VH1 Classic

That Metal Show: Lars Ulrich Remembers Metallica in Early ’80s New Jersey

How the Garden State proved crucial to the birth of thrash, straight from the drummer’s mouth.
by 11/24/2015

November rocks on, and so do our daily raids of That Metal Show’s video vaults. Today, we’ve got a double blast of Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich from Season 8.

In the first clip, Lars reminisces about Metallica’s early days crashing on the New Jersey floor of Megaforce Records founder Johnny Zazula back in the early 1980s. As all three TMS co-hosts—Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine, and Don Jamieson—hail from the Garden State, it’s a true headbanging trip down memory lane.

Teenage Jim Florentine not only knew the band back “in the swingin’ summer of ’83,” he carted them around in his parents’ station wagon, cracking beers and cranking tunes. There’s also talk of a show at a roller-skating rink boasting an astonishing lineup of future legends: Metallica, Anthrax, Anvil, and Riot.

In our second clip, Lars goes in to his controversial stand against Napster, the early 2000s file-sharing service. What prompted his anger, the drummer says, was a particular Metallica soundtrack hit leaking online before the band had finished working on it. What song was it? Watch and find out.
Tomorrow, our TMS time trip features Axl Rose in his classic, ultra-rare interview from Season 9. Be here!

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Mike McPadden is the author of the book "HEAVY METAL MOVIES: Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos, and Cult Zombies Amok in the 666 Most Ear- and Eye-Ripping Big Scream Films Ever!" (Bazillion Points, 2014).