much like Duff’s bass playing and Slash is a very entertaining and iconic guitarist (with very average abilities), but I find Axl’s “Dan McCafferty and Janis Joplin in the kitchen, having a heated argument”- shriek very overstaying its welcome after two or three songs (though Blackmore rated him highly). I’m actually a Velvet Revolver guy. Scott Weiland didn’t have Axl’s piercing range, but he was much more an artist in how he used his voice and effected vocal changes. He was also a mesmerizing and dangerous stage presence. In contrast, Axl’s trailer park charisma doesn’t do much for me.
April 14th, 2024 at 14:30The diminutive Great Dane is pleasantly genuine in his love for Dææp Pørplå.
But is my mind deceiving me or didn’t he also recount a story more recently according to which his first Purple gig was an Mk III one where he met Glenn Hughes in a hotel the following day who was very nice to him?
Maybe he went to both, Mk II on their last trek in early 1973 and Mk III on their low key test run through Scandinavia and Germany in late 1973 before Burn was even released (which was an incredibly brave thing to do).
April 14th, 2024 at 16:11Drumming very embarrassing,
April 14th, 2024 at 16:48Superchicken on the 1st guitar solo. Forgetting the rest..
I think it’s a worthy take on the song, Andre, Lars is Lars and the way he stumbles and stutters about does raise the question whether he didn‘t listen more to Levon Helm of The Band than Litte Ian, but it‘s his idiosyncratic style, he‘s like Steve Harris of Iron Maiden in that way, it‘s all a bit crammed, but it‘s his, he invented it. 🤷🏻
In a way, their treatment is almost reverential.
Hetfield is no Ian Gillan, but then he doesn‘t try to be either.
Or let’s put it this way, this is a whole lot more musical than when I heard them first at the Monsters of Rock in Pforzheim, the gig with Purple Lars mentions. I remember that as a mess of a performance as the fresh-faced Jason Newsted had real issues finding his feet in the music and keeping time. I’m sure he became a better and more reliable bassist later on, but at that point of his tenure with Metallica he was really struggling, audibly so.
April 14th, 2024 at 19:41Metallica is #3 on my favorite band list after Deep Purple & Black Sabbath. Led Zeppelin, Dio era Rainbow, Uriah Heep, Megadeth, Gillan Pantera, and Santana round out my top 10.
April 15th, 2024 at 05:38Lars is hardly a highly talented drummer. Most of their songs are the equivalent of banging pots and pans. And tries to speak like he’s a Rhodes scholar.
I believe I have just poured some entertaing kerosene into this subject. All in the spirit of amusing Purple board fun. :>
Peace,
April 15th, 2024 at 14:52Ted
Hammering Metallica is ok, but not half as fun as hammering Nickelback! They are what Grand Funk Railroad were in the early 70ies, the band everyone liked to (unjustly) knock.
I actually think that a lot of the flak Nickelback get is undeserved too though I’m hardly a fan of theirs.
Lars has protected species status with me for being such a devout DP fan. I don’t really care for his drumming, but he has developed his own, unmistakable style.
And I admit to liking Lulu, the album even Metallica fans love to hate.
April 15th, 2024 at 16:55